EDITOR'S PICKS
 

Vanitha Sankaran's Pick:
Promises by Christina Kapp
That first moment was like the popping of a can of soda inside my chest — shocking and yet absolutely clear, a prelude to the relief of some bodily requirement to be satiated.

I must have said something because my wife woke up. Perhaps she heard the groan and fizz as I did, but I doubt it. She rolled over, mumbling, eyes still closed. The disruption had lasted just for a moment...

Debi Orton's Pick:
The Black Dog by Erik Sheldon
The first time Robbie Barrows stops on purpose at the gate of #14 Mayhew, the close, gray sky is pouring snow. The cold doesn't help his stomach, which started to knot up after a greasy cafeteria lunch and rolled itself tighter through the afternoon. Now that he's here, he can hardly stand up straight. The pull of his gut would have him curled up reading, watching TV on his bed. But he has to see the dog on his way home...

Michael Wilson's Pick:
Planning Parenthood by Lindsay Tice
Dear prospective parents:

Thank you for choosing Own-A-Clone Inc. to help expand your family. Soon you will have that child you've always dreamed of parenting...

David Shapiro's Pick:
Otherwise Unremarkable by Karen Blondeau
Oh hell, goodbye, she said.

Wait, you just got here, he said.

I know. But this just isn't working...

Didi Woods's Pick:
Goodbye, Street by Marcia Lynx Qualey
They won't even let you inside the airport, mom says. She's flat on her belly on a dirty lawn chair, one hand resettling her straw hat.

I already have the ticket, I say. I bought it with dad's credit card...

Barbara Jacksha's Pick:
Havana by Christian Bell
Jose once lived off Plaza Vieja in Old Havana, in a sea foam colored apartment building, next to a peach colored bodega, until the palm tree growing through his floor punched a hole in the wall. This was the city: since El Presidente took over, holes had been punched all over town — chipping paint, crumbling stone facades, cracking art deco tiles — but none had been repaired. The revolution promised the future, looked like the past...