Chasing UFOs
by Douglas Young “The UFOs are back!” Hampton exclaimed as soon as Helayna answered his call. “WDUN’s reporting a whole heap of ’em were just seen flying over the north end of Sam Benton County around Pitts Peak. We’re hearing […]
Guess Who’s Looking for You?
by Douglas Young Keaton’s excitement grew the closer he got to his friend Zita’s place. She and her roommates were throwing a house-warming party that Friday night, and Keaton hoped to see many buddies from high school and college, including several not seen in years. Lost in an unfamiliar neighborhood, the twenty-six-year-old tried an […]
A New Pecking Order
by Douglas Young Though slightly nervous, Radford McGinniss caught himself smiling en route to a fifteenth annual high school reunion thrown at a classmate’s home Saturday evening. Despite his four years at Theophilus Holmes High being his most miserable, littered with the usual adolescent angst and aggravated by a severe strain of shyness, Radford still […]
The Cave
by Douglas Young “How much longer before we get there?” Zelma asked from the back seat’s right window. “Yes!” Tucker exclaimed with one hand on the wheel and the other hitting the roof of his old car. “Thank you, Zelma. I bet Nolana you’d ask within twenty minutes of our leaving, and I […]
That Little Purple Pill
by Douglas Young The thought of somehow struggling out of bed felt like a baby being expelled from a blissfully warm womb into a cold, merciless world. The twenty-five-year-old had battled depression since age thirteen, but had recently felt better dating her best beau since high school. That made his breaking up with her […]
A Fun Family Reunion
by Douglas Young “Are you coming or not?” An exasperated Dorinda Thompson called from the bottom stair as her 20-year-old son Oliver fussed with his hair. He had skipped the last three Thanksgiving family reunions at Aunt LaDonna and Uncle Mooney’s house two hours away. Always awkward facing so many relatives, he felt thoroughly […]
A Free Pass
by Douglas Young Raleigh Reynolds was selling tickets as fast as he could for Friday night’s second show at the campus cinema. From behind open-air bars in the theater’s round ticket booth inside the student center, he enjoyed seeing how fast he could dispense tickets, make change, and keep the line moving. When a […]
A Sense of Humor
by Douglas Young He loved going to China more than anywhere in the world, and with a Chinese wife, he got to go there every few years to visit her family. How blessed he felt having his own personal tour guide who was fluent in Mandarin. It thrilled him to be in such a […]
From Festus Bullineaux, With Love
by Douglas Young Heading to his first summer class, Huxley Madison walked ever slower toward Erasmus Burt University’s Foreign Languages Building. Though he did well in high school Spanish, learning another tongue had not been easy or particularly fun, and he had put off fulfilling his college foreign language requirement as long as possible. […]
The View from the Side of the Stage
by Douglas Young “Guess who’s coming to the campus coliseum?” Zora greeted Zarius in the hall with a wide-eyed grin as he left the classroom. Zarius got ever more excited as his friend leaned in closer boasting a thoroughly pregnant smile about to birth a big laugh. As he blinked and imagined a […]