Ufudu is restless today, says a boy under his breath. He rinses a sable brush in a jar of water. Ufudu indeed! grumble the scissors on the shelf. Silence matrics, says Miss Dube. Yesterday the name given affectionately to the art teacher by her students suited her ponderous tread. Today she moves like a plover [...]

We have come to this village high in the mountains in search of the bird women. It has taken us all day to get here from the city, climbing the wet mountain roads so slowly sometimes I feared the truck would give up and start rolling back down the hill. Bright green banana leaves cover [...]

home archives games fiction by dana y.t. lin Wen-yi woke to the smell of rice porridge simmering over an open flame. She peered out the window to the backyard. The cloudy sky made for a cool, dull morning. Big brother, Gia, hovered over a clay pot with a large wooden spoon in hand. Next to [...]

Every evening at 6, Elsie Turner drinks her juice. That is what she does every single day. That’s what I think, lately, when I’m pouring the juice out into my glass. Every single evening at six. Every evening Elsie Turner uses the old fashioned glass with the gold and black stagecoaches printed on the outside [...]

“The worst was the maggots.” That was the accepted punch line of an already firmly established family legend. Lucy had heard it first when she was six. At thirty-eight, she still sat on the edge of her chair waiting for her favorite parts with fairytale anticipation when her parents told it again, as they did [...]

The castoff locs lie the casket next to the woman’s body like a lover. They look almost forlorn, as if wondering why they were beside the woman and no longer crowning her head. Mourners passed by and once in a while, a hand would reach out and graze the locs with no fear before withdrawing. [...]

Navah was born second daughter to her house, a disappointment to her mother and father, who had expected another son. Her mother died of shame when she realized she had birthed a second girl child and her father named her Navah, which means “regrettable.” The only one who was kind to Navah was her brother [...]

God came to Moses, I believe the story goes, in the form of a burning bush to tell him that he must lead the Jewish people. Moses didn't want to be the leader. I'm fascinated by the hero's reluctance to be the hero. Why not? Don't we all want to be leaders? Superheroes? The one [...]

Summer’s long days were sleeping earlier. Dad and I sat on the brick railing around Grandma’s porch. He was eating an ice cream sandwich and smelled like a mixture of red dirt and diesel. A soft thud, thud from my sneakers hitting the bricks repeatedly echoed the drone of the oilrig that pumped tirelessly behind [...]

“May I go out to play in the ruins?” More often than not the answer was yes. I had my favorite spots. A small square of ground wall still standing felt like a house of my own. Another place I loved was the remains of an abandoned garden. Grass and small flowering weeds split through [...]