Looking Back by Anticus Multicultural Association

Looking Back Anthology of Short Stories

Looking Back â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Antho logy of Sho rt S tories A project developed by Nazar Look Attitude and Culture Jou rnal of Crimean Tatars in Romania www.nazar-look.com

Looking Back Anthology of Short Stories Compiled by Taner Murat

Editura StudIS, IaĹ&#x;i, 2013

Editu ra Stu dIS adicenter@yah oo.com Iasi , Sos. Stefan cel Mare, nr.5 Tel ./fax: 0232 – 217.754

Descrierea CIP a Bibli otecii Naţionale a României MURAT, TANER Looking Ba ck, Anthol ogy of Sh ort Stories / Antologie de naraţiuni contem porane / Taner Murat. Vatra Dornei : StudIS, 2013 ISBN 9786066244480

© Copyright 2013 Taner Murat The editor asserts his copyright of this book as an anthology, by which is meant the collection of works. The editor asserts no copyright over any of the individual works and the authors retain their copyright over their individual works. All rights, including Stage, Motion Picture, Television, Public Reading, Translation into foreign language, any Internet or related media is st rict ly reserved (by the aut hors, o r the editor as detailed above). ISBN-13: 9786066244 480 ISBN-10: 6066244485 BISAC: Literary Collections / General Illust ration and cover design: Elif Abdul On the cover: “Sorrow”, © Sagida Siraziy (Sirazieva), https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004327597168

Consilier edit orial: Dranca Adrian Secretar editorial: Moroşanu Paul Pre-press, tipar digital şi finisa re: S.C. ADI CENTER SRL Şos. Ştefan ce Mare, nr. 5 Tel.: 217 754

Tantra Bensko

Photo: Tommy Bensko

california, usa

Tantra Bensko california, usa http://lucidmembrane.weebly .com/

Looking Back

Tantra Bensko california, usa

White Arms

The

albino murders were nev er solv ed, because any one who t old on the killers

would be m ade into soup. Any albinos in the tribe were considered t o hav e m agical arm s and legs, useful for m aking ev erything happen that would not happen if they liv ed. So people chopped them off. Their fam ilies hid the the albinos the best they could. But there was alm ost n othing t o hide them with in the landscape of sun and dirt. The albinos peeled from the

Looking Back W hite Arms

sun on listless sk in. Their lips cracked and trees were their sav iors. When the tribesm en finally found them, and st ole their lim bs, v ery little changed. But any good luck that happened t o them , they claim ed must have com e from the white arm s and legs they swung around t o the sky . The albinos' m others buried them in one special grave, and talked am ong them selv es in way s n o one else could. They said their dead children were all one child. They were all one creature of delight, com ing t o them for sh ort tim es, here and there, som etim es many at once, som etim es twins. They said they were like different trees with one root sy stem . Or like mushroom s. They were like a ghost of the m oon, a willow of the wisp, a sorrow n ot soon forgotten, a rain cloud with the face of forev er. They blessed their m others with secrets. The secrets they nev er told any one else, n ot ev en their m en. The albin o arm s and leg s once used up and starting t o decay were stuck on sticks far away from the tribe. Black birds sat on t op of them , dev oured their magic.

Carly Berg texas, usa

Looking Back

Carly Berg texas, usa

Bringing Back Beulah

was the summ er of Ouija boards and spellcasting and lev itations that alm ost w orked.

We half-dozen little girls passed the long, h ot day s in the cool basem ent bom b shelter, scaring ourselv es silly . One Saturday, my dad cam e down and found us doing our thing, it was the Ouija board that tim e. He g ot really mad. He said t o nev er, ev er play with the supernatural because that was play ing with fire. It was

Looking Back Bringing Back Beulah

inv iting the dev il into y our life. He said we were only allowed t o do Christian things, not dev il things. My m om and dad g ot in a big fight about it. She said he was paranoid and repressed and we were just play ing. Besides, The Church was part of The Establishm ent, who was inv ited t o stick it. He said she needed to get off her neurotic

cam paigns

and

superv ise

the

children

appr opriately while he worked all day . Me and my sist ers huddled t ogether in the bom b shelter, sick ov er the fight, but hon ored to be taken so seriously . We believ ed our m om . Another girl had to bring her Ouija board ov er, because my dad threw ours in the trash. That was the summ er Aunt Beulah died. She was really Great Great Aunt Beulah, and she scared the sa ss out of us. Her v oice was som ewhere between Kentucky bourbon and peacock screech. She’d watch the fights on TV and pound her fist s all the way down t o the floor, scream ing at the black and white screen, “Why, y ou son of a bitch! Y ou dirty ba stard!” The other ladies- my grandm a, and aunts, and great aunts, and great great auntsthey were nice.

Tom Sheehan massachusetts, usa

197

Looking Back

198

Tom Sheehan massachusetts, usa

Lover, not Yet Lover

And

so it was, plain and sim ple, a necessary thing to do, an oath m ov ing

in oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s self at the beginning of resolv e, a slow upward presence, a clim bing of spirit, so that he saw it com ing as if fr om a field of m ist caught out at op a pasture, the m orning y oung, dew spread and spent under the sun exerting it self

199

Looking Back Lov er, not Yet Lov er

alway s, and with it all he saw the outcom e, how it would com e down the line swift a s a m em ory in som e far place where he was out of this habit range, this wide place he m ight have called hom e grounds except it was not solicit ous at the tim e, and that m em ory , a s stark as it m ight be at the finish of its appearance, would com e like that sam e m ist off the grass, at fir st a s conceivable, then as pr obable, and finally , with a conscious n ote of thanksgiv ing, com e whole and m ov ing and it would be her in a final presence in the sam e place, in his heart and n ot his m ind, in his heart and not behind his ey es where he thought he’d see it again and again, in his heart and n ot in his hands the way he’d recall her at odd m om ents of the night with a twist and a turn and a sigh, but sleep now a dread enemy, sleep an im possibility , sleep that cam e of wretched ev asion and long m ourning, and just as alway s she’d be v isible in a new hav en, looking at him, her chin in hand, blue ey es as wide as ev er, and sending him that continual m essage, only t o hav e it way laid by som eone other than either one of them, another body in her place, a new touch, a new taste, a wom an of thought, a woman possible, perhaps around the corner, perhaps at the next cup of tea, perhaps a pair of ey es he’d know would be

200

Looking Back acknowledgements

Looking Back acknowledgements “Mama” by Tantra Bensko first appeared in Between Altered States, issue 7, November, 2010 “Bringing Back Beulah” by Carly Berg first appeared in Devilfish Review “Fat Pat” by Carly Berg first appeared in Free Flash Fiction “The Last Supper” by Carly Berg first appeared in Orion Headless “Shattered” by Carly Berg first appeared in Orion Headless “Risen” by Carly Berg first appeared in Fiction 365 “The Horse Head Earrings” by Carly Berg first appeared in Untoward Magazine “Turquoise Dreams” by Carly Berg first appeared in Here Comes Everyone “The Old Should Be Explorers” by Ute Carson first appeared in PitWit.com, 2006 “Just One More Thing (to go wrong)” by James D. Reed first appeared in Midwestern Gothic, issue #8 “The Storekeeper” by Tom Sheehan first appeared in his own collection of short fiction “Brief Cases, Short Spans”, 2008 “Rig Runner” by Tom Sheehan first appeared in Fiction Warehouse, 2002 “The Long March Home” by Abigail Wyatt first appeared in her own collection of short fiction “Old Soldiers, Old Bones and Other Stories” “Al Claro de Luna” by Abigail Wyatt first appeared in her own collection of short fiction “Old Soldiers, Old Bones and Other Stories”

307

Looking Back

308

Looking Back table of contents

Tantra Bensko - california, usa .............................................7 White Arms.........................................................................9 Papa's Song......................................................................13 Mama...............................................................................16 Carly Berg - texas, usa ........................................................19 Bringing Back Beulah.........................................................21 Fat Pat .............................................................................27 The Last Supper................................................................33 Shattered .........................................................................40 Risen ................................................................................47 The Horse Head Earrings...................................................52 Turquoise Dreams.............................................................56 Ute Carson - texas, usa .......................................................61 The Old Should Be Explorers..............................................63 Tony Concannon - massa chuse tts, usa ..............................85 The Book..........................................................................87 Rudy Ch. Garcia - colorado, usa ..........................................97 Class Epiphany..................................................................99 Margaret Karmazin - pennsylvania, usa ...........................111 He'll Do .......................................................................... 113 James D. Reed - ohio, usa .................................................137 Just One More Thing (To Go Wrong)................................ 139

309

Looking Back

W. Jack Savage - california, usa .......................................185 Veterans at the Post Office...............................................187 Tom Sheehan - massachusetts, usa .................................197 Lov er, not Yet Lov er ........................................................199 The Storek eeper..............................................................210 The Rig Runner ...............................................................233 Bhadauria Manish Singh - gujarat, india .........................247 The Lunatic .....................................................................249 Hollis Whitlock - british columbia, canada ......................257 The Search for Eternal Life...............................................259 Samuel K. Wilkes - alaba ma, usa .....................................271 Leav ing the Nest..............................................................273 A bigail Wyatt - england, uk ..............................................283 The Long March Home.....................................................285 A l Claro de Luna..............................................................292 acknowledgements ...............................................307

310

Nazar Look Attitude and Culture Jou rnal of Crimean Tatars in Romania www.nazar-look.com

2013 Projects: Looking Back Anthology of Short Stories

Tomcat Tale by Valery Petrovsky Short Story Collection (English / Romanian / Crimean Tatar editions)

Metric Conversions – Metrelí kaytarmalar Poetry of Our Time - Búgúngí tízmeler ğîyîntîgî

2012 Projects: The Bizarre Age Anthology of Short Stories

Crossing the Path of Tellers Short Stories of Our Time

The Infinite Facets of Sphere An Anthology of Essays and Interviews

Magnetic Resonance Therapy Anthology of Interviews

Spectral Lines Anthology of Contemporary Poetry

Extraterrestrial Life Poetry of Our Time