The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
Beyond the RiverBy Caroline Miller QuailBellMagazine.com Editor's Note: This is the cover image to Beyond the River (Schiffer Press) by Alex & Caroline Miller. The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
And SymbolsBy Philip Umbrino QuailBellMagazine.com Her shadow had been very confident about everything since she learned how to make it talk a week ago. Her grandfather’s diary had been in a pile of old relics from their attic, and with nothing to do over the summer Arianna had read the entire thing. Tips on focusing her mind, paying attention to the world around her, the shadows that had their own little world apart from our own. She was able to tap into that world by sitting in the dark and talking, reaching out. Following her grandfather’s steps. And it had worked. Her image, a shadowy version of herself, had begun to converse. It even moved somewhat apart from herself. Though it never left her side. Like any shadow would. When her grandfather had passed away a few weeks ago she was asked to go through the house and help her mother collect and organize the last of her grandparents’ belongings. When she came upon the pages about separating the shadow from the self and letting it do whatever you told it to do…well, she’d realized she needed that skill. Except the pages had been torn out. The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
A Day in the HiveBy Allen Kopp QuailBellMagazine.com Queen Francine, the Queen of all the Bees, came into the hive dragging her enormous egg sac, a cigarette dangling from her lips. Her harlequin glasses were askew because she had sat on them on the bed and bent them. “Where the hell is everybody?” she said with her characteristic sneer, making a whistling sound when she spoke because her dentures were loose. When she saw one of the worker bees—her own offspring—working a crossword puzzle, she bit his head off and ate it. Before she went into her office and slammed the door, she turned and said to the room at large, “And let that be a lesson to everybody!” “My goodness, she’s in a foul mood today,” Ermine said to Lucille, the worker bee closest to him. The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
Why There Are No White ElephantsBy Bolashade Hanson QuailBellMagazine.com Long ago in the scorching, grassy Plains, where all the wild animals dwelt and roamed, lived a very sad elephant. She was sad because she was an oddball of her kind. She gazed at all the great cats in their mocha spotted fur playing with their cubs. Her heart sank when passing a herd of striped zebras grazing together. She sat across the watering hole starring longingly at the gray majestic elephants gathered on the other side. But because White Elephant’s skin was not gray, the other elephants wanted nothing to do with her. They raised their long trunks and turned their tusk up in the air when White Elephant came near for a drink. Every day, the other young elephants teased and mocked her. One day, she ran back to her parents sobbing. “Mother. Father. Why am I the only White Elephant in all the Plains?” she asked as her floppy, pink ears turned red. “No one will play with me. They say mean things and make scary faces at me. Oh, why am I so ugly?” By Christine Stoddard “My dear,” her mother said. “You are not ugly. You are the most special and most
beautiful of all the elephants. You were given to us by Mother Nature herself. You are a miracle child.” “If I’m so special, why do the other elephants ignore me and run away?” “Honey, they treat you that way because you are different. They don’t know what a kind and smart elephant you are. Don’t pay them any mind. You just stay yourself and remember we love you. The others will come around in time,” said her father. “But I don’t want to wait! I don’t want to be different anymore! I want to be beautiful and gray like all the other elephants.” White Elephant shouted, running away from her parents. She rested under the old Acacia Tree she usually sat at alone, letting out a loud trumpeting sound scaring away all the African Sunbirds from their perches. Tears fell from her peach eyes and rolled down her pale thick skin. From noon to dusk, she cried as she watched the other elephant families take cover under the large setting sun, wishing desperately that she could be beautiful and normal. |