THE TRAGEDY OF THE ROSEMARKIE SEAL BY EMILY NEVES 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 103

I turn my back to the cave wall and look out. The slope of the hill and a little green bramble with a spray of yellow flowers partially obscures one side of the opening and on the other side I see the green-gray sea reaching to the horizon. I think I could live here if I had to. 

MISTRESS OF THE WOODS BY RICH MOORE 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 103

She lives at the end of a dead-end road, high above the valley on the edge of a redwood grove.

PERFECT BY JAMES MARTIN 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 103

We found a truly perfect site. I parked the car near a picnic table, trees standing tall and straight with branches keeping the place cool, and there were no other campers between us and the lake.

SWEET NOTHING BY LINDSAY SMITH 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 103

“Fifties is good,” Harry says. He takes out a hundred, two fifties. He smiles goodbye to the woman, stuffing the fifties in his pocket. Harry crosses the road swinging his re-usable plastic shopping bag. An old man lying on a bench raises his hand, “Can you spare fifty?”  Harry drifts through a supermarket. They’re out of Vegemite. At the checkout the blonde asks, “Did you watch the football at the weekend? That’s 14.85.” Harry hands over a fifty. The checkout chick asks him, “You got anything smaller?”