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We’re going to have a party for him but he won’t be there.

DEATH OF A BOND TRADER BY JONATHAN BERZER 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 92

Sarah doesn’t think children should go to funerals but her husband has to work and there is no-one to leave them with. She’s told them they’re going to a party.

The baby, crying.

I bought diapers and clothes and toys and bouncers and bottles and everything I could think of to make that little one happy when he got here. And she took him. She took the baby, a month old.

SHE DROVE WEST BY BRANDY MCKENZIE 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSU92

I need something else, I don’t know what.

IN MUNICH LATE BY IVANOV REYEZ 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 92

I must decide my future. I’m past the dream, she thought. I’m going to be gone. 

Imperfect perfection.

PERFECT BY JEFF WAINWRIGHT  34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 92

Gaudi had no money. He used whatever he could find, clapped it together, so one part of a balcony was this shape and the other entirely different. Imperfect perfection.

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Her happy life vanishes forever.

NIGHTSHIFT BY LINDSAY SMITH 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 91

Renata doesn’t see Little Josh tottering in the driveway, doesn’t hear him yelling, mummy wait.

It only mattered that I was beautiful.

I can’t figure out whether he’s not texting me today because he’s finally gotten tired of me or if he’s just busy.

He wanted to free her by paying a bride price.

THE AFGHAN GIRL BY C ROTHSCHILD 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 90

At 47 Lars had married the 18-year-old Miriam, the beggar girl from Afghanistan. What on earth did he think? That they could be happy together?

Listen to the surf. I could lie here, lie here with you forever.

STARTING AGAIN BY LINDSAY SMITH 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 89

Do you think we could do things together always? I mean, like we could be these archaeologists sifting the sand for the remains of ancient civilisations, and together all the time, sharing everything.

 All the girls knew your 

 Asian putz was smaller.

HALF-FOOT HEROES BY BEN UMAYAM  34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 87

I was taught the Asian Myth. Asians have minuscule members. The other guys and all the girls knew your Asian putz was smaller.

 You wore my hat and laughed as 

 we walked home hand in hand.

LOVE AND PHILODENDRON BY PATRICK SEAMAN 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 83

Do you remember when we would go fishing together? It was a quick walk down to the little creek that ran through your father’s backyard. We would kick off our shoes and ball our socks into our pockets and feel which rocks were the slimiest and search for crayfish with our toes. I remember you wore my hat and laughed as we walked home hand in hand and I told you to keep it and you did.

 Everything, she thought, is 

 an accident of where you are.

STEALING HOME BY KAY BONTEMPO 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 78

Two bell peppers, Muenster cheese. Cauliflower, a pack of Newports, Tampax. Martinelli’s apple juice. Paper towels two-ply. English Breakfast tea. Boil-in-a-bag rice, paper clips, ramen noodles. Maybe some ice cream if there was money left over. America’s Choice vanilla, eaten straight from the carton. It wouldn’t be bad. With an uncomfortable pop, he pulled out of her and lay beside her, breathing hard. It was 11.52pm. She wondered if the Shop’n’Save would even be open.