Other fiction in this issue:

Matthew McGevna:
Monologues to God

Andree Lockwood:
Anyone Crazier than You

Airin Miller:
A High, Hard One

Sidik Fofana:
Dangerous Deliveries

Sallie Bingham:
Spooks

Kathleen Founds:
Recipes for Disaster

M.R. Sheffield:
Children

Kristen Fitzpatrick:
The Lost Bureau

Thomas Bolt:
Curtain of Frost

 

Chris Castle: The Card and the Cabin

He first saw her at dawn. She'd parked a little ways up and had
slept in her car, Walter knew that for sure. He watched her
move from the public bathroom to the local shop. Finally, she saw
him and immediately veered away; local-cop reaction. Walter almost
smiled. Sixty-two-year-old man, brand-new gold badge; people
always saw one but not always the other.

In the afternoon he came across her by accident. He'd been helping
to tow a car to the garage, had treated himself to a soda on the walk back
to the office. There she was, sitting on a bench, reading a beat-up old
paperback. He stopped, knowing she'd both seen him and tried to bury
herself back in the book already.

"Miss?" he said, standing far enough away not to block the sun
coming to her.

"Miss?" he asked again, and stepped across in front of her, throwing
a shadow onto her. He didn't like doing it, but there you were.

"Yes, sir?" Her voice was smaller than he expected. She could
have been fifteen; she could have been late twenties. All Walter knew
was that she looked tired. Maybe not even tired; haunted.

"You can't sleep in your car around here." He said it as softly as he could,
trying not to intimidate her. Old as he was, Walter was still over six feet and
carried himself like an old football player, whether he cared to or not.

"My car broke down. I'm sorry. I should be out of your way by
tonight." She finally looked up at him. She nodded a little, as if to finish
what she was saying.

"I could take a look at it for you, if you'd like. I've got pretty good at
mechanics over the years."

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CHRIS CASTLE is English but works as a teacher in Greece. He has been published
over 200 times, including various anthologies. His influences include Ray Carver, PT Anderson and Stephen King. He can be reached for feedback at chriscastle76@hotmail.com