Cast of Wonders 452: Little Wonders 29 – Flash Fiction Contest Winners• Authors:
Shane Halbach,
Alyson Grauer, and
Reed Mingault• Narrators:
Tonia Ransom,
Alyson Grauer, and
Danielle Imara • Host:
KB Sluss• Audio Producer:
Jeremy Carter• Artist:
Alexis GobleThe stories in “Cast of Wonders 452: Little Wonders 29 – Flash Fiction Contest Winners" are Cast of Wonders originals.
Click here to listen to Episode 452
"Porch Light for the Lonely" by Alyson Grauer
When the wide western sky is black, embroidered with thousands of silver stars, and crickets sing unseen in the dry grass, critters come to the porch of the old house. The rug has long since lost its color from years of harsh sun. The wrought-iron bench is rusted, enamel flaking away like tree bark. The mailbox is crooked, and the torn curtains blow gently in the wind. Though it’s the sturdiest house left on the block, it sits unlived in, untrespassed. Only the flies and spiders know how empty it truly is inside.
"Bony Bonnie Dead Horse" by Shane HalbachAaliyah always wanted a horse. Mama said she couldn’t have one in the city because what would it eat? And besides, where were they going to keep it? Not up on the 4th floor.
But Aaliyah wanted it so, so bad. She leaned out of her bedroom window, even though Mama said she would fall out, and just sort of pushed out from her brain. Her brain pushed, “Come here, horse! I need you more than anything in the world!”
"The Scribe’s Garden" by Reed MingaultThere is dirt under Kelebek’s nails and worn into the lines of her hands. Her garden is full; of flowers and bees and hummingbirds and life. She breathes in deep, letting the muddled sweetness of a hundred kinds of flower sink deep into her lungs, savoring it for the fleeting pleasure it is.
This peace never lasts. Not in the season of the Butterfly.Tags: Alexis Goble, Alyson Grauer, apprentice, butterflies, cats, change, companionship, Danielle Imara, flash fiction contest, ghosts, horses, Jeremy Carter, KB Sluss, Little Wonders, magic, Reed Mingault, Shane Halbach, Tonia Ransom, wishes, Young Adult fiction
