Parva Gradus

Stories

  • tea?

    tea?

    Black branches cut through the gray sky. They divided up the clouds like tight paint strokes, hiding the sky behind masses of tiny twigs. The naked trees swayed to and fro in waves that rippled through the forest, bending under the graceful wind above her head. She was a blot of color in the drab… Read more

  • A Spring Hike

    A Spring Hike

    Emilia took in the scent of the mountain dew as her feet gently nuzzled into the dirt path. Jonathan, a young boy with angelic blonde hair, bobbed happily alongside her. His blue toy plane serpentined through the air as he simulated the sound of a jet engine. “Nothing better than a morning hike in the… Read more

  • Deer God

    Deer God

    A dozen deer galloped along the trail through the moist, shady woods. The trail curved along the shorter side of a greenish lake from which trees with weeping branches grew, hiding the water from the sun. The deer’s chests blew out and squeezed in with perfect rhythm and near synchronicity, for their collective pilgrimage was… Read more

  • Sun Sky

    “Did you notice that?” Susanna asked while casting a concerned glance at the window. “That flicker? They concern you far too much, hon,” her husband sighed. “You’re too spoiled by city life. You’re lucky I finally dragged you back out to the country.” He smiled, anticipating her customary response to that line. But it never… Read more

  • Soot

    A black winter ensnares the landscape with its deceptively calm and deadly ubiquity. The clouds never scream, never flash, only stir. They are gray, infested with soot spewed into the atmosphere from fires that consume flesh dozens, or scores, or hundreds of miles away. Fires somewhere, everywhere, never before the eyes or the ears. Thick… Read more

  • Rescue

    A red van tears through the street. The driver’s teeth are clenched tight enough to cause pain, but he doesn’t feel it. He is too focused on the road, on the obstacles. He cranks the wheel left, then right, then left, scraping other cars and nearly missing pedestrians. His greatest fear is striking a pole… Read more