October 19, 2023

“Baby Rando,” A Short Story by Robert Pope

Posted by in Writing
“Baby Rando,” A Short Story by Robert Pope

Walt could not be more pleased with their baby boy, now they’d had him home a couple of weeks. With his fuzz of orange hair and sparkling green eyes, the child glowed. Rando laughed almost as soon as he came from the hospital. Ginger’s Dad called when he got back from The Islands. He could hardly believe it. He had given up hope of his only child making him a grandparent.   Rando came three weeks early, fully formed, Walt informed Ginger’s Dad. Would you believe it? A father at forty-two, after a double bypass hit him wham, sucker punch to the solar plexus. Ten days later he had this fine scar down his naked chest. They took the few chest hairs he had before surgery. Never grew back. He missed them. He had given each…

Continue reading →

October 19, 2021

“Professor Walker’s Leap of Faith,” by Robert Pope

Posted by in Writing
“Professor Walker’s Leap of Faith,” by Robert Pope

This all began one lovely day in May as I walked the flowering roadways of Akron, Ohio. On the sidewalk of Portage Path, a street named after Native American lore from the local past, heading toward Market, which runs through the heart of our small-town city, I saw what looked like an enormous chicken coming toward me. My mind told me it could not be a chicken that large, at least the size of a man, so I took my glasses from my shirt pocket thinking it must be a man dressed for a costume party or some sort of promotional advertisement. With my glasses on, the chicken idea faded away. A powerful-looking man came toward me, yet the sensation of having seen feathers coming off him remained, putting my mind in a quandary as…

Continue reading →

May 28, 2020

“Mutt and Jeff,” A Short Story by Robert Pope

Posted by in Writing
“Mutt and Jeff,” A Short Story by Robert Pope

Friends who knew us back in the day called us Mutt and Jeff. We had buddy tattoos on our biceps, cartoon characters: Jeff tall in an orange striped suit and fedora, with a mustache like mine, Mutt short, with mutton chops, dark suit and top hat. I never told Tina, my second wife, why I had the tattoo because I got into bad habits with Mick a year into my first marriage. I wanted him nowhere near me and Tina, until the bad times hit.   We had funny hours, Tina and I. She sold real estate, I worked from home, free-lancing web sites, buying and selling, investing. We made decent money, unpredictable, sure, but we talked about having a kid. That dropped off when things cooled in the bedroom. One Saturday, I drove by an open house to say hello when I saw her on the porch, talking with a younger guy in dark slacks, blue shirt. He had dark hair, styled, real regular white teeth.     I put it out of my mind overnight. We had a nice dinner, and off she went…

Continue reading →

April 6, 2023

“Popet,” A Short Story by Pierre Boodhoo

Posted by in Writing
“Popet,” A Short Story by Pierre Boodhoo

Where is the line drawn between fantasy and reality? Between what we see and what we imagine? Read on as Pierre Boodhoo, in his first story for The Fictional Café, takes us on this exploration. Popet “Ayesha, my popet, the eve is upon us. It is time to awaken.” Mother’s voice sparks the fire. The embodiment of Mother’s love spreads within her as limbs come alive. After a few blinks, the blurriness fades. The pale, sharp features of Mother’s face hide between strands of green and black hair as she comes into focus. Mother captivates her. “Mother!” Ayesha throws her arms around Mother’s waist.  Herhand pats Ayesha’s head and she beams. Ayesha releases Mother and waits patiently. Mother straightens her clothes and dusts herself off. Ayesha imagines herself in a mature body resembling Mother. If…

Continue reading →

April 4, 2023

Week One: Bob Pope, Eva Grace, Sal Difalco

Posted by in Writing
Week One: Bob Pope, Eva Grace, Sal Difalco

Bob Pope returns to FC with a provocative poem Samantha Quince Devastated   by Death of Biological Mother   The fingertips of one of the older woman’s hands land lightly on her breast like a mosquito.   Excuse me? she says.  You are my biological mother, Samantha Quince says.   Ah, I see, she says, a film crew.   Mother said to come when I can drive myself.    How nice you got your license.   That’s my adoptive mother’s car.   It looks so easy to handle.   I wanted, no needed to see you.   I have lemonade. Do you like tea?   I was inside you. I came like a moon out the side of a planet.  …this woman this stranger my mother, so familiar and weirdly unfamiliar at the same time staring like she doesn’t know me… Wait, what’s this?  Taken in…

Continue reading →

February 13, 2022

Valentine’s Day 2022 at the Café

Posted by in Audio Arts, Writing
Valentine’s Day 2022 at the Café

Three of our Coffee Club Members Share Their Valentine Stories Thank you, thank you everyone, for sending us your Valentine stories! We baristas have read your work and have tried to select works which portray different human perspectives – this in these days of a seemingly endless pandemic which has darkly colored the Be My Valentine emotions for a lot of folks. Our first Valentine’s Day winner is Wiam Najjar’s short story,”Valentine.” Wiam Najjar is a writer at heart and a school principal in mission. She leads teachers and students then goes home to her sacred haven; writing. She’s been published in online magazines and writing blogs and was shortlisted in the 2018 Memoir Magazine #MeToo Essay Contest. You can check out her articles on MyDramaList and her blog WiamNajjar’s Haven. Valentine “Valentine, you forgot your coffee!” She turned…

Continue reading →

December 6, 2021

Announcing Our First Ever Pushcart Prize Nominees!

Posted by in News
Announcing Our First Ever Pushcart Prize Nominees!

Hello Coffee Clubbers! We are excited to announce that, for the first time, The Fictional Café has nominated a handful of our members for a Pushcart Prize. For those who are unfamiliar with Pushcart, they publish an anthology of short stories, essays and poetry from small presses and literary magazines each year—they’ve been doing it since 1976! Small presses and literary magazines can nominate works they’ve published over the course of that given year. The idea to nominate FC members came to us in early 2020. With the pandemic bearing down on the writing world, we wanted to offer something else to our talented, creative members. Ruth Simon, Michael Piekny and I were throwing around ideas and this one stood out as a perfect way to show just how much we value the work we…

Continue reading →