I saw them once, when I was little. Maybe age four or five. The tree on the other side of the fence had branches stretching over our garden. It was too tall for me to reach the succulent, juicy plums ... [+]
In a Handful of Dust
Laurence Raphael Brothers's story, "In a Handful of Dust," was originally published in Short Edition’s October '19 Rendez-Vous. Laurence is a writer and a technologist. His new WWI-era fantasy novel Twilight Patrol is available for purchase on Amazon.com.
A witch wind was howling out in the desert. I was praying for a storm to scour Coaling Depot 6 down to the ground, wipe it right off the Arizona Territory map. Apart from prayer, I still had a shot at redemption, by way of killing the man who took Maria from me. Too much of a coward to do it the day before, I was hoping for one last chance.The door to the depot saloon opened. I figured it was one of Branson's outlaws sneaking in for a drink against the boss-man's orders. But I could tell right away that the man had come in from the desert, a thick layer of dust caked on his clothes. For a mome