Our new house really felt like a home, with cockroaches and two pit bulls and a palm tree and a chain-link fence. On that first day, I heated up a can of kidney beans for breakfast and ate it sitting ... [+]
Karen Heuler has published nine books and well over 100 stories in literary, science fiction, and fantasy genres. "Cora" is on Short Circuit #01, Short Édition's quarterly review.
"Who are you?" her mother asked. "I'm your daughter, Alice." "I know that. But I mean, who are you?" Her mother's eyes locked onto hers; she was clutching Alice's eyes. What did she mean, then? "I love you," Alice said. "Don't you know that?" "But who are you?" "Alice." "How did you find me? How did you know where to look?" "I'll always find you. Wherever you are, I'll find you." Her mother looked a little easier at that. She always thought she was in prison now, trapped somewhere, for a crime she couldn't remember. She felt, sometimes, that the charges were false. At other times the charges d