Evita’s picture displayed on a popcorn stand.
Evita (little Eva) Peron’s beginnings were about as humble as a person could get in Argentina. Her father, Juan Duarte, was a rancher who already had a wife and children. He took Evita’s mother, Juana Ibarguaren, as his mistress and started a second illegitimate family that he kept on the edge of poverty in the little town of Junin. Continue reading
“Unk” was first published in Disturbed Digest, issue 1, Alban Lake Press, June, 2013. It was subsequently published as a reprint by A Murder of Storytellers in Beyond the Nightlight in December, 2014.
“Unk” opening paragraphs:
The Oklahoma City Family Medicine Center might not be a good place to meet guys, but I see a really hot one the moment I walk out the door. Good looking. Tall and dark. Native American. He’s just my type, so I check my watch and pretend I haven’t been inside for anything important.
He likes my hair. Who can blame him? I spent a lot of time mixing in the eight long, thin, highlighted braids with tiny glass beads whipped at the ends. I toss my head so he won’t notice if my smile is a little crooked. It probably is because my lower lip is partly numb. Doctor Martha Singleton says the feeling might come back in time. Continue reading
“I 35” was published in Phoenix Photo & Fiction vol. 1, December, 2014. http://waxpoetryart.com/phoenix/issues/001/johnbiggs.html
“I 35” Opening paragraphs:
“Them red ants are the worst. There’s millions of them, like the Red Army that gobbled up half of Europe back in the war.” Dad pointed his pipe stem at the line of ants marching through my my green plastic soldiers, looking for bits of Lorna Doone cookie I dropped on the World War II battlefield in our living room.
Baby Doll growled at them from a distance. She barked when I pinched a commie ant between my thumb and finger and dropped her on her comrades. They tore the body into thirds and carried them away. Continue reading