VJ Hamilton

“A Night to Remember” by VJ Hamilton

I was waiting tables on a not-so-busy evening at the Old Mill restaurant the summer before my final year of actuarial science, a discipline all about probability and death. Although cycling to work was more dangerous, and Jenna argued I shouldn’t do it, I spent less time doing it, so in fact it was safer than riding a bus. Moreover, cycling took my mind off the new state of relationship limbo we had entered. A week earlier Jenna had been offered a scholarship abroad. Our summer fling was about to end—or enter a new phase, I wasn’t sure whic...

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“Some Enchanted Evening” by VJ Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #161

Nurse Alford noiselessly opened the door, just wide enough to poke her head around it. “Did you buzz?” she said to the woman who lay like a darkened splash on the slanted bed. “Yes,” said the woman, tapping the translucent IV line attached to her arm. “Please get me some more of whatever this is. I can’t bear how these afternoons drag on.” “Mrs. McKennitt,” the nurse said and sighed. “I would gladly ask the doctor to increase your medication, but you will need a better reason for it. An ‘afternoon dragging on’ is not reason enough, you know....

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“Lake Small” by VJ Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #160

Everywhere the bodies were disappearing. Bodies of water, that is: the puddles, the sloughs, the ponds. Even the great river that ran among the lakes was growing smaller. On a tiny allotment, in a gentle valley, not far from a little village, the swimmer was crying. The air was so crisp each tear shrank to a grain of salt and was borne away on the breeze. She was crying because her beloved Lake Small was about to disappear. On fair weather days, she used to swim across the lake to the big rock and bask like a turtle in the sun’s kindly warm...

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“When Charlie Met Polly” by VJ Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #159

Charlie Bemis tugged at the celluloid collar around his neck as he waited for the judge to grant him a private audience. He peered out the tiny window at the people on the dusty street of the mining town outside. A man was arriving on horseback; two others were preparing to leave. Women in bonnets and long aprons carried woven baskets as they stepped carefully around horse-droppings. “Next!” said the clerk and soon Charlie was ushered into the judge’s chambers, sparsely decorated with a 44-star flag, a map of the Idaho Territory, and a pictu...

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“A Long and Winding Road” by VJ Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #158

Long and Winding Road Excerpt from the diary of Daniel Bruback, 1978 Day 1 I promised Liz to keep track of the journey, not just the destination. She’s dead set against my plan, to skip one week of haying so I can show support for workers’ rights at the conference in the city. She’s always pulling rank on me. Fourteen months older but two grades ahead in school. Dad will have to show her how to drive the tractor while I’m gone. I hugged her and Lucky and then walked to Highway 11. I got a ride from Greenstone to Geraldton within ten minut...

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“Queen versus Queen” by VJ Hamilton

Excerpt from the diary of Cordelia Brussels, lady-in-waiting to HRH Elizabeth IGreenwich Palace, 1593Dear Diary,The court was a-flutter with rumor of her majesty’s visitor today. I saw it in the heightened shine of their finery, the extra alertness in their eyes. Even my dear mousy friend Agatha wore a pretty shade of brown.The naval commander told me last week the visitor scheduled was “a pirate” who controls most of the western coast. “Surely you jest, Admiral,” said I.The fanfare played and she was announced: Grace O’Malley of Ireland. An...

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“Liar, Liar” by VJ Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #156

What can I say? The guy’s my best friend—but he’s a pathological liar. This morning, for instance. We are at the indie coffee shop, in a line-up moving as slow as Saturday on a long weekend. Norman places his order, saying, “It’s a lovely day for a latte,” and the barista gives him a second look before she touches her order screen. She takes a cup and asks for his name. “Sam,” he says. His eyes flicker to her name badge as she marks the cup. Then he says, “Juliet, I forgot… could you make it almond milk instead of cow’s?” “Oh.” She glances a...

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“Swings and Roundabouts” by VJ Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #155

When I heard Aunt Maisie’s warble on the voice-mail I groaned. Although she and Uncle Leland are no-fuss visitors, the type who’d welcome a cheese sandwich at my kitchen table, I suspected they had an agenda behind their impromptu visit in late spring. They’re good friends with Genevieve’s family. I wanted an excuse for a knock-down belly-busting barbecue. I was in the mood to coax a T-bone steak to perfection on my shiny new thousand-dollar deluxe grill enthroned on the deck that I had lovingly refurbished most of the past year while Genevi...

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“The Snow the Snow the Snow” by VJ Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #153

Crack! Crack! The blade of Branden Bannerman’s icebreaker chipped at the mound of ice in his backyard. The snow had been thick this year, smothering everything, including the flimsy carport roof. After every snowfall, he had shoveled off the roof, creating a gargantuan snowbank, which the kids called “our iceberg.” In the freeze-thaw cycle of early spring, it was far too icy for the kids to ride their toboggans on as they used to do, so now it sat there as hard and cold and immutable as misery. “What on earth are you doing?” Audrey shouted, ...

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“Tell Me More” by VJ Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #150

 “Think about others? I am sick and tired of thinking about others!” Barb Ellacott posted to the main message board of her favorite chatroom, SundayPainters.com. In person, Barb was meek and mild with everyone in her seniors’ low-rise condominium, but she loved SundayPainters (motto: “For Artists 9 to 90”) and felt she could let her hair down in the chatroom, even if it were long tangly tresses instead of the practical grey bob she had worn for years. “Why are you sick and tired?” The reply from Habib, another member, floated in from cy...

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“Retraining” by VJ Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #149

The coal-fired power plant is closing, ready to turn off the lights forever in its industrial complex, and Petra shudders before the winds of change. She gamely attends the half-day retraining sessions, preparing to “deploy her skills in other sectors of the economy.” Late at night she seethes with the question Why me? but in daylight she obeys the poster plastered everywhere: Stay Calm and Carry On. She slows down as she rounds the curve of the highway, mindful of the bald tires that need replacing. An intermittent chirp reminds her that th...

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“Your New View Awaits” by VJ Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #148

The property agent cancels at the last minute. “But the key’s in a lockbox so you can still go in and have a look at this beauty,” she assures us in her breezy, overconfident way. With some key-jiggling, I unlock the door to the recently advertised “Your New View Awaits - Classy 1 BDRM Walk-up” I step inside, looping my finger around my purse strap, stretched as tight as it will go, and feel the purse’s weight bump against me, heavy as doubt. Dave barges into the middle of the biggest room, clacking his hard-soled boots, and cocks an eye a...

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“Film Club” by VJ Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #147

They sat in the flickering darkness, watching the final credits. For two hours, Mark Dirac had shared part of the universe with Blanche, breathing in her scent, listening more to her small creaturely noises than to the Japanese movie, After Life. Two hours of bliss. Oh sure, he had worried a little about his body, about not mouth-breathing and not tongue-smacking, and not being overcome by the occasional hardening that he had learned to disperse by thinking about solving first-order differential equations. But unlike other dates, he hadn’t w...

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“There is No I in Scream” by VJ Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #146

The memo goes out a month after I join EasyCo: everybody must attend the team-building exercises. I must remember to bring my opener. My group includes Jaden, also a new hire. He’s cute in a J.Crew unstained T-shirt kind of way. Six big sleek buses trundle us out to a rustic hideaway, a monster log cabin where we assemble in the frigid air conditioning. Perch on chair-sized wooden cubes, we watch the opening ceremonies. “It takes teamwork to make the dream work! People are our most important asset!” People are our most important resource! G...

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“Hand Shoe Elegy ” by VJ Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #145

Year 0 He dies during lockdown, on his way over to feed the cattle of a sick neighbor. The funeral was rushed and ill-considered, like a battlefield amputation. Two months later, when gatherings are greenlighted again, we decide to hold a memorial service. When we can’t find a decent photo of my notoriously camera-shy father, the event co-ordinator suggests we “highlight a personal item, something to focus on, maybe a favorite mug? His pipe?” Her hair is perfectly coiffed; her suit is immaculate. I become aware that I haven’t slept in two da...

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