Adults

The Beggar by Donald Carugati (a Short Story Contest entry)

Daily, I commuted by train to my office in Newark. Standing near the station was a young man begging. He seemed friendly, jovial and talkative. During the next several weeks I would donate my spare change and sometimes an occasional dollar. Then one day no beggar. What happened? A month later at a busy intersection we recognized each other. He shouted hey dude, thank you I got a job.

Rumspringa by Donna Lee Goldberg (a Short Story Contest entry) 

Rumshpringa*

Leah was walking Magenta. Suddenly, they saw a golden doodle happily running and jumping across the lawns near his house.

“Duke!”

They ran to him. Duke was off leash. His humans were missing.

Leah held Magenta’s leash as Magenta herded Duke home. The front door was open; the house was empty. They entered and stayed together until Duke’s family returned. Soon Margie came home, shocked, but relieved her third child was safe.

At the Maison Hannon (for G. C.) by Chris Chan (a Short Story Contest entry) 

In just twenty seconds and twenty steps, you’ll fall for her. Because at your request for poetry, she’ll recite to you, from unblemished memory, twelve lines of Dante’s “Inferno” in her native Italian as you ascend the gilded staircase together. And by the time you reach the top, you’ll have plunged into her poetic forbear’s despair. For what words could you summon in your language to retrieve your heart from her own?