A K, Author at Agnes and True

Nonna’s Mandolin

Cyril hands me a plastic package bound with duct tape. It’s heavier than I expect. This feels like a clandestine drug deal might. My giggle is stopped short by Cyril’s quizzical look.

“Sorry,” I say. “This is a first for me.”

“Me too.” He clears his throat. “I’m pretty sure it’s flour. With maybe some gravel and a few chunks of chicken bone for good measure. In the urn, I mean.”

I nod. Nonna would have made it look as realistic as possible, just in case.

I nestle the not-flour-gravel-and-chicken-bone package next to the mandolin in my bag. Low […]

Any Time After Now

by Caroline Misner

When Anna was a teenager, she would look at her mother and cringe. To Anna, her mother was ancient. She had wrinkles beginning to bloom in the corners of her eyes; her hair was permanently dyed a chestnut brown to hide the grey strands that had started to sprout at her temples; her breasts drooped a little lower each year, and her waist thickened. Anna vowed that she would rather be dead than be like her mother at the ripe old age of forty-three. She vowed to commit suicide rather than succumb to the ravages […]

About A K

Nonna’s Mandolin

Any Time After Now