Word Catalyst has a new Short Story editor,
            Bob Church. Send your short stories to: Bob
            Church@wordcatalystmagazine.com. For a critique of your short
            stories, send them to: critique@wordcatalystmagazine.com.

            
 


            
What's
            Your Favorite Color? by Graham
            Gersdorff

            

              

                
 
 
                
Terry Terwilliger arrived
                  in his cubicle on Friday morning, forty-five minutes late, to
                  the stale smell of yesterday's half-eaten lunch. Having been
                  in meetings most of the previous day, he had not taken the time
                  to walk to the kitchen to dispose of it properly, and had simply
                  shoved it to one corner of his desk.
 
              
            

            
 

            
Families
            & Skeletons by Eddie
            Bruce

            

              

                
 
 
                
To the young lad from the
                  country, summer holidays spent with his grandparents in Portknockie
                  were adventures in another world. Just about the time he became
                  aware of the heartbreak involved in adopting baby wild rabbits
                  he realised that crabs and starfish, although smuggled home in
                  a big jar of seawater, would not survive in a fresh water environment.
 
              
            

            
 

            
Alder,
            Pine and Leonard by Bob Church

            

              

                
 
 
                
My granny once told me that
                  being common is no more a sin than being rich. In truth, it gave
                  me a good many more brothers than rich folks possess, I suspect.
                  No, I don't regret it for an instant. I would have liked to experiment
                  with some of that wealth, but no matter. I've got this sturdy
                  old cabin, sufficient rations and a good bit of dry pine and
                  alder stored.
 
              
            

            
 

            
How
            Airplane Videos Keep Us Grounded
            by Leena Pendharkar

            

              

                
 
 
                
Mountains fade into mist as
                  rivers flow softly to the rhythm of New Age music. The jangle
                  of a keyboard riff fills the air as I reluctantly take a seat
                  beside a fat man, pausing and glancing to let him know I do not
                  approve as he stuffs himself with a meat sandwich. I shove my
                  bag under the seat, then focus on the video, as sunlight bounces
                  over a deciduous forest.
 
              
            

            
 

            
One
            Bite by John Sheirer

            

              

                
 
 
                
Back in his college days,
                  partly on a dare, partly from fatigue, and partly for love, Benjamin
                  Johnson ate an entire jelly donut in one bite.
 
              
            

            
 

            
Uptown by Guy Hogan

            

              

                
 
 
                
Much of the news on TV was
                  about the fighting in Iraq, the Summer Olympics and the 2004
                  Presidential Election Campaign. Locally, the Pirates still had
                  an outside chance to end the season above 500.
 
              
            

            
 

            
Crooked
            Nails by James C. Clar

            

              

                
 
 
                
"Bang" went the
                  hammer again in my uncle's bony hand as he attempted to straighten
                  another crooked nail. He had found a small tin bucket full of
                  old, bent and rusty square nails in the back of the dilapidated
                  barn that served as garage on his lakefront property.