The Caged Budgerigars
My eleven-year-old son Wasim slides his book bag from his shoulders and runs towards the new birdcage, his eyes brimming with excitement. “Thank you for these beautiful birds, Ammi,” he… Read more »
Category: #amwriting
Morning at Ammi’s House
Published by Superstition Review in December, 2023. From Ammi’s rooftop terrace, in the haze before dawn, I see the faint outlines of Uttarakhand mountains, one range looking over the shoulder… Read more »
A Mute Morning
The dusty blades of the ceiling fan were still. The Summer storm last night with claps of lightning, gales of wind, and lashes of rain, had knocked out the electricity…. Read more »
Henna
I sit in the center of the soft bed strewn with rose petals, strings of jasmine forming a cloying canopy from the bedposts to the ceiling. The room, decorated for… Read more »
All My Lovers
This micro won first place in the National Flash Fiction Day Micro Contest 2023: gone before the toothpaste flattened out, leaving behind ellipses of passion on my thighs, tumbler stains… Read more »
7:55 A.M.
Five minutes until my first Teams meeting. I’m still in pajamas but you are showered and ready for an appointment. You grab your car keys and step out while I… Read more »
Ink and Alphabet
Published in print by Cream City Review. Dear Diary, It’s going to be a mango-less summer. This spring the sun was so strong it killed the tender mango flowers before… Read more »
Another One of Those Days
“Oh, look!” Roger slammed the brakes and steered into the shoulder, the tires cutting into the rubble across the yellow line. Kelly’s phone jumped out of her hand as the… Read more »
Mosquito
This story won second place in Pithead Chapel’s Larry Brown Short Story Prize. Through the pores of the mosquito net, I see Abba holding my aunt Salma Khala’s hand. She’s… Read more »