The Season

Purple Christmas lights in the palm trees lining the promenade and an ice rink in the square facing the beach: everyone’s getting ready for the holidays. At the same time, people are strolling along the shore, trouser legs hiked up and some brave enough to test the water. This puts a whole different spin on Winter Fun for me…

Vibrator

By Mari Akasaka

“He said he liked me. But I’m just someone who’s butted into his life; maybe I’m fun to have around but maybe it’d be no big deal if I were gone –is that all I was for him? On the other hand, is it possible that having met him won’t change me at all? All these little moments of release pile up, but then something just as small pulls me back into the me I was before.”

“That’s all it had been. It had no meaning. But I felt as if I had become something good. And that was enough.”