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A tale from the Old West At five hundred yards away, the drumming of a horse's hooves on frozen ground reached two men waiting in ambush. "That him?" The younger, […]

Sometimes kindness we've given returns to us in unexpected ways. Sometimes kindness we've given returns to us in the most unexpected ways. Today my friend and I are shopping. We're […]

A botched burglary led to an unforgettable Christmas As a young college student I did not have much money. For me, hitting the books was easy, but putting my feet […]

Everybody in Rightsland was excited; their new ruler, a Philosopher King, was creating a new constitution. It was to be called "The Charter of Rights and Freedoms," and every person […]

'A party! A party!' the forest animals whispered as they scurried toward the clearing. Everyone was bringing something good to eat. Chipmunk's basket overflowed with nuts and berries. Rabbit's basket [...]

Congratulations to the winners of our "Be the Next Little House Girl" writing contest! Mary Lynn Driscoll Age 12, from Lancaster ,WI "A Cold Day On the Big Hill" In […]

As I grow nearer to the first drop, the butterflies in my stomach fly faster and faster. The ground seems to sink lower as the flowing clouds above appear closer […]

The moment she raised her hand, Casey feared she had made a terrible mistake. "OK," Coach said. "Casey will be our goalie in the fourth quarter." Casey just nodded. It […]

MONDAY It had to happen sooner or later -- Sir Marcus has read a business book. Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department, he says. He [...]

Patsy Prowse was an English girl with an ambition big enough for a girl twice her size and much older than her ten years. It was a secret ambition, one [...]

Getting off the hook. My cousin Franco leaned over the rail and studied the breeder trout and salmon swarming around the pilings at the Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery. He was [...]

MURMURS AND WHISPERS buzzed through the darkened hall. No one had any idea why the elders had called a meet, but that did not hinder them from thinking up reasons. [...]

I'VE ALWAYS LOVED to explore. Sometimes I'll just put on my roller blades and go, turning onto the paths I know so well and trying to turn around corners I [...]

'ONCE UPON A TIME--no, no, that's not right ... ' Laura chewed on her thumbnail and pouted. 'Gosh, I just can't seem to get this right!' Finally, she threw down [...]

SALLY WALKED SLOWLY across the long stretch of brown sand, tripping over small pebbles blocking her path. She scurried down to the rocks, dirty-blond hair flying as she went. Casually, [...]

THE AIR WAS COOL, and leaves had departed from their shaky branches. Early October had come. Ansadore, the old chestnut mare, was rolling in the browning grass. She snorted, rolled [...]

Well, the Marblehead Yacht Club cleared outa the Cove last week, having spent the weekend on their annual Maine raft-up n'lobster bake. We Covers have been hostin' the event f'years [...]

If you squint your eyes a little, there's no telling what you might catch. My best friend, Mike, sits hunched at the end of his drive-way, his favorite fishing rod […]

My first view of how outsiders saw my family was as the subject of astonishment and derision My brother Tony found the picture among our parents' stuff after they died. [...]

IT'S EIGHT O'CLOCK. BED TIME--FOR the little ones, that is. Yours is another story; you have miles to go before you sleep. Add that to the miles you've already traveled [...]

I went right up to him and took his elbow, not even asking him if I should, because he was heading hellfire for the first step, not seeing--because how could [...]

Devil Cat "THIS WILL BE CAPITAL FUN," the grinning idiot in armor declared, gesturing at the mob blocking the rutted roadway. D'Cey doubted that. Doubted it a lot. Keeping a […]

Wednesday, May 17 -- '... estimates of up to a billion dead ... aid teams in Bombay report that deaths now exceed ten thousand per day ... In Washington, officials [...]

ELDON TURNER IS BLOWING up balloons. One after the other from the helium tank, four-feet-wide neoprene balls he ties off and tucks under the fishing net he's knotted onto his […]

There are various ways of trying to read somebody's mind, or predicting good or bad fortunes. Helen and I were obsessed with seeing and thinking things that weren't there and […]

'Priscilla, where are you?' Oh, no! Mother was coming and Priscilla was dripping wet. She frantically shook herself, trying to get dry. Too late. Mother Gorilla appeared through the bushes [...]

On Sunday, Mitch felt an itch. On his arm was a tiny red bump the size of a freckle. He showed the bump to his friend Sammy. Sammy said, 'Aww, [...]

When Krissy's class went to the duck pond, Miss Plunkett, her teacher, made a big mistake. She put the bread into the bag first. Then she put a can of [...]

TAZU WAS HAVING A TANTRUM, because he was three. After the birthday of the world, tomorrow, he would be four and would not have tantrums. He had left off screaming [...]

At the end of his first week his feelings of guilt and ambivalence were being replaced by a sense of good will and atonement, as if he and Vietnam were [...]

'Il buono e il bello.' --Motto engraved above the door of Andrew Jackson Downing's home IN 1850, ANDREW JACKSON DOWNING looked out from the highest tower of Warwick Castle and [...]

This is a story of how ordinary citizens cast out a crooked president by sitting peacefully for three days on the street. After many years of suffering, under President Ferdinand […]

Roy was a child when his father planted Jennifer, a sapling named after his mother. Roy's mother had been feverish for over a month, but during one of her periods […]

"Wow!" yelled Jeremy when he saw the beach in front of his grandparents' cabin in Alaska. There were logs to climb on and rocks to throw and shells to collect. […]

Women might come and go, but at least the dog will stick around He parked his truck in the gravel in front of the Jim Bridger Lodge, and when he [...]

The mountains and tall pine trees would soon be behind us, and I didn't want to miss anything. I had promised Margaret that I would send a letter with all [...]

A story of war Soon after midnight, my father, ever the punctual sergeant, clambers out of his grave and totters off into No Man's Land with a lieutenant in tow. [...]

In one of the more intriguing routes to publication in recent memory, author LaShonda K. Barnett was approached by New Victoria Publishers after an onstage reading during the set of […]

In 1908 Charles H. Sternberg and his three sons hunted big game in Wyoming. They were not worried that their prey, a three-horned dinosaur called Triceratops, had been dead for […]

Major Gerald Dawkins carefully sipped his Harvey's Bristol Cream and looked with just a hint of distaste at the American. 'It wasn't that he wasn't a competent chap,' he thought [...]

It's in there THE MOTORCYCLE LAY AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POND; this was fact and this was legend. How it came to be there was open to speculation, for […]

Jonathan Matthew played outside all morning. When he came in he wore his jacket. He wore his cap. He wore his scarf. But where were Jonathan Matthew's mittens? 'Maybe I [...]

The fall leaves crunched under Purnima's sneakers. Her tight black curls bounced as she marched past the Jones boys in their front yard. "Hi, Purina Dog Chow," they teased from […]