SCHEHERAZADE The MPC Literary Magazine Issue 9 Scheherazade Issue 9 Managing Editors Windsor Buzza Gunnar Cumming Readers Jeff Barnard, Michael Beck, Emilie Bufford, Claire Chandler, Angel Chenevert, Skylen Fail, Shay Golub, Robin Jepsen, Davis Mendez Faculty Advisor Henry Marchand Special Thanks Michele Brock Diane Boynton Keith Eubanks Michelle Morneau Lisa Ziska-Marchand i Submissions Scheherazade considers submissions of poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction, novel excerpts, creative nonfiction book excerpts, graphic art, and photography from students of Monterey Peninsula College. To submit your own original creative work, please follow the instructions for uploading at: http://www.mpc.edu/scheherazade-submission There are no limitations on style or subject matter; bilingual submissions are welcome if the writer can provide equally accomplished work in both languages. Please do not include your name or page numbers in the work. The magazine is published in the spring semester annually; submissions are accepted year-round. Scheherazade is available in print form at the MPC library, area public libraries, Bookbuyers on Lighthouse Avenue in Monterey, The Friends of the Marina Library Community Bookstore on Reservation Road in Marina, and elsewhere. The magazine is also published online at mpc.edu/scheherazade ii Contents Issue 9 Spring 2019 Cover Art: Grandfather’s Walnut Tree, by Windsor Buzza Short Fiction Thank You Cards, by Cheryl Ku ................................................................... 1 The Bureau of Ungentlemanly Warfare, by Windsor Buzza ......... 18 Springtime in Ireland, by Rawan Elyas .................................................. 35 The Divine Wind of Midnight, by Clark Coleman .............................. 40 Westley, by Alivia Peters ............................................................................. 65 The Headmaster, by Windsor Buzza ...................................................... 74 Memoir Roller Derby Dreams, by Audrey Word ................................................. 95 Heart First, by Allison Mercer ................................................................ 107 Planet Earth, by Angel Chenevert ......................................................... 110 Poetry Lost Valkyrie, by Rosalia Reyes ............................................................. 120 iii 12:45am, by Rosalia Reyes .......................................................................122 Moon Envy, by Levi Barich .......................................................................124 engraulidae, by Levi Barich ......................................................................125 The Choice, by John O’Leary ....................................................................126 FERAL, by Jeff Barnard ...............................................................................127 Late Night Memoirs of a Bodyguard, by Jeff Barnard ....................128 Werewolf’s Woes, by Windsor Buzza ..................................................129 Sea Salt Story, by Levi Barich ..................................................................130 Forsythia, by Jeff Barnard .........................................................................133 Wave on Wave of the Violent and Insane, by Oscar Davis Mendez ..............................................................................................................................134 Heavy Afternoon, by Levi Barich ...........................................................138 Handprints, by Rebecca Shiraev.............................................................139 The Moon-Colored-Skin Man, by C.W. Arvidson…………………....140 Novel Excerpts Fire Witch, by Emilie Bufford ..................................................................141 Secrets of the Blackbird, by Sheannah Guillemette ........................152 “The Moon-Colored-Skin Man,” by C.W. Arvidson and “The Headmaster,” by Windsor Buzza are the winners of MPC’s annual Halloween Writing Contest. iv Cheryl Ku Thank You Cards The cards arrived in a box wrapped in brown paper shipped from his mother’s address. Inside was a note: “Write your thank you notes. People are waiting for them. Love, Mom.” She’d even sent bright green envelopes, already addressed and stamped. Austin Trent dropped the box on the couch, next to a half- eaten pizza, and sunk down into the dirty cushions, burying his head in his hands. He hadn’t felt so awful when the graduation checks from aunts, uncles, family friends, and both sets of grandparents were still sitting on the table un-cashed. But his bank account was getting dangerously low and rent was due. Besides, his mother had told him his grandmother was waiting for the check to clear. So he’d cashed them. He knew his mother wouldn’t let up, and the guilt was making his stomach hurt, so he grabbed a pen from the kitchen and sat down to write. Dear Aunt Mabel, Thank you for the check you sent me for graduation. Now that I’ve graduated college I plan to… He stopped. What could he say? There was no plan. He picked up the remote and turned Buffy The Vampire Slayer back on. 1 He woke abruptly sometime during the start of season five to a rapid knocking on the apartment door. He stumbled over, too drowsy to think about switching on the porch light and looking through the peephole. He opened it to see a mass of matted brown hair covering a tear streaked, familiar face. “Anna,” he said. She fell into his arms, sobbing. “I’m sorry,” she cried. “I just didn’t know where to go. I can’t stay with my dad anymore and I can’t take another day with the old people I take care of. I can’t.” Austin patted her back weakly, wishing he had pretended not to be home. Anna was her own train wreck, one he’d spent two years dating, and he didn’t need that now. “Okay,” he said. “Here, come in.” Anna sniffled and walked into his living room, running her eyes over the mess. Take out containers and bowls with dried up Ramen noodles covered the coffee table. Dirty laundry was strewn about the floor. He knew she was judging him. “Sorry—I uh, haven’t had company for a while.” Anna turned toward him with mascara-ringed eyes, her face blotchy from crying. She put her hand on his chest and moved closer, her eyes on his mouth. She kissed him. He knew he shouldn’t. This was a trap. But fuck it. He hadn’t been laid in months. He kissed her back, hard, and grabbed her ass. It was already afternoon when he woke up on his mattress and Anna was gone. Maybe she’d decided a mattress on the floor wasn’t good enough anymore. Maybe she couldn’t handle the mess. He sighed with relief, but then he smelled bacon. He walked out of his room in his boxers into a slightly 2 cleaner living room. The pizza was gone from the couch and the dishes had been cleared from the coffee table. Anna was smiling at him from the kitchen, standing over the stove dressed only in one of his old t-shirts. “Good morning, Babe,” she said. “I had to learn how to cook bacon because that’s all Herbert wants to eat. At lunch I tell him he already had bacon with breakfast but he doesn’t remember. As soon as I take his plate away he asks when lunch is and I have to remind him he’s just eaten. Sometimes he looks so sad and confused I break down and cook more bacon again.” “You don’t eat bacon,” said Austin. “You don’t eat pork. You said pigs are smarter than dogs. You said—” “I know. But it’s the only joy he has anymore.” “Still, I don’t see how you can compromise your morals like that.” “You know I don’t believe in absolutes. Anyway, breakfast is ready!” Don’t believe in absolutes? Anna was the definition of absolutes. Her father had gotten sick her sophomore year so she took a semester off to care for him. He went into remission and was doing fine now, but Anna couldn’t let it go. She got it in her head that she needed to make more money in case he got sick again, even though her dad was a successful businessman with plenty. She dropped her Graphic Design major and enrolled in Pre-Med. She claimed it was her calling. But she sucked at math and science and had spent many nights crying on Austin’s chest. She never listened when he told her she needed to go back to art, her passion. She blew him off as an unrealistic bozo even when 3 she graduated with a GPA so low no medical school would take her. Caregiving work was easy to come by, so now she wiped old people’s asses. Everybody needs their ass wiped at some point in their lives. After breakfast Anna took his computer and updated Austin’s resume. She wrote a stock cover letter he could send to prospective employers and searched job-hunting websites all afternoon. Meanwhile Austin drank four beers and watched her suspiciously. “I emailed your resume to a few places. No one’s hiring right now with the economy and all, but the job skills seminar I went to last week said you just have to be persistent. You’ll need to call them tomorrow to follow up.” Austin stared at her blankly. “Uh. Thanks. But shouldn’t we be finding you a new job?” “We will. I just need a break. It’s easier for me to focus on you right now.” She sounded like his mother, a realtor who hadn’t sold a house in over a year, but still offered a wealth of unsolicited advice on how to persuade people to hire him. “Should you maybe check on Herbert? You’re like his only source of food, right?” “His granddaughter is supposed to look after him for a few days. I just feel so depressed in his old house.” She looked at the clock. “It is time for his medication. God what if she forgets and leaves his pills out where he can find them. He’ll forget and overdose again. No, she knows not to. Doesn’t she? I’ll call her.” She dialed as Austin looked on. 4 “She’s not answering. Ugh I’ll just go over there.” She pulled on her tight jeans from the night before, walked to the door, and turned back to face him. “Babe, why don’t you write a few of those thank you notes while I’m gone. You graduated nearly four months ago. You’re a writer. It shouldn’t be that hard.” “Yeah…” As soon as the door closed he ran over to lock it. Maybe he’d pretend to be out when she got back.