The River of Glass Apples by Brad Barkley

During thunder and rain at night in Texas, a little boy dreams a river of glass apples. Red on their surfaces, clinking like crystal, they quiver as if floating on the water, and then somehow they are the water, their red shine and roundness a substitute for wet.  Or maybe, he thinks inside his dream, below there is something molten and slow moving, and there is no surface, only the red as deep as the earth.  You—this boy—you want to pick one up out of the flow and eat it, they glisten so brightly, but it would shatter in your teeth, and the blood of your mouth would be lost in swirls in the red of the river. It all seems so real, and then you realize it is real, and the little boy in Texas is a man, not in Texas but in a house somewhere between Maine and North Carolina. Texas is only an idea of somewhere else, a desert fever, a forgotten wish.  The man is sleeping, or near sleep, something slow and molten in him too, always under the surface. And the river of glass apples is a voice on a phone that runs to him dark red through the night, the miles liquid and prone to shattering. And he knows that the blood that drips from the mouth of the voice on the phone is really only a question about next year or the year after that. Questions about plans, about promises. Understand that no bridge spans the river of glass apples. To make it across, you have glide along, step on each apple with the sole of your foot, delicate and tender. You listen to your own voice, reassuring and bloodless. You let them carry you, the apples, pretending that your steps are slow and careful, that you will not sink, that you will never stumble or bleed.

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BRAD BARKLEY — Brad is the author of the novel, Money, Love, a Barnes and Noble “Discover Great New Writers” selection, and the novel Alison’s Automotive Repair Manual.  He’s published two collections of short stories, Circle View and Another Perfect Catastrophe, and three Young Adult novels with Penguin:  Scrambled Eggs at Midnight, Dream Factory, and Jars of Glass.  His short fiction has appeared in over thirty magazines, including Southern Review, the Oxford American, Glimmer Train, and USA Today.  He’s won four Individual Artist Awards from the Maryland State Arts Council and a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.  

Art by KATIE CONRAD — Katie is an LA based illustrator. By day she creates art for graphic tees, by night she enjoys drawing anything with a narrative (book covers, character sketches, board game art, etc). When not doing art, she mostly watches bad horror movies and is occasionally talked into watching an actually good one. Her portfolio can be viewed at kconrad.myportfolio.com. As for social media, you can find her at instagram.com/see_katie_c, but be prepared for a lot of insufferable cat pics.