Cigale Literary – Summer 2012

This issue is full of illusions as the characters in the stories break down their misconceptions and face reality—or, instead, continue to live in them. In “The Bathroom window”by Ivan Overmoyer, the narrator imagines a great scene outside the window, only to be disappointed when he/she actually opens it. Ned Randle’s “The Amazing Doctor Jones” portrays an old man who hasn’t adapted to the new medicine practice but still believes the way he does things is the best. And then Pan Pan Fan literally deals with illusions as the narrator stares at “The Woman in the Mirror

This issue is full of illusions as the characters in the stories break down their misconceptions and face reality—or, instead, continue to live in them. In “The Bathroom window” by Ivan Overmoyer, the narrator imagines a great scene outside the window, only to be disappointed when he/she actually opens it. Ned Randle’s “The Amazing Doctor Jones” portrays an old man who hasn’t adapted to the new medicine practice but still believes the way he does things is the best. And then Pan Pan Fan literally deals with illusions as the narrator stares at “The Woman in the Mirror”:

Her scarf lay along the desk which contained three books and held a large, oval mirror. The days passed and various things would place themselves in front of her mirror: a vase of flowers, her day’s left-over work, a laptop, an occasional sweater, and now and then, on mornings when she could afford the minutes, she’d sit in front of her mirror and check the reflection that stared back at her. Sometimes the reflection blinked, sometimes it smiled, sometimes it frowned, but most the time, it looked back at her with a stern resignation of indifference.

“Buzzing” by Katrina Johnston will have you checking your arms for creepy crawlers: “Right now, about a zillion flies take aim over my camper. And there are hard-bodied beetles, ants and awful worms that crawl straight at me. They’re magnetized and hypnotized by the drone of my camper van. I plunge the gas. Flies can’t fly as fast as me.” The narrator, overwhelmed with OCD and a fear of bugs, drives to her late sister/cousin’s old cottage where she decides to live. This character perceives the bugs taking over the cottage. But even though the characters deal with illusions throughout this issue, the stories themselves are not illusions; they are honest, truthful, and reveal real human feelings and behavior.