Two Benches by Pasha Malla One November afternoon when the girl is older and living on the coast she will be sitting on a bench on a pier overlooking a gray harbour. Below, the waves will slosh frothing against the sea wall, that rustle of surf like a book being torn slowly to strips. The girl as a woman will sit on the bench by the harbour and close her eyes and think back to a time when she lived in a city: childhood. A different bench in a park, a bench made from wood the colour of dust and surrounded by trees. The park’s topography: the trees, pavement and grass, children circling on bicycles, a cluster of parents, a stone fountain clotted with leaves. And the girl on the bench, swinging her pale legs in the slow autumn sunlight. Beyond the park would exist the whispering city, the hiss of traffic and the wind shushing its way between buildings. The girl would close her eyes and, listening, when the gulls at last flapped shrieking overhead, swear she was hearing the sea. All content in SmokeLong Quarterly copyright 2003-2010 by its authors.
	Pasha Malla lives in Montreal. Read the interview.
	Issue Five (August 15, 2004): Lovers by Karen Simpson Nikakis «» Shore by Susan Henderson «» Lovechild by Ellen Parker «» Lipstick by Claudia Smith «» Back Home by Bob Arter «» Gloves by Gary Cadwallader «» Gilda by Patricia Parkinson «» Attic by Kim Chinquee «» The Radioactive Chicken or the Egg? by Randall Brown «» Summer Swim by Pia Z. Ehrhardt «» Two Benches by Pasha Malla «» Fall by Richard Hulse «» Drop by Roy Kesey «» Galveston by Steven Gullion «» Every Pane of Weathered Glass by Ellen M. Rhudy «» I Can't Talk About Butter Because Margarine Is All I Know by C.R. Park «» Something of Value by Brian Reynolds «» The Therapist Told Her Not to Stop Smoking–Right Now by Astrid Schott «» Maintenance by Miriam N. Kotzin «» Enough by Katrina Denza «» Interviews: Karen Simpson Nikakis «» Susan Henderson «» Ellen Parker «» Claudia Smith «» Bob Arter «» Gary Cadwallader «» Patricia Parkinson «» Kim Chinquee «» Randall Brown «» Pia Z. Ehrhardt «» Pasha Malla «» Richard Hulse «» Roy Kesey «» Steven Gullion «» Ellen M. Rhudy «» C.R. Park «» Brian Reynolds «» Astrid Schott «» Miriam N. Kotzin «» Katrina Denza «» Cover Art "A Character in Short Fiction" by Marty D. Ison «» Letter From the Editor