For my sister on her 51st birthday The afternoon sun was high and hot overhead. The two of them, the mother and her favorite child, the sweetest by a country mile, her daughter, walked along the road. They intended to spend a few simple minutes engaged in retail therapy, shopping at the dime store that… Continue reading The Twenty
Category: shared moment
The Man in the Mirror
“No, you’re still looking at the mirror. Look at the wall there – about a yard to the left of the mirror. Just notice in your peripheral vision what’s happening in the mirror.” Peter shifts his gaze according to Dawn’s instruction. “But I still don’t see anything,” Peter says. “Relax your eyes and give it… Continue reading The Man in the Mirror
A Watercolor in the Rain
Flash Fiction Challenge 100 – Day 60 For his entire artistic career, he had rendered his works with the precision of an engineer. His art, even the abstract pieces, was always rendered more like a photograph than something from a poet. He had preferred pencil, graphite, and oils because they enabled him the tightest control… Continue reading A Watercolor in the Rain
Back Door
Flash Fiction Challenge 100 – Day 49 At first, the two men enjoyed their alarm system. They would playfully mimic its sonorous announcements. “Front door,” the simulated female voice would announce in its pleasing if robotic voice. Then one of them, Greg or Andy, would parrot back “Front door,” and both men would laugh at… Continue reading Back Door
Shrinking
Flash Fiction Challenge 100 – Day 47 “Excuse me, but do you have these in a larger size?” I don’t know why I’m asking; I already know they don’t. And I knew this day was coming. The salesperson takes the box of shoe lifts from me. She studies the back of the box; she’s just… Continue reading Shrinking
A Broken Hallelujah
FLASH Fiction Challenge 100 – Day 27 “That the last of it?” he says. She hands him the box labeled ‘books’ and looks over shoulder at her little house. “I think so. I’ll take one last look.” He shoves the box into the back of her SUV. He doesn’t follow her into the house. The… Continue reading A Broken Hallelujah
The Last Sunset at Depot Bay
I look up from my phone; I want to witness every minute of this, the last sunset at Depot Bay. Well, technically, the sun will still set again tomorrow. And the day after. And the day after that. As I like to tell Liza, the sun never really sets at all! The earth spins and… Continue reading The Last Sunset at Depot Bay
Apple Communion
My daughter walks over to me. I’m still lying in our hammock. When she reaches me, I slide over and sit in the hammock sideways, gesture with a head nod, wordlessly asking her if she wants to join me. She doesn’t of course. This is how it starts. It’s always the same. She walks over,… Continue reading Apple Communion
