Her eyes weep. She shivers with fear. Gurgling sounds crawl from her throat.
I plunge the knife into her trachea, careful not to penetrate too far.
“Relax,” I tell her. “I’ve done this once before.
I don’t tell her it was on a chicken. Or that it didn’t make it.
Jeff Switt is a retired advertising agency guy who loves writing flash fiction, some days to curb his angst, other days to fuel it. His words have been featured online at Dogzplot, Boston Literary Magazine, Nailpolish Stories, 50-Word Stories, 100 Word Story, A Story In 100 Words, 101 Word Stories, and Shotgun Honey, and have appeared at lots of places that take whatever you send in. Check out his latest venture, A Story in Three Paragraphs.
:-):-) …………:-(
It took some time but I finally figured out your sliding scale! Thanks.
Humorously macabre – It reminded me of the ‘The Legacy’ a 1978 British-American horror film. Clive Jackson (Roger Daltrey) gets a (botched) tracheotomy because he was choking on a chicken bone, although he was having ham and pate. It made me smile – as if a botched tracheotomy on a chicken would instill anyone with the confidence to do it on a person.
Thanks, Connell. Story was prompted by an unsuccessful surgery my wife performed on a chicken with an impacted craw.
Was there fried chicken on the near horizon after the surgical intervention? Assuming the botched surgery did not affect culinary skills as well … waste not, want not. Actually, I suspect most chickens are somehow predestined for a journey including a step where a radical surgical technique removes the entire trachea and so much more. Speaking of macabre …
Not this time. Its not worth the effort for one bird. She paid her worth in eggs though.
Your ‘Story in Three Paragraphs’ project sounds interesting but the link led me nowhere.
I just tried it and it is a good link, but here it is again. Hope it works this time
http://jeffswitt.wordpress.com/about
Bob’s right; something’s going on with your “/about” page. Hmm.
I’ll replace with this link for now: http://jeffswitt.wordpress.com/s3p-a-story-in-three-paragraphs/
Thanks, Tim. I don’t know why the first didn’t work. I shall use the second for links from now on. Thanks again.