Martha, daughter of the hated sheriff, was seated at the window of his forest cabin. She stared vacantly at the shining glimmer of sunlight on metal or something a distance away.

“Must be a soda can.” She jumped off the stool. “I’m thirsty.”

The bullet splintered the wall mirror instead.

Natisha Parsona is a South African retiree who lives on the South Coast KwaZulu-Natal. She has been published in not too many magazines and has a children’s book on Amazon. She also has a short story in a chapbook published in South Africa.