A small fingerprint defiles the hood of a Matchbox speedster. It catches the halogen glare, a glowing spiral unique unto itself. It triggers a memory, that tiny digit locked in time, the thumb of a child now grown. You recognize the car, match the print, crying there on the spot.

James Callan grew up in Minnesota and currently lives on the Kāpiti Coast, New Zealand. His writing has appeared in Carte Blanche, Bridge Eight, White Wall Review, Mystery Tribune, and elsewhere. He is the author of A Transcendental Habit (Queer Space, 2023).