The story of the week for September 26 to 30 is…
Tangled Words by Janelle Seabock
and
Before She Was My Mother by Bob Thurber
All posts by Tim
GENE NEWMAN: My Only Coup
Skippy was my very best friend
in the third grade,
but business is business.
One day I traded my turtle Swifty
for Skippy’s very fat cat Lucy.
In just two weeks I had four cats
and poor Skippy had only one dead turtle.
He should have checked Swifty’s vital signs.
Gene Newman wrote this story.
JOHN H. DROMEY: Playing It by the Book
After a dust storm, a crew arrived at a hamlet to assist with the cleanup.
“My porch’s outdoor carpet is so dirty you can’t tell what color it is,” a homeowner lamented. “How will you deal with that?”
“We intend to sweep, perchance to steam—until—ay, there’s the rug!”
John H. Dromey’s short stories have appeared in Mystery Magazine and numerous other publications.
GARY DAUGHERTY: Vigil
Walking slowly to the garage: an annual midnight vigil. Key in pocket.
The car started. Dad’s 16th birthday gift to me.
He died at 60 from lung cancer. I turn 70 today.
Time rushes forward. Old cars can move slowly in reverse on dark streets. Dad helped me quit smoking.
Gary Daugherty wrote this story.
BOB THURBER: Before She Was My Mother
At eighteen, after winning two local beauty pageants, she hitchhiked to Hollywood, auditioned for a movie role with just one line, landed the part, but production fell through. Then she became pregnant. On all my birthdays she whispered that one line, smiling while adjusting her pose, searching for the camera.
Bob Thurber is the author of six books. Regarded as a master of Flash and Micro Fiction, his work has appeared in Esquire and other magazines, been anthologized 60 times, received a long list of awards, and been utilized in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.
This story was originally published in The Woolf and included in Best Microfiction 2022.
OLEG V KHARCHENKO: No Problem
Zhora, meeting Galya in a bar, undressed her with his eyes and quickly dressed her back.
“Galya! You’ve been a widow for a whole year… I am also alone. Not so young, but, nevertheless, quite well off. I hint…”
“No problem. Zhora! I am ready to become your widow too!”
Oleg V. Kharchenko is a professional lecturer who likes writing when cats fly.
JANELLE SEABOCK: Tangled Words
A mouse gnawed a hole into the side of an abandoned journal. Thoughts long forgotten were shredded into a nest of tangled words. The owner was now gone, and his family wouldn’t miss what they didn’t know had been lost. The mouse’s eyes fluttered shut, her bed speaking of memories.
Janelle Seabock is a writer with a love for horror, fantasy, and animals of all kinds. She currently resides in Florida.
LEE DeAMALI: Faultlines
The postcard arrived with no message, only dated initials.
A rising blanket of lake fog hung between the red rock shore and looming mountains.
She stroked the image, moved again by his ability to capture beauty through a wide lens. Where he chose to focus, that’s what drove them apart.
Lee DeAmali resides in Los Angeles, working with numbers during the day, and binge reading and writing short fiction when she can.
RITA RIEBEL MITCHELL: The Memory Game
The old man sits at his usual table in the park.
Blue cards are face down, arranged in rows. He turns over two: penguin and wagon.
“No match,” he says to the empty seat across from him. “Your turn.”
He turns over two more cards, both penguins.
“Good job, son.”
Rita Riebel Mitchell writes in the Pinelands of South Jersey. Her work appears in Flash Fiction Magazine, Versification, 101 Words, and others.
Read more at RRMitchell.com.
SHRUTI: The New Vegetarian
I became vegetarian soon after I discovered my beloved husband’s infidelity. I decided I needed a lifestyle change. I began sticking to my greens and beans but continued cooking meat for him. I must confess, his betrayal had felt like poison. Not unlike the one glazing his favorite turkey roast.
Shruti is a recent lit major pursing a course in software development. Her interests include producing amateur music, learning foreign languages and employing her sometimes morbid sense of humour to cope with the mind-numbing monotony that is the aforementioned software development course.