The scuffle was jarring. Rick shouldn’t have offered the vet a job. How could he have known tomatoes would trigger him? The serrated knife, the guts. Afterwards, he canned the man, restoring order to his kitchen.

Rick laid the knife on the drainboard, imagining men gutting. Cutting.

Stringing sundried ears.

Steve Saulsbury resides in Maryland, writing slowly, and sometimes successfully. His story “Herding Instinct” will be included in the 2023 London Independent Story Prize anthology.