Our paths crossed as inevitably they would in a small town. Over coffee we talked, again and again, the bottom of the cups always appearing before the end of our words. Best friends like none we’d ever known before.
Then Cupid spied us, shot a single arrow grazing us both.
Sandra James writes from a rural property in Heathcote Victoria, Australia. Her second collection of short fiction, Black Rain and other stories, will be released on Kindle soon.
Mum loved cats and dogs but wouldn’t let me have either.
Dad explained: “Mum gets too upset when they die. Our cat died before you were born and her heart almost broke. We vowed we would never have another.”
Mum passed last month. Now I understand. I don’t want another.
Sandra James writes from a rural property in Heathcote, Victoria, Australia.
Diet #304: day one. I emerge at dawn hoping no one will see me jiggling and wobbling in my tracksuit. Overhead a kookaburra begins his song, laughter echoing years of torment. I pause. Go back and feed my pain with buttery toast? No, this time I’ll have the last laugh.
Sandra James writes from a rural property in Central Victoria, Australia. Her first collection of short fiction, My Muse Wears a Purple Collar, is available on Kindle.
Clouds afford a soft landing. I climbed that stairway to Heaven, found you, and snatched you back. I didn’t want you to leave; couldn’t let you go; wasn’t ready to say goodbye. We eluded St Peter, leapt from the pearly gates. Down, down. I wake with tears on my pillow.
Sandra James leads a writing group in Heathcote, Australia.
The old wooden treehouse Dad built still rests on the eucalypt branch; paint faded but still strong. The curious magpie on the roof looks the same… Surely not, after all these years.
And yet… he tilts his head, peers at me with knowing eyes, then warbles a serenade to you.
Sandra James thinks up story ideas while walking her rescue Mini-Dachshund. Her first collection of flash fiction, My Muse Wears a Purple Collar, is available on Amazon.