Janet wasn’t sure why life seemed so complicated these days. Maybe it had to do with the way the wind was always blowing, tossing her short gray hair this way and that, and reminding her of happier times before Chet died. Chet, her husband of 35 years, who woke up one day and said he…
Category: Flash Fiction
Flash Fiction: Group Therapy
I am not an apricot kind of girl, all small and soft; squishy and sweet. No, if I had to choose an orange fruit to characterize myself, I would have to pick a cantaloupe: a rough exterior, but sweet once you find a way to break me open. This exercise we’re doing in group therapy…
Flash Fiction: Hot Pink in the Synagogue
I was dressed in a completely inappropriate shade of pink and I didn’t care. In fact, all I really wanted to do march down the aisle of that synagogue and shout “hello” to as many people as possible while the Rabbi was praying. Yes, you guessed it. I was ticked off at Rabbi Coulter. He…
Flash Fiction: When Life Gives You Lemon Sherbet
“You’re mother lied to you. That’s the truth.” Those were the first words my father said when he came to see me in the hospital. Thanks, Dad. I appreciate your sensitivity. Why was I in the hospital you might ask? I was having a delicate brain operation to remove a tumor. I had been suffering from…
Flash Fiction: Lies
My grandfathers lied to my grandmothers. I guess it runs in the family. You can always tell when my family is lying, just watch their mouths moving. Yes, that’s the truth. I am from the most dishonest family I’ve ever come in contact with. I don’t quite know how to explain it, but I’ve watched…
Flash Fiction: A Surrealist-Inspired Social Experiment
Some people think Julia is a strange girl. She definitely likes to shock people. She is so dedicated to seeing how people will react to socially incongruent stimuli that one time in our senior year of high school she had a false mustache professionally applied to her face – it looked totally real – and…
Flash Fiction: Seeing Red
I was shocked that he did it. Threw himself out of that window and landed with a thud on the pavement below as people with dogs walked by. He was dressed to go out that night, in a suit coat and red tie, and he had his cane in his hand even as he lay…
Now and Forever
Madeline was tired. She had been boxing up all sorts of antiques all afternoon since the owners, Maude and Jason Fredericks, were going out of business. These boxes would be heading to an auction where they would all go for what Maude described as “pennies on the dollar.” Madeline was especially upset about three different…
Flash Fiction, The Gift
I wrote this a few years back, but found it today and wanted to share it. This is somewhat reminiscent of my own beloved music teacher though an intervention of this type never occurred. I expect she might have appreciated it if it had. Len There were 17 cats in Dr. Fredericks’s basement and it…
Flash Fiction: All That Really Mattered
I was dressed in a completely inappropriate shade of pink: hot, hot pink with white piping around my lapels and pockets and the hem of my mini-shirt; absolutely not the right color for a funeral, particularly my mother’s. My Aunt June’s eyes widened when I walked into the church and my Uncle Seymour leered, which…
20 Minutes a Day 