Stories tagged flash-fiction

Compression

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A fabulous compression.

The Cold Black Sea

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Where are the warm isles of emerald waters and sugar sand, where a depleted bag of tricks may be refilled?

Making Love to God (or: A Profound Man)

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"I would physically — not metaphorically, mind you — make love to that avocado..."

The Lottery

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Thanks to Congressman Alexander Pirnie, I was the first to win the lottery on December 1, 1969. I was nineteen years old. Other winners escaped to Canada. I did not. I thought about it, though. But I was more afraid of a military prison than being shot by a…

Blackened Catfish

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I ordered the blackened catfish as they ripped the neon cactus and Stetson from the wall. Background sounds of crashing glass, chopping wood. A bulldozer’s rumble as my meal arrived, sawdust snowing down.

Digging

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I came to a field where, scattered around, were quite a few men digging holes

Wolfie

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Sharon called me “Wolfie” (very sweet!) and I distinctly heard her gasp, “Jesus!” when I entered her the first time on my dad’s ski boat, while you and Rick DeMille came swimming up behind us, yelling out my name: “Pharaoh … Pharaoh.” We

Other People’s Children

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Children should not be made to do things unless they want it.

Thirty Seconds

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Some guys get by on hope or hate or both. Some lose their minds, if they brought them in the first place.

Love Story

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You longed to rip off her butterfly wings and watch her scream in agony. You ached to carve the steel from her eyes.

Brown Paper

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“Americans like beer, right?” he asks. “It’s not acceptable for a woman to buy beer.” He proffers it in a brown paper bag.

Give Me a Real Moment With a Living God and I'll Go All the Way

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Somebody needed to take my clothes off. Somebody needed to moisten their fingers and stick something up inside me. Somebody needed to whisper something in my ear and get me going and have me get on top and never stop until I came and came again. Somebody

Don't Forget Zitana

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Last week, Zitana gave me six losing numbers. For the Mega Millions, she said, untold riches await you! I followed her advice. Not one number came up.

Watching Bobby die

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Sure, he tried to get up, but he had that look in his eye. Something happens. The body knows what the mind does not.

Statistics (or: Walking to Work through Lexington Market)

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I avert my gaze to the crab grass pushing through broken concrete, the spent condoms, the empty vodka nips rolling at her stockinged feet...