These three also appeared in Flashshot online magazine. I’m particularly fond of SAFE.
SOME KIND OF ANGEL
by Marian Allen
Behind the door, a woman sobs, a man grinds out contempt and ridicule.
I knock. Silence. Footsteps.
Mace opens, grinning. “Hey! Long time, no see!”
“Come out for a brew?”
He says, meekly, “Okay, honey?”
She nods spasmodically, with a look I remember from my own woman’s face.
After the bar closes, we walk to the park. I give him a half-pint of brandy laced with nail polish remover. He drinks, drinks…. I give him an unlaced one.
When he’s dead, I dump the first bottle into somebody’s recycling.
He shouldn’t have quit Abusers’ Counseling.
I’m still going.
NO FAULT DIVORCE
by Marian Allen
I step out of the shadows. She turns and sees me.
I know her. Went to school with her daughter.
She smiles. “Well, hello, sugar! How’ve you been?”
“Okay. You? How’s Deelie?”
Her smile fades. “She’s married. Unfortunately.”
“Yeah…. Well…. See ya.”
“Don’t be a stranger!” she calls.
*
The client unzips his jacket. “Got your cash. You do it?”
My knife slides in and out. “She’s not a monster! She doesn’t deserve it! She’s nice!”
I take the dead man’s cash, even though I didn’t do his hit. Liar’s penalty.
SAFE
by Marian Allen
I never shoulda told Lisa I write that soldier boy in Iraq. I shoulda known she’d tell Jimmy. She never did get over him marrying me instead of her, even when he got so stingy I woulda thanked her to take him so I could get away from this old farm.
“Where’s his letters?” Jimmy keeps asking. “I’m gonna find ’em, and I’m gonna burn ’em while you watch.”
He never will find ’em, though. They’re safe.
I smile and lean against the goat I’m milking. Her tummy rumbles. Paper ain’t really good for goats, but they’ll eat it.
WRITING PROMPT: Where would you hide secret letters? Where would some of your characters hide them?
MA
Jane
June 19, 2011 at 8:59amYou strike again, my friend. Wonderful.