Flash Fiction by KJ Stevens
Sunshine breaks over the hardwood horizon. Pancakes soak in syrup. I can’t lift the fork. A short-eared owl sits atop the rusting swing set in the backyard. It stays, staring at the house. Waiting for something I cannot see.
I stumble outside at midday. Barefoot and buzzed. Into blinding white light. A garbage bag of tiny clothes in one hand, a pink plastic dollhouse in the other. To add to the pile. Stuffed animals. Puppy puzzles. Mystery books. A purple dresser. A mattress wrapped in Scooby Doo sheets. All of it mixed with waste—food scraps, unopened mail, empty bottles.
Then I see it—crisscrossing talon marks, patches of gray fur, red specks staining the snow. My belly tingles with warmth. A flash of normal.
∞
Back inside I drink myself into loops of It’s a Wonderful Life. Mary Bailey is devoted. She always waits. Through selfishness, drunkenness, Great Depressions. She always forgives. I see now why George pleaded in Martini’s Bar. I’d launch myself off a bridge too, simply to earn her forgiveness.
∞
I open the door and there is a man. Long hair. Mustache. Beard. Wearing a Schwan’s uniform. His nametag: Jesus.
He smiles. Gold tooth.
“$34.18,” he says.
I recognize it.
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted,” he whispers. “And saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Behind him, in the truck, my little girl waves. Smiling.
For the first time in months, I glow.
Text © KJ Stevens
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