Living Room Wildlife

The shoelace on the floor picked up its head and started writhing its way across the matted carpet. The Drunk sat on his couch and watched, sipping from the bottle.

He'd noticed it had moved from place to place, but just figured he'd done it with his feet, or in the lost moments.

He looked for the shoe amidst the clutter. It might be fun, to lace a writhing shoelace.

Would it bite?

But just as he found the shoe, the lace fell limp and lifeless.

Clutching the shoe and bottle, he intently waited for it to return to life.

The Saturnalian

The good people over at The Saturnalian, a new site dedicated to publishing flash fiction, have published my short story you know as Free Lunch.  Or, as it is now known across the pond, The Kindness of Strangers. 

There are a few minor changes besides the title, but such is the life of High Literature. 

So go over, check them out, and perhaps submit some stories of your own.  They get back to you very quickly with your submissions, and are generally kind even if the quality is sub-par. 

Summer is Cancelled

He got an envelope with his sign up sheet and money returned to him. “Lack of interest in the summer league”

It explained. 

His heart dropped, and quickly felt foolish. The anxiety over deciding to join, the imaginary future conversations, even the jogging to get in shape; they all seemed very stupid.

He was glad he hadn't mention it to his family yet. Or maybe he had learned to expect something like this.

So to them, he'll have another lost summer, spent like very other one in the past.

But they won't know it wasn't from lack of trying.