A Flash Fiction Blog - Very short stories (under 1,000 words) that reveal character, give a glimpse of the human condition, and simply entertain.
On the morning of St. Patrick’s Day, he woke up later than he wanted to. “Should have set my alarm,” he said to himself aloud. He quickly went through his morning routine listening to Van Morrison, the northern Irish singer of great renown.
Dressed in his traditional crisp white shirt, Kelly green trousers and emerald, green…
Read MoreJoe! What’s this I hear you are participating in the Christmas Cookie Exchange in the parish this year. Is that true?” The young men belonged to Saint Andrew’s Church.
“Yeah, I’m doing it. Why do you ask?”
I don’t know. I guess it sounds kind of strange...”
Read More…As he was taking his first bite he noticed a woman sitting alone near the front door, gripping her coffee cup with both hands to warm them. Immediately, he thought of Carolyn, a woman he had dated when they were both undergrad students at Penn State. He took another bite and looked…
Read MoreThey arrived at the same moment in the lamp aisle at the Hobby Lobby. They stood side by side, both examining lamps with Kelly green bases, and bronze harps and finials.
“Are we looking at the same lamps?” she asked.
“I’m looking at the green ones. Are you?”
Read MoreHe was dressed in black from head to toe, including a cowboy hat and cowboy boots. A short man of just over five feet tall, he sat quietly on a mall bench, staring at his cell phone. To Marie, the slender woman who noticed him as she walked by, he was a portrait of loneliness…
Read More“There is a lot to be said for staying put,” he said. Jason didn’t want to move. His wife Maria did.
“Jason this house is too small for us. Bella is almost 3 and she really needs a back yard to play in.”
Read MoreSpring training had finally arrived. Major League baseball players had reported to camp a week ago. Justin, who just turned twelve, couldn’t be more excited. His team, the Detroit Tigers, were scheduled to play their first exhibition game. Although it was a cold Saturday in February, he was sure his friend Lucas would…
Read More…Having turned seventy a few weeks ago, he felt that it was important to live his life the way younger people lived, but he also believed that holding onto even small links to the past helped to keep his memory…
Read MoreThey had just crossed the state line from Kentucky into Tennessee. Another 90 minutes or so and they would be in Bartlett, where his brother lived with his wife, Melanie, and two daughters.
“Ethan if your brother Jeremy or Melanie bring up politics and that awful…
Read MoreHe had taken a morning walk from their house to downtown, where he stopped at a bakery to warm himself. It was colder than he'd expected. He ordered coffee he didn't want to warm his hands by holding the cup.
"Good morning," the woman behind the counter said. She looked at his face and said,
"What's going on?" He looked…
Read More…He’d been working in Nashville when he met Megan, who was a native of the area. They’d fallen in love quickly and were soon inseparable. When he asked her to marry him…
Read MoreJoanne was excited. She had just closed on her first home, a third-floor condo unit in Pt. Pleasant Beach, New Jersey. It was sooner than expected, but an argument with her boss changed her plans. She had worked for…
Read MoreSue Scarpello, a widow, living in a small two-bedroom apartment in Newark, with her two sons, Larry, Jr. and Louis, was feeling generous. Money was always tight. Her husband had had a promising career as an expert machinist, but he was…
Read MoreWhen Carter woke up that morning, he knew it was earlier than usual for him. What woke him? He listened for a few minutes and then heard an unmistakable sound. He hadn't heard it for several years. Living in Middle Tennessee…
Read More…I’ve since been told that I was in the middle of an intersection when a car, running a stop sign, mind you, hit me broadside and sent my car…
Read MoreMike called. "What's up Justin?"
"Not enough.” He peered through his living room window. “Snow flurries in November. Buffalo is going to catch hell this year."
"Yeah. At least you can go out. I'm still recovering from…
Read More…Matteo had his doubts, but he dutifully studied harder to learn more English, feeling a bit wistful about it. Had he always known he would visit America? Might he, now nearing 60 years of age, move to…
Read MoreOn his 90th birthday, Wesley Collins, who still lived independently, got an unexpected visitor. His daughter, Kerry, who had a key to her father’s sparsely furnished condo, let herself in. She had made him a cake, an old favorite of his, white with chocolate icing.
“Surprise!”
He’d been sitting…
Read MoreIt was a hot summer night in June, 1942. They were sitting in the front seat of his car, listening to the radio. They were in a quiet spot at South Mountain Reservation in northern New Jersey. The war wasn’t going well, certainly not in…
Read MoreHis mind had been blank, on autopilot, focusing only on whatever was happening at the moment. In fact, he managed to get though his murder trial by living in the moment. The walk into court with his lawyer, listening to the lawyers questioning witnesses for the prosecution and…
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