The delightful Guernica’s new issue has a flash-fiction slant, and I immediately enjoyed this story, from Kathy Fish (who guest edited the Best of the Web 2010 anthology, which fwriction is a big fan of). I hope you, too, enjoy this wonderful piece of flash!
“A small, male relative in a three-piece suit has been running rings around the buffet table. Now he’s changed course and seems intent on tackling me. I step aside just in time and he barrels right into a loaded coat rack and is boomeranged back a few feet, landing on his back. Wailing ensues.
My nephew comes harrumphing up, apologizing, lifting the kid to his feet. I press my palm to my aching head.
Barbara Lee is still yammering. On the other side of the hall, my oldest brother climbs up on a platform and waves his arms, calling out to the rest of us, the siblings, for a photo. It’s because of me, the sister, the one who moved so far away, that we have to do this when we can. Even, and maybe especially, if someone has died.”
(Bonus reading, from Guernica’s flash-fiction issue: “I Do Love God,” by Blake Butler)
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