Category: Flash Fiction

A woman dies in Palermo. Thofania has poisoned her husband, and others, but her name gathers flies. It is her goddaughter’s that drips cold, colorless, into folklore. Giulia sells cosmetics. Her bestseller gets rid of unwanted blemishes. It is Aqua Tofana, a tincture of tin and arsenic. It kills in four doses. The doctor dismisses…

The news was doing animal videos, so Jan decided to make pancakes. They came off golden-brown, and the humidity was low enough to open the front door and let a flowery breeze through the kitchen. Jan sang over the stove, flipping the last pancake and swallowing phrase to phrase. The cinnamon made her salivate. And…

            Medieval medicine take up a whole shelf. Splendid. Not one, single book can give you a comprehensive rundown. Twenty will tell you the same thing, slightly rephrased, so you’ll think you’re learning but you’re only aging. Having never been to the reference floor, you’ve been picturing a wooden stand under a spotlight: on it,…

They added stone lions on either side of the driveway and paved over the pit. Ladders went up. The girl started taking side streets when errands brought her through the old neighborhood. The blue house, hers, existed now in thought. She liked it that way. Thoughts were durable. Thoughts were shelter. Thoughts were pure. The…

Evelyn pushed the stroller over the cobblestone streets of the North End. Coffee and cannoli sweetened the harbor breeze, but her ward, Bella, watched for the people. The wheels on the cobbles drew the shopkeepers to their windows to watch the retired Pilates instructor promenade. Shoppers who were new to the area, or in town…

I came to learn, please don’t kill me. I can go away until the lecture is over, if you leave the diagrams. I can study them by the light of the Exit sign, you won’t have to leave the lights on. I’ll just wait over here. Don’t worry, I’m not paying attention. Please don’t take…