Cassiopeia

cassiopeia-iHe made his move in the planetarium. She’d been gazing up at the outlines of Cassiopeia in the night sky, squinting to see a queen on a throne. She looked down and saw him on his knees, squeezed in front of the folding seat beside her. Did you lose something? she said. Will you marry me? he asked, holding out the ring. She laughed. She couldn’t help herself. What would she tell their children? Your father has always been ridiculous? Or maybe he’d tell the story. Your mother was always an arrogant bitch. Either way, she had to say no.

 

Jacqueline Doyle’s fiction and flash has been published in Quarter After Eight, Vestal Review, Sweet, The Pinch, [PANK], Phoebe, and 100 Word Story, while her creative nonfiction has earned two Pushcart nominations and Notable Essay listings in Best American Essays 2013 and Best American Essays 2015. Recently she won the Black River Chapbook Competition for her flash collection The Missing Girl, forthcoming from Black Lawrence Press in October 2017.

Read the 100 Word Story interview with Jacqueline and Stephen D. Gutierrez.


Photo credit: macop

5 Responses to “Cassiopeia”

  1. Daniel Riddle Rodriguez says:

    Dope!! I don’t know how you do it. . .

  2. William Reagan says:

    This is splendid.

  3. Tony Press says:

    Another good one! This one started out fine and just kept getting better.

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