Three RNs on Their Lunch Break

Three RNsIn the photograph engraved on his tombstone he looked so young, stumping us, because, while he was younger than us, he’d always struck us as an old soul. Jen touched where the rough engraving of his hair gave way to the smooth black granite. What wasn’t in the photograph was us in the booth around him, happy hour, numbing ourselves with cosmo-ritas, having lost one. We recalled how badly we’d wanted laughter and how, when the alcohol landed, it came. We’d been cropped out, red eyes, scrubs and all. Although we knew we weren’t supposed to take offense, we did.

 

 

 

J. Eldon Hauck teaches flash fiction at the Lancaster Literary Guild and writing at Temple University and Harrisburg Area Community College. His short fiction has been published in The Molotov Cocktail, Penduline Press, and The Rusty Nail, and his nonfiction has been published in TINGE Magazine, Heavy Feather Review, the Ploughshares blog, and The Review Review. He is currently working on a series of essays about hiking.

Photo credit: Howard Ignatius

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