Apologia in Absentia
It was not my intention to purloin your glass eye: I saw it on the nightstand as you dozed, my little cyclops. Iris green as the North Atlantic, pupil black as cuttlefish ink. Something to remember you by, I think, pocketing it and scuttling home, where its potential for décor is assured. How it will gleam on the neon wicker buffet, next to the first-edition Dianetics, a bust of Jackie Chan, an Ewok teapot, the jackalope I skinned myself. An eye for an I… Surely that macaroni necklace I presented you on our third date will prove a fair exchange?
Photo credit: Axel Hartman
Thank you Luis, Doree, and Tony for your compliments and thoughts. And thank you, Tony, too, for sharing it on 101words.org.
I just found out the piece was longlisted for the Wigleaf Top 50 (Very) Short Fictions for 2016 for this piece–so I’m super excited about that!
Great piece.
I love this idea, that someone saw a glass eye sitting there and took it as a memento. Even better is the macaroni necklace given on the third date, and the idea that those could be, in any way, an equitable exchange.
So good!
So very good, in fact, that I found a way to share it. https://www.101words.org/category/flash-fiction-sunday-edition/