Inheritance

Image of playing cards and poker chips.I think of my father taking me to see Batman opening night. Teaching me poker at the cabin. Demonstrating the slick footwork for the moonwalk. I think of his hitching laughter drifting up through the vents, intruding on my sleep. His fractured conversations. The hushed sobbing. I think of the shine on the hospital floors. His rough beard worn like a muzzle. The smell of Lysol and shit. His glassy eyes, wet like fishbowls. I think of how people say we look alike. That depression runs in the family. How tomorrow I’ll be older than he was when he jumped.

Keith J. Powell writes fiction, CNF, reviews, and plays. He is a founding editor of Your Impossible Voice and occasionally tweets @KeithJ_Powell. He has recent or forthcoming work in Lunch Ticket, Cloves Literary, Schuylkill Valley Journal, Bending Genres, and New World Writing.

Photo Credit: Viri G

7 Responses to “Inheritance”

  1. Yvonne Morris says:

    Great pacing to the powerful ending.

  2. Marcia Lynch says:

    Thought provoking. Caused me to gasp audibly.

  3. Barbara Bunn says:

    Well worded. Hard ending but unfortunately life. Written well!!

  4. Malcolm says:

    Lovely visual detail, and what an ending!

  5. Wow, a gut-punch ending. Love it.

  6. Doug Sylver says:

    A whole life, deteriorating, in 100 words.
    Very well done. Brutal and poignant.

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