Bryan, parting the Perspex fronds of a 7-eleven refrigerator unit, doesn’t see Nora approach. But his bones quiver as he fetches the milk.
Plastic strips down a back, straggle-bun, plaid shirt half-tucked into godforsaken Levi’s – all Nora observes of Bryan as she hovers, waiting. Yoghurt’s what she’s come for, not a new-born abandoned to a fire station stoop in downtown Marlene, near two decades past. Milk-drunk, to hush him up for a plump half-hour. Gifting Ma her getaway: flitting into, out of streetlights, and on into the purpling night.
If Bryan twists, perhaps he’ll catch – perhaps she’ll catch – some ghost expression. A face they once knew, from a time before either one knew anything, really. But Bryan’s learned to pay no mind to milk-seeking bones that respond to all women this way. And it’s just yoghurt that Nora’s come for.
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Biography: Dr Claire Griffiths was born of Scotland, landed in England, and hasn’t quite found her way home yet. She is Associate Head of Creative Writing at Northeastern University London. Her flash fiction has been published by Vestal Review, Reflex Press, OUTSIDELEFT and Flash Fiction Magazine, and shortlisted for the SmokeLong Quarterly Flash Fiction Award. ‘Intersection’ was shortlisted for the Bridport Flash Fiction Prize. Twitter: @CKGriffiths7
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Image: unsplash.com
