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An Hour with the Ogre
December 5, 2009 in 299 Words, Child, Family, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Health, Marriage, Parent, Relationships, Short stories, Stories, Very Short Novels, Writing | Tags: Abuse, Child, Drugs, Fear, Marriage, Mercy, Paranoia, Regret, Rehab, Separation, Son | by davidbdale | 4 comments
We sit at a table in The Glade—a room named for the sappy paintings of pastoral scenes on its walls. Their grasses and trees are carefully balanced and in them nothing lurks or lives. Read the rest of this entry »
The Yellow Pages
June 19, 2009 in 299 Words, Family, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Marriage, Nuclear Family, Relationships, Short stories, Stories, Very Short Novels, Writing | Tags: Child, Family, Parent, Regret, Separation | by davidbdale | 7 comments
Had they been a less practical couple, my parents might have had children by accident. Instead, one night, before I was born, at the wobbly table in the breakfast nook, Dad drew a line down a page of yellow paper Read the rest of this entry »
Too Like Truth
March 16, 2009 in 299 Words, Business, Confession, Crime, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Race, Short stories, Society, Very Short Novels, Writing | Tags: Business, Crime, Guilt, Justice, Regret, Suspicion, Theft | by davidbdale | 14 comments
The kid who glared across my desk at me had stolen our petty cash. We’d trusted him with a job and with proximity and access or acted as if we had. Read the rest of this entry »
Overpromised Heart
April 20, 2008 in 299 Words, Baby, Childhood, Entertainment, Escape, Family, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Life, Literature, Love, novels, Nuclear Family, Poetry, Short stories, Stories, Very Short Novels, Writing | Tags: Baby, Daughter, Destiny, Embrace, Fear, Mother, Parent, Regret, Separation, Wife | by davidbdale | 5 comments
I promised my daughter my heart, forgetting it wasn’t mine. You were there, fat with her, already weary of the burden and beautiful, intolerably beautiful. You made demands: a hairbrush, a mirror, not that hairbrush, ice yes but not ice chips, a delivery date— Read the rest of this entry »
Have You Seen This Child?
March 31, 2008 in 299 Words, Family, Fiction, Flash Fiction, How-To, Runaway, Separation, Short stories, Stories, Travel, Very Short Novels, Writing | Tags: Child, Escape, Grief, Loss, Love, Mother, Mystery, Regret, Separation | by davidbdale | 14 comments
When the night voices tremble in your heart, so do you hear where each of us is, except for me, except for the one who doesn’t call. Your bed is damp with not knowing. Left to the black glass and right to your husband, you shake your head No all night. Read the rest of this entry »
Girl for Sale
March 18, 2008 in 299 Words, Business, Childhood, Education, Family, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Life, Money, School, Short stories, Stories, Very Short Novels, Writing | Tags: Ambition, Buy, Cost, Daughter, Girl, Memory, Money, Regret, Sell | by davidbdale | 10 comments
Neighbors and strangers are holding bits of my childhood up to the sunlight, the better to judge them. Mom and I have arranged the tables in loose chronological order; attentive shoppers moving clockwise will see my unformed adolescent self unfold into hopeful young womanhood over there by the plum tree. Read the rest of this entry »
Movie Night
December 31, 2007 in 299 Words, Cinema, Disability, Family, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Memory, novels, Nursing Home, Short stories, Stories, Very Short Novels | Tags: Abuse, Age, Family, Fear, Hospital, Loss, Memory, Regret | by davidbdale | 3 comments
The room is dark and smells of disinfected pee with a hint of vanilla. Eleanor Barney must be here. Most of us have been wheeled into places and parked facing the screen but younger people with red ears are crowded onto folding chairs, noisy with outdoor talk, coats in their laps. Read the rest of this entry »
Quick Recovery
December 12, 2007 in 299 Words, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Funeral, novels, Short stories, Stories, Very Short Novels, Writing | Tags: Funeral, Grave, Isolation, Laugh, Loss, Lovers, Regret, Romance | by davidbdale | 9 comments
During the funeral in his old hometown he didn’t give it a thought but when he needed a ride to the airport and couldn’t think who to ask he discovered he was in all the world alone in that particular way, Read the rest of this entry »
Bridge Toll
September 24, 2007 in 299 Words, Family, Fiction, Flash Fiction, language, Short stories, Stories, Very Short Novels, Writing | Tags: Car, Father, Regret, School, Son | by davidbdale | 7 comments
My son’s a nice enough kid, I suppose, flaky as all get-out, but a hard worker when he sets his mind to something, which is the problem. I offered him a way into the business, but he never cracked the binder. Plus, he qualified for military officer training, but he went kamikaze on his interview. Read the rest of this entry »
Hemlock Kiss
July 27, 2007 in 299 Words, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Philosophy, Short stories, Socrates, Stories, Very Short Novels, Writing | Tags: Anger, Loss, Myth, Philosophy, Regret, Suicide | by davidbdale | 10 comments
That was your idea of an apology, old man?—that preposterous collection of sophistry and insults? Did you forget you were talking to a jury of 500 farmers? Athens is still a democracy, whatever you may wish. 251 farmers can stop all debate. Read the rest of this entry »
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