Dad was in Da Nang when I was born, so he wasn’t there pacing, wearing holes in the maternity ward carpeting, making funny faces at the bassinet just beyond his reach. He was loading an M16. He named it after me.… more
Writer: Susan Israel
Smoke
FLASH NONFICTION by Susan IsraelThey’re prepping him for surgery now. IVs inserted in matchstick veins, secured with tape, fluids dripping at a hypnotic rate. “You’re going to feel a prick,” the nurse alerts him as she aims yet another needle at him like a dart. I am a prick, he thinks.… more
