So, I tried my hand at some flash fiction and I think it is a lot of fun! Challenging to be compelling, succinct, and surprising in such a short format. But I like a challenge – and the fact that 300 to 500 words is the (usual) format means that there is the satisfaction of having completed something in a short time. A bit of an uplift when most things I work on take me months. Or years. So here are flashes that I wrote, sparked by a contest (that I didn’t end up entering). In this case the theme was “travel”. See what you think.
CONTEXT
Spain. He had always dreamed of seeing the famous architecture of Barcelona, and the student exchange program at the University of Texas at Austin fit the dream perfectly. From the home of his warm host family in Madrid, the AVE train sped him to revel in Gaudi’s incredible Sagrada Familia and his mind-boggling Casa Batlló.
“Oh my God! They’re incredible”, he gushed to his Spanish counterpart. “No picture could ever do them justice.”
“Yes, they are wonders”, Jaume smiled. “But tonight I will show you some of Madrid’s own wonders, in the form of our famous tapas bars!”
#
“Come on, let’s go in here. Last stop to end the night.” Jaume disappeared through the portico of La Fontana de Oro, where a crowd of strangers from all over Europe, led by a few Americans, were cheering on the Dallas Cowboys. Pete stumbled through the doorway after him.
“One of the only places you can watch your American sports”, Jaume yelled, once they’d ordered their two Cruzcampos. The crowd was pleasantly raucous, hollering at the TV, jostling each other in imitation of the plays. The roaring swelled in anticipation of a goal. Pete smiled vaguely at the blur of faces, in the general direction of a lithe, muscular Spaniard in his thirties, his arm around a pretty brunette.
“Hook ‘em horns!” he yelled, smiling at the man. He held his hand high, fore- and baby finger raised.
#
“Pete, Pete! You ok, man? Pete! Wake up!” Jaume splashed cold water onto his companion’s face, finally rewarded by the lift of an eyelid.
“Wha’” A long pause. “happened?” Pete raised his hand to a tender eyebrow.
“Man, I should have warned you never to use that symbol here. You just told that guy he’s a cuckold.”
“A what?”
“That his wife is two-timing him!”
MIND MELD
Brian pulled off his Walkman headphones and finally paid attention. I could hear ‘Fly Robin Fly’ tinking faintly.
“Look, I just want to go visit Heike for a couple of days. She’s still in class. You and I can meet back here in Frankfurt, then go to Paris like we planned.”
“What am I supposed to do while you are in, where is it? Marburg?”
“Come on, there are lots of places you haven’t been to in Germany. Or you could go back to Switzerland, see that chick you were disco-ing with in Fribourg.”
“All right.” His breath expelled fiercely but he smiled at me. “Maybe I’ll head to Cologne, I dunno. Meet me at the train station in two days. We’ll catch a morning train to Paris, find a hotel, get something to eat before dark.”
“OK, thanks. I’ll see you then.”
“Don’t be late.”
#
“Oh my god, Heike, I can’t believe we overslept!! Shit! But thanks for calling the station. My German is just not good enough to explain it all. Is my brother answering the page?”
“No. Sorry.”
“Shit! I’ve gotta get the next train out of Marburg. Wish me luck. I’ll call you later.”
An hour to Frankfurt. Please be there! Please be there!
Twenty-five minutes searching three Paris-bound trains. Nothing. I had hoped but I knew my brother. He wouldn’t wait. Where to find him in Paris then, the student quarter? No! I needed to think like him.
On foot, from the Gare du Nord to the best known landmark in Paris is roughly an hour. I squared my backpack and started walking.
Fifty-eight minutes later, I allowed myself a colossal grin. Those beautiful pissed-off blue eyes were glaring at me from his perch at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.
Categories: Flash
Erin
Finally getting to what I've always said I want to do... write!
That's a What I Say 
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