Beginnings and Endings
This flash begins as follows:
"One catastrophe after another, her father said, meaning her."
What is "1951"?
This fatal flash takes place on a cliff edge at the Grand Canyon.
What is "Letting Go"?
According to Melissa Fraterrigo's "Momma's Boy," nothing proves your manhood like punching one of these.
What is a turtle?
This porcine protagonist prevails over alcoholism--only to fall victim to the food chain.
Who is Weird Pig?
"You are the raisin, I am" this.
What is "the loaf"?
This story begins as follows:
"The job would get boring if you didn't mix it up a little."
What is "The Custodian"?
This coming-of-age tale recalls a mountain cabin in Jahorina (Bosnia & Herzogovina).
What is "Smithereens"?
According to former defensive lineman Joe Ehrmann, these three words are responsible for some major societal problems.
What are "be a man"?
This anthropomorphic alga asserts her individuality by adopting a human name.
Who is Tiffany?
In "A Man and a Man," a man learns his wife is this.
What is 10,000 birds?
This story ends like so:
"And the summer was over."
What is "The Flowers"?
The titular setting of this cryptic flash prompts an exploration of individual versus collective identity among artists.
What is "Lowry Hill"?
The girls in Claudia Smith's "Colts" respond to their shared experience of domestic violence by doing this to their dolls.
What is hanging them?
"Her skin is like dusk on the eastern horizon."
Who is Karintha?
The protagonists of Roy Gonzalez's fraught fraternal flash consume way, way too many of these.
What are jalapeños?
This story ends like so:
"The lake said nothing, and it kept the bodies."
What is "I will use this story to tell another story"?
This story of unrequited love takes place "on the ground floor of a corporate monolith."
What is "Sweaters"?
Apparent spousal death yields short-lived freedom for this 19th-century protagonist.
Who is Louise Mallard?
Fittingly, this character's name alludes to the medical term for short-sightedness.
Who is Myop?
"A man walking in the rain eating" this.
What is a banana?
This story begins as follows:
"Do not go outside."
What is "To Reduce Your Likelihood of Murder"?
The climax of this conversational flash takes place on a bus.
What is "Minuet"?
Tampons, elastic hair ties, and the cordless Hitachi Magic Wand are modern comforts foreseen by Gwen Kirby's modern take on this mythological figure.
Who is Cassandra?
This 86-year-old widower from G.A.Ingersoll's "test" consumes a somehow tragic quantity of soup.
Who is Leonard?
In "Collective Nouns for Humans in the Wild," Kathy Fish suggests this word for a group of visual artists.
What is a "bioluminescence"?