You may have noticed that we’ve cut back the frequency of the flash fiction section. The submissions dropped off precipitously over the holidays, so we’re trying a once-a-month format. Please consider submitting a short piece and I will do my best to respond to your work as well as possibly have it published.
This month’s flash fiction is from a previous Short Shorts author, Danny Olvera. In his own words: “As a Queer Chicano, the idea of silence is present in a lot of my writing. However, often we associate silence as negative. To be silent, to be closeted, is to be powerless. We only claim our power as people once we come out and rid ourselves of silence. However, silence can also be a source of power. What is not said may have as much, if not more, importance than what is said.” This is an astute observation about writing as well as speech and Olvera’s courage in battling, through writing, to find justice and acceptance for a marginalized group is an inspiration.
Make your own voice heard. Please email your submissions and/or comments to [email protected]. — Lyle Rosdahl
Brunch with Mami
¿Y cómo te ha ido?
I’m engaged! He proposed to me last Wednesday. He took me to the restaurant where we first met and proposed! He even knelt down and everything. We’re getting married this coming June in Massachusetts. A June wedding, just like yours.
-Bien.
Silence.
-¿Y todavía vives con ese amigo?
A drop of venom falls on my rice. The rest of it falls on my ears as the word ese crashes through.
¿Ese Amigo?
¿Ese Amigo?
My boyfriend, mami! My fiancé! He isn’t just some friend that merits no recognition. He is my boyfriend, my lover, my future husband. The father of the children I hope to one day have. The person I wish to spend my last days with.
-Sí
Silence once again. Denser than before, as if the clinking of silverware were produced from its contact with the air and not with the plate beneath it.
-Sabes que cuando quieras, te puedes regresar a casa.
No thank you. To return to this would be to once again deny my very existence. To return would be to once again endanger a love that already is endangered. No thank you. I will not relegate myself to silence in my own home.
-No gracias mami, estoy bien donde estoy. Está más cerca al trabajo.
Y más lejos de ti.
Submit your South Texas Flash Fiction here
