–Lyle Rosdahl
Suspect by anonymous
In the liquor store, I was crouched down looking at the cheap rye on the bottom shelf when a bottle broke. I didn’t hear anything else so I don’t know why I began to army crawl across the floor to the beer coolers. Furthermore, I don’t know what prompted me to grab a Stone IPA and put it down my pants. I stood up and walked calmly out of the doors. This has made me think about two things specifically: 1. Did I break the bottle so that I could do what I did? 2. If so, why did I get the Stone IPA instead of a bottle of rye? A subset of questions followed: if it had not been me, why did I think it might have been me? if it had not been me and I didn’t wonder about it being me, who was it? was maliciousness, mine having already been addressed in the first question, involved? if so why was I so unaware of anyone else in the business, a blindered mule? I mulled these over as I sat on a curb and drank the bottle of beer, beading up with humidity.
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Lyle Rosdahl, a writer living in San Antonio, edits the flash fiction blog & best of in print for the Current. He created, facilitates and participates in Postcard Fiction Collaborative, a monthly flash fiction response to a photo. You can see more of his work, including photos, paintings and writing, at lylerosdahl.com.
Send your flash to [email protected].