Colonel Mathura beckons me forward, but the balcony is a maw with a balustrade of marble teeth. The crowd devours me with their cheers. I shuffle forward to be consumed by their support. The midday ... [+]
A.M. Dodds-Wade lives in Winter Garden Florida with two suspect cats and a suspect husband. He writes poetry and literary, horror, and mystery fiction. "Just A Fish" is in Short Circuit #06, Short Édition's quarterly review.
We spent hours at the store. Allison examined each animal one by one. She studied their movements, their noises and their smells. She looked at their feathers, spots, fur patterns, and colors. She talked to each animal and had a serious telepathic out-of-body-experience with every single hamster, lovebird, tortoise, and fish. She peered into their eyes and read their souls. That, or she couldn't make up her mind. I love my daughter, but sometimes she can be a bit of a mystery to me. Finally, she grabbed my hand, led me to a shelf and pointed to a small blue betta fish. "That's him," she said.