Sharpies and Coconut Macaroons

honored and thrilled to have a new flash fiction piece, Sharpies and Coconut Macaroons, published in this terrifically absurd magazine
“The Absurdist is a small monthly periodical of absurdist flash fiction and illustrations, printed and distributed in Portland, Oregon and shared digitally around the world.”

Sharpies and Coconut Macaroons

AM Roselli

Nella wants to tie people down. Not everyone. Just those with hair like piles of snow. Their old translucent skin resplendent in odd brown patches and mottled crimson swatches. Nella believes wrinkled skin is cosmically linked. She must bind old people together and connect their age spots with Sharpies to make star maps to God. Old bodies are closer to heaven each day. She has visions.

The giant Moai heads of Easter Island are not empty. No one is empty. Nella feels empty. Her head hurts all the time. She sees invisible stars on wrinkled skin.

The other night while she was walking home from the Quik Mart with a coconut macaroon stuffed in each pocket, an elderly couple strolled by her. They were so close, Nella could smell the accumulated years on their skin. The gentleman held, not his wife’s bony elbow, but a tiny Pomeranian. The hobbling couple were glowing more than the bitty dog’s sequined collar. Twinkling glass shards embedded in the grimy sidewalk dulled to dirt near their worn shuffling shoes.

Nella thought about using her green belt to tie them together but feared her pants would fall down. Besides that, the Pomeranian would likely bite her in the ass. And anyway, she wasn’t armed with a stalwart Sharpie. The Quik Mart worker said they expected a Sharpie shipment sometime tomorrow. Nella was dubious. The young man behind the counter had done nothing but stare at her breasts. She’d forgotten to wear her only bra, blue and decorated with black Sharpie stars.

Not defeated, just delayed, Nella climbed the seven flights to her apartment. She ate her coconut macaroons and danced by herself. She used her long brown hair to dust the floor while dreaming about star maps.

Her head is not empty. It is full of ropes and lights and hammers. Endless headaches reminded her to work when she feels lazy. She needs God’s help.

She swallowed the last bits of coconut then leaned out her apartment window.

Down below, so many old people to tie together. So many chances to find salvation. ♦

10 thoughts on “Sharpies and Coconut Macaroons

  1. Congrads AnnMarie! I am rooting for you. Hope you had a good Halloween. I had a ball watching horror movies from 6am to midnight. I did find out a horrifying thing. My dr prescribed me the wrong type of medicine. Depakote has two types he gave me the one that stays in your system longer and turns you into a zombie and very drowsy. He is trying to fix it now with pharmacy and I am sure my insurances will not be happy about that. I think that will eventually clear up and I get the right type of med for me and feel less like a zombie and being in a fog the rest of my life. I got a lot of trick r treaters last night. Halloween was awesome. I am having a Post Halloween movie marathon party. ttys

    Liked by 1 person

    • thank you, Dan
      geez I hope at the writing of this response that your meds are all adjusted
      so very sorry you have to deal with all this on top of life and its mountains
      you just keep being the ever-positive climber my friend
      be well
      stay creative
      hope your Halloween was excellent
      am:)

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Hey, girlie!
    CONGRATULATIONS, CONGRATULATIONS, CONGRATULATIONS!!!
    That is one helluva knockout story – the language is so taut and energetic, and the narrative moves like a Jackalope on a cold Wyoming morning.
    Keep sending, sending, sending you!
    Love it!
    DS

    Liked by 1 person

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