Mark A Morris is the Readers’ Choice in this week’s Indies Unlimited Flash Fiction Challenge. The winning entry is decided by the popular vote and rewarded with a special feature here today. (In case of a tie, the writer who submitted an entry first is the winner per our rules. And, if the winner’s story is more than 250 words, it is disqualified. This week’s winning entry was at 254 words, so Mark A Morris gets the win.) Without further ado, here’s the winning story:
The Bear
by Mark A Morris
Cooper lowered his binoculars, letting them hang from their lanyard. He took a sip from his glass. He sighed and seemed to deflate to half his size, his attention still fixed on the back of the Andersson house.
“You’re wilfully disingenuous, you know,” he said, sucking at his teeth. “You knew I’d have to come to see for myself. And he ain’t even running, so that’s another strike against you, dragging me out here with misinformation.”
I said nothing. Cooper wasn’t the best of company, but he was better than none, and he always brought a bottle when he called.
“How are the twins,” he said, looking at the house beyond the bear, hoping one or the other of them would come out.
I laughed and settled back in my chair, setting it rocking. “Ingrid and Annika are both fine,” I said. “Just as perky as ever. You know how it is, they’re both young carefree women with little in the way of commitments.”
Cooper nodded. He seemed wistful, the same way I felt. He was a widower, living on his own, his only son in Wisconsin. I sometimes heard him playing records at night, the music carrying over into my yard.
“It’s a damn shame,” he said, putting down his glass. “When you phoned to say they were running bare out at the Andersson property I just couldn’t not come. And you knew that.”
I shrugged. “I’ve an apple pie cooking. You can have a slice if you wait.”
Well done, Mark…