Deborah Goulding 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.) Without further ado, here’s the winning story:
Dead Stuff
by Deborah Goulding
“Mom, I want to go to crab city,” my youngest exclaims as we are wading through the cool shallow waters that are a run off from the inter coastal and the ocean. The sun is bright and warm , perfect weather to say the least in mid April. Trudging along, crab city proves to have an abundance of tiny hermit crabs that walk along this sand bar and bury themselves as we near them. My sons are busy digging, capturing and releasing these squirming critters.
“It’s time to go boys,” I shout as the clouds are moving in. I noticed their buckets have the usual sand and a few crabs to take home. Walking by a dead fish on the shore bank, a woman puts it into a bag to dispose of and sees the sign stating no dead fish or animals in this trash can allowed. She tosses it back and a seagull happily takes it off her hands.
Once home, the few hermit crabs met their demise. After teaching my sons about not putting anything dead in the trash can, we had a proper burial in the front yard !
