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In the summer scorch, I prune the branches of an overgrown yew that’s hanging over our garden, blocking the sun. A gnat buzzes by too close as I’m inhaling. I can feel its death journey through my wet, dark, snotty nose and into my throat. I try to cough it out. This doesn’t help. The bug is too deep.
My partner in life speaks to me through the screen door from the porch.
“Are you OK? You’ve been coughing a lot.”
“I’m fine. It was just a bug in my nose.”
“You should take a Covid test.”
“It was a bug. In my nose.”
“Yuck.”
John McCally is an Emmy and Grammy-nominated TV Producer and Director living in Connecticut. He’s always wanted to explore writing in more depth, and now you have the chance to read one of his first published pieces of flash fiction.
This piece has an immediacy to it. And yes, great ending!
Not too long, not too short, just right.