Shishir 2024 Stories - Laura Shell
The Red Ball of Yarn
By Laura Shell
Let me set this up for you. I'm in the messy living room of my mother's two-bedroom apartment. Mom was never known for her cleanliness. More for stains and clutter. Her black theatre couch is covered with magazines and paper plates and crochet needles and yarn. And there is a small ball of red yarn on the dingy floor.
The declawed cat is swatting at it.
My mom is in her favorite red leather recliner. And she's not moving.
I think she's sleeping so I call to her and press on her left arm. It's as stiff and as cold as a piece of metal.
That's when I start walking around the messy living room, screaming, "oh, my god." Not merely because I know she's dead. But because I'm not crying about. Shouldn't I be?
The cat still swats at the red ball of yarn.
Laura Shell from US quit her day job to become a full-time writer. She has been published in Citron Review, Rue Scribe, WINK, and many others. Her first anthology of paranormal stories titled The Canine Collection was just released. If she isn't writing or reading or submitting short fiction, she's slinging snarky jabs at her husband of 35 years. |
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