Flash Fic­tion Reprint from Mark Bud­man: “When the world’s sec­ond-best-look­ing woman want­ed to kiss him, he stepped back, pro­ject­ing indig­na­tion with the mas­tery of a B-movie actor.”

Flash Fic­tion reprint from Erik Wen­ner­mark: “Peg walked up to Jim and kicked him in the shin.”

Flash fic­tion reprint from KJ Han­nah Green­berg: “His dress uni­form, too, was dusty.”

Flash fic­tion reprint from Lori Sam­bol Brody: “She looks at me war­i­ly. As do the oth­ers.”

Flash fic­tion reprint from Char­lie Baylis: “The sea­weed wash­es from the hood of an oak trea­sure chest reveal­ing a smat­ter­ing of seashells.…”

Flash fic­tion reprint from Lucin­da Kempe: “The chil­dren of sui­cides were run­ning for their lives.”

Flash fic­tion reprint from Sean Lovelace: “The man throws a stick into the water, and the woman, unaware, lobs a ten­nis ball.”

Flash fic­tion reprint from Jer­ry Den­nis: “Once he start­ed he couldn’t stop. He filled pages.”

Flash fic­tion reprint from Les­ley West­on: “This piece was one of my first endeav­ors. I was fear­less in those days.”

This sto­ry orig­i­nal­ly appeared in Night Train, in Sep­tem­ber, 2008.