She says, “Get out of the shadows.” She tells me Hide N Seek time is over. Grown men are not supposed to cry. When I do my eyes feel needle-poked and razor-hacked. I was blind once after a faulty cornea operation—Lasik surgery. The only thing that helped was sticking lit cigarettes in my eyes and listening to the crisp hiss while sucking down the smolder.
This might not mean anything to you. Perhaps you’re not even understanding, which is why I’ll stay here, even if someone calls out, “Ollie Ollie all in free.”
Len Kuntz lives on a lake in rural Washington State with an eagle and three pesky beavers. His short fiction appears in places like Camroc Press Review, Right Hand Pointing and also at http://lenkuntz.blogspot.com.