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American Short Fiction

Publishing exquisite fiction since 1991.

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C.M. Barnes

In Our Defense

C.M. Barnes
In Our Defense

So help us, we spread her remains in a minnow bucket. It shouldn’t have come to that, but there was a law against scattering ashes in the lake, and we had to be clandestine out in the boat, the rope tossed casually over the side, the sooty remainder of her trickling out through the sieve holes. We played her favorite music: Sinatra, Bennett—old-timey, feel-good stuff—and sipped G&Ts as we plowed through the chop. No one said much, although Daughter-in-law Judith read a prayer. To throw off a … [Read more...] about In Our Defense

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