MICROFICTION

Not That Kind

100-word fiction

Julia slammed the trunk of her car, ignoring the stench that’d been building for weeks, and reached for the buzzing phone. Darryl. Again. How many times could she ignore his calls?

Their last encounter was a disaster. Dinner, movie, and an awkward wrestling match on his couch. She wasn’t ready for “the next step”; he was. But Mama had taught her better than to behave like a cheap whore.

“Hello? I’m fine. Tomorrow at 7 is okay. See you there.”

She sighed, thinking about how every man who’d wanted her had disappeared.

And quietly tucked her pistol into her bag.

© Tina L. Smith, 2020

About the author: Tina L. Smith works by day as an administrator of an academic medical research program and by night as a writer and a partner in her boyfriend’s commercial photography business.