mayflymaynot

There was once a very anxious animal. She spent most of her time underground. She dreamed of places above ground, but the thought of leaving the safety of her hole made her jittery. So jittery, she suspected that she might be off her rocker.

The world was dangerous. Animals went out into it, then disappeared. 

 

But some disappeared just by staying in their holes.

 

The mayflies are dancing, she thought. If I want to see them, I have to leave the hole.

 

There isn’t much time.

 

She poked her nose out. Sniffed.

 

[100/fairy tale/rocker/dancing]

 

Summer Camp Snack

Banana boats—prepped and foiled—are placed carefully among the coals. The campers stand closer, to the fire, to each other, where the smells of the forest are replaced by campfire smoke and bug repellent and something else. Pheromones fly like moths to their flames. Long past these hot, sticky adolescent days, a whiff of Off! will be a turn-on, something that floats her boat.

[100/young adult fiction/banana/flying]

Flutterings

Getting to the college field station—an old cabin then—required a vehicle with some clearance, a key to the gate at the highway, a mile-long drive back a single-lane dirt road. From the station, it was a five-minute wooded walk to the lake. The middle of nowhere. Dark dark nights. Owls hooting on the regular. Whip-poor-wills calling and gorging on moths.

One night (inside), we heard strange sounds (outside), strange enough to get spooked. Laughed nervously. Picked up the phone’s receiver. No dial tone. Dead. Stopped laughing. Then heard the chains dragging against the cabin wall. 

 

[100/horror/gorge/making a phone call]