Flash Fiction: A 100 and a 50
Sometimes you just feel like you're invisible ... or not.
Blue-Footed Boobies
Under the lifeguard's feet on the brink of the deep end, she pressed and chugged her arms and legs against the weight of water. Parents with their babies in arm chattered and cawed like a rookery of loons in the wading pool and the shallow end. Suddenly, the racket grew to a crescendo so piercing and claustrophobic, she opened her eyes from a deep meditation. For some bizarre reason, this splashing cacophony of blue-footed boobies felt the need to surround her, the solitary adult who only hoped to do water aerobics in peace at the opposite end of the pool.
Elders Triumphant
They laughed at how they had become skilled at 'getting in everybody's way' for decades. "You could teach a master class," she told him.
At that, he stood before her, his face inches from hers and proclaimed, "Now I'm in your way. You can't move!"
She turned slightly and guffawed.
Have any of my readers had a similar experience? Suddenly you just feel like you are in everybody’s way.
If you enjoyed this post feel free to explore other poems, essays, and stories in the Ring Around the Basin Archive. I also love to read your comments, so please share your thoughts. Let’s start a conversation. And if you wish to support my writings, please consider subscribing or upgrading to a paid subscription. It’s now only $50/year.
All my books, Paradise Ridge, When the Horses Come and Go, and Ghost in the Forest are currently available on Kindle.
Ghost in the Forest, is available in paperback as well for ten bucks. Paradise Ridge is out-of-print, but the Kindle version is re-edited and better quality. Hard copies of “Horses” are gone, unless that dusty box in the corner still has some.
Book Review of Ghost in the Forest:
"Ghost in The Forest" is a great read! Take note People. If you love stories about environmentalism and nature, its clash with urban mindsets, as well as personal transformation, this is the book for you!
"Ghost in The Forest" is a quick 126-page read. It's the story of Dori, a woman trapped in a mix of grief over parental loss and refusing to accept how her hometown and her friends have changed over the years. Because of this, Dori has become a recluse and a self-imposed misanthrope who finds more comfort amongst the hiking trails around her hometown of Morristown than in her dealings with the raw reality of other humans.
The book, in some ways, resembled Edward Abbey’s “Desert Solitaire” in that the story follows a protagonist's love of nature and angst about humans encroaching on it. In this case, it’s how Morristown is transforming into a mountain biking destination where cyclists run rampant on trails and nature.
However, a tragedy involving said mountain biking becomes a major pivot point for Dori, leading to a series of events that eventually bring about personal evolution and discovery.
If you're a nature lover, this book is a must-read. It beautifully portrays the clash between environmentalism and urban mindsets and the journey of personal transformation. The book's vivid descriptions of nature and the protagonist's love for it will surely intrigue you.
Paradise Ridge Review by western author D. B. Jackson:
If you draw circle roughly around an area that includes northern Nevada, southern Oregon, and southern Idaho, within that circle exists a culture and people who live a lifestyle largely untouched by modern values. These are the "buckaroos" and Basque characters author Sue Cauhape brings to life in her literary novel, "Paradise Ridge".
Leandro, the illegitimate seventh son of patriarch Xavier Arriaga and his mistress, Gisela, is at the center of this intriguing story that travels exceedingly successfully at both the personal level of the characters, as well as the compelling level where the story is told.
Cauhape writes in a literary style that reminds me of Annie Poulx. Paradise Ridge, on the surface, appears to be an upscale Western novel...once inside the pages, you will soon discover a potential classic waiting to be discovered.
I rated this book a 5...because that's all the stars there were.
I loved both stories! Beautifully written.
The old couple is what it looks like inside my head when I am arguing with myself.