Flash Archives - Page 5 of 14 - Postcards from The Pug Bus

Postcards from The Pug Bus

Lifting a satirical leg on popular culture

Persons in the Ether

Question of the Week

Passion or stability?

Mavis Drouk, emotional escrow officer

Believed to be near Harrisburg, PA

Stability. Passion is what people choose when they still believe a staircase can be made entirely of sparks. Stability may not sing outside your window, but it does remember where the insurance cards are.

Rufus Clenn, freelance thunder consultant

Last reported west of Tulsa, OK

Passion, obviously. Stability is just boredom wearing shoes with arch support. I want life to arrive late, smell faintly of lightning, and explain nothing until several lamps have been broken.

Nora Vell, deputy curator of small regrets

Possibly sheltering in Eugene, OR

Passion is useful for beginnings, stability for the paperwork afterward. I prefer both in moderation, which is another way of saying I would like to be ruined briefly and then driven home safely.

"The centaur of attention."

Flash

Disclaimer

philmaggitti 50-Word Stories, Brevity is the Soul, flash fiction, Micro Satire 10 months

Crampazine is now offered in chewable gummies. Results may vary. May cause involuntary yodeling, nostalgia for fax machines, spontaneous karaoke, mild time travel, existential vertigo,… Read More

two people lying on the hood of a car gazing up at the stars

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star."

Flash

Stargazers

philmaggitti 50-Word Stories, Brevity is the Soul, flash fiction, Micro Satire 10 months

They lay on the hood of his car, stars spilling across the night above like secrets. She traced constellations with her finger. He pretended to… Read More

a couple at a romantic dinner staring at each other longingly

"A dirty book is rarely dusty." ~ Anon.

Flash

Passing the Salt

philmaggitti 50-Word Stories, Brevity is the Soul, flash fiction, Micro Satire 10 months

He touched her hand while reaching for the salt. The moment bloomed. Sweat behind knees, breath like static. Not love, not even want. Just hunger… Read More

cartoon image of a woman going into an mri machine

"Is that a gun in your pocket ..."

Flash

You Can’t Satirize This Mess, #5

Biff Scuzzy 50-Word Stories, Brevity is the Soul, flash fiction, Micro Satire 10 months

“Woman shot in butt after sliding into MRI machine with loaded firearm” An unidentified Wisconsin woman was left with an extra pair of holes in… Read More

man chasing a chicken with a knife in his kitchen

"Don't cook your chicken before ...""

Flash

Farm-to-Table

Biff Scuzzy 50-Word Stories, Brevity is the Soul, flash fiction, Micro Satire 10 months

Kathy admired his dating-app profile: “Farm-to-table, eh?” she texted, flirting. “My lifestyle,” he rejoined. “Dinner’s on me?” She arrived hungry. He opened the door, beaming. … Read More

A prisoner in his cell eating his last meal.

"Just put it on my tab."

Flash

Prisoner’s Last Meal

T.J. Eckleburg 50-Word Stories, Brevity is the Soul, flash fiction, Micro Satire 10 months

He savored every bite–fried chicken, mashed potatoes, cherry pie. The guards watched silently. He licked his fingers, smiled. “Tastes like freedom,” he said. They didn’t… Read More

a middle-aged man in a suit with no tie standing by a red mailbix

"You've got mail?"

Flash

Anticipation

philmaggitti 50-Word Stories, Brevity is the Soul, flash fiction, Micro Satire 10 months

Each morning Harold stood at the red mailbox in a gray suit, breath held like a final note. Thirty-two years ago she had promised him… Read More

a woman standing at a table in a restaurant blowing a chef's kiss to a man seated at a table eating

"Same to you, buddy."

Flash

Chef’s Kiss

Chip Hilton 50-Word Stories, Brevity is the Soul, flash fiction, Micro Satire 10 months

He murmured “chef’s kiss” and leaned in close. She tilted her head. He kissed the duck confit. Ardently. She froze, stunned. “Sublime rendering,” he sighed.… Read More

The Pug Bus Breaking News

The Pug Bus Breaking News requires no email address, no mother's maiden name, no first pet's nickname, and no DNA sample. You simply mash the link below and read.

Deliver It

⚡ Scholars at the Royal Institute for the Advancement of Obvious Things have concluded, after eleven years of exhaustive inquiry, that people who speak at great length in meetings do not thereby become more correct. The findings have been submitted to a committee for review.

⚡ It has been determined by authorities in several jurisdictions that the phrase "I just want to be honest with you" reliably precedes the portion of the conversation one would most prefer not to have. Legislation is pending.

⚡ The Bureau of Perpetual Reassessment has announced that this is not, in fact, the most divided the nation has ever been, a distinction that continues to belong to a prior era when the disagreements concerned rather more consequential matters and people occasionally died over them.

Adverse Effects

The following lines of prose cleverly arranged as poetry may induce brief clarity, misplaced certainty, and the sense that something has already been decided without your approval ...

By seventy you know which doors you walked past without opening,
can name the rooms you never entered,
hear the echoes anyway.

Read It All

By seventy you know which doors you walked past without opening,
can name the rooms you never entered,
hear the echoes anyway.

The years do not accuse.
They simply pile up like newspapers you meant to read,
each one carrying news that is no longer news.

You think: I should have said that differently.
I should have stayed. I should have gone.
The mind is efficient this way,
filing the same cases under the same wrong headings,
finding them again at 3 a.m. in perfect order.

What surprises is not the weight of it
but the patience —
how regret waits,
how it has nowhere else to be,
how it sits across from you at breakfast
and asks for nothing,
knowing you will offer it everything
on your own.

The body slows.
The catalog does not.
You carry the unlived lives
the way old houses carry
the smell of people who are gone —
not haunting exactly,
just present,
just there,
just refusing
the simple courtesy
of leaving.