You agree to meet Linda at the market bookstall. You’ve screwed up the nerve to invite her to the end-of-term party.
It’s raining, and Linda’s late, so you shelter under the awning and riffle through the books, even though these days you don’t read anything — except for Lady Chatterley’s Lover from your Dad’s bedside when he’s at church — unless it’s on your syllabus.
Linda arrives just as you’ve discovered a signed copy of John Lennon’s In His Own Write. You borrow money from her to secure the treasure, impaling your courage on the red rose that stays in your pocket.
A recovering journalist, D.X. Lewis now devotes himself to other kinds of fiction — from novels and playlets to ever shorter stories. His flashes and micros have been published widely online and in anthologies. His novella-in-flash A Life in Pieces was published in 2024 and is available on Amazon.
This story was shortlisted in the May 24 Monthly Micro Competition