Abandoned - by Steve Carr (Flash Fiction 2021)

Steve Carr, from Richmond, Virginia, has had over 490 short stories published internationally in print and online magazines, literary journals, reviews and anthologies since June, 2016. He has had seven collections of his short stories, Sand, Rain, Heat, The Tales of Talker Knock and 50 Short Stories: The Very Best of Steve Carr, and LGBTQ: 33 Stories, and The Theory of Existence: 50 Short Stories, published. His paranormal/horror novel Redbird was released in November, 2019. He has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize twice. His Twitter is @carrsteven960. His website is https://www.stevecarr960.com/ He is on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/steven.carr.35977

Abandoned

by Steve Carr

The upscale restaurant wasn’t very busy. I had slid the engagement ring on Jenny’s finger only minutes before. I did it with as little formality as possible, not getting down on one knee and barely waiting for her to say “yes,” which she did reluctantly, as if I had just asked her to join me in a suicide pact. I then launched into a true story I thought she would find funny. Asking her to marry me and relating the story the same evening, and back-to-back, seemed like a good idea at the time.

“It was a freak snowstorm,” I began. “I went into a club early in the evening when flurries were coming down and by the time I left the club at two in the morning, there was like four feet of snow on the ground. I was very drunk and had forgotten where I parked my 1968 fire engine red Mustang convertible.”

She was holding a glass of expensive red wine to her lips, staring at me wide-eyed over the edge of the glass, like an owl eyeing its unsuspecting prey. We had only known each other for three months and were still learning one another’s non-verbal cues, but I continued on.

“The car was a classic, and I loved it, but it was mostly a heap of junk that cost a lot in upkeep,” I continued. “I wandered around for a short while but never found it. It might have been towed off by the police or stolen. I caught a ride home with a friend and forgot all about it. I didn’t even bother trying to find it after that.” I chuckled lightly, an invitation for her to do so also.

She lowered the glass of wine. “You just abandoned your car that easily?” she said, her words coming out as if she had just taken a bite from a lemon.

“Well, I didn’t really abandon it,” I said, defensively. “I just sorta misplaced it.”

“Has that happened a lot?” she said.

“Has what happened a lot?”

“You just abandoning things that you love?”

I could feel my words being stuttered before speaking them. “It was just a car. You can see the humor in the story, can’t you?”

“No, I can’t,” she said loudly and shrilly. “What kind of sane person just abandons a beloved car?”

“Beloved is a bit of an exaggeration,” I said, answering just as loudly.

The restaurant suddenly became as quiet and chilly as the inside of a refrigerator.

A waiter came to the table. “I ask that you lower your voices,” he said.

Jenny looked at him, and then at me. She took the ring from her finger, stood up and then threw the wine still in her glass in my face and stormed out of the restaurant.

I wiped the wine from my face with a cloth napkin. “We’re still getting to know one another,” I said to the waiter.

---

Setu, April 2021 :: Setu Special Edition: Flash Fiction 2021