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Boom or Bust

The burning stub drops from Thalia’s lax fingers to the sidewalk, wet with a passing rain. Hunched in her coat, she watches the coral ember fade to grey like the sky. On the damp air, the street performer’s guitar strings twang like sheet metal at the aircraft factory. Frequencies fixed in her mind. His rhythm matches the beat of rivet guns wielded on F-4 doors she built for years. Like the rain, like the cigarette, like the man’s song, the war ended. Yesterday’s layoff, another ending. Thalia drops a coin before walking toward an unemployment line forming down the street.

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Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers: 100-word stories

photo prompt: Sunayana MoiPensieve.©