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art: Hannah Dobek
Father Figure
My father was Ted-something; never knew his last name, Mother waving him off as a simple footnote relegated to the bottom of a page. Nothing more, sweetie, than a one-night stand. So, I pictured them standing in a dimly-lit kitchen of a west end walk-up, coats still on, snowy boot prints making puddles as he pins her against a stove. I refashioned that later, had her lying sleep-softened, sunshine spackling walls around a queen-sized bed. She's waking up alone–then sees my father grinning, tousled, a take-out carton with coffee and delectables in hand. I picture him sitting on the edge of her bed and holding gently to her lips a glazed doughnut with sprinkles. I put my father there long enough to do that.
Shoshauna Shy is an editor for 101Words. She was one of the seven finalists for the 2021 Fish Flash Fiction Prize, was shortlisted for the Bath Flash Fiction Awards in 2023, nominated for the Best Small Fictions and Best Microfiction awards, and shortlisted for the Flash Fiction Contest Awards conducted by South Shore Review.
