I know I put them somewhere. I’ve searched this place high and low. Every nook inspected, every cranny examined but still they elude me. I’ve tried all the usual places. Sliding my hand down the back of the couch, rummaging through the junk drawer in the kitchen, even checking the pocket of my old winter coat! Still, I’ve come up short. Nothing but crumbs, a few lost coins and a wad of lint.
They say this happens when you get older. That you just start forgetting where you put things, like a child. That it’s natural for a person of a certain age. Hmmphf! I refuse to believe it. They just say that as a way to make you feel guilty, for having the audacity to survive more than seven decades. Well I won’t fall for it.
I continue my fruitless searching. Revisiting each spot with minute scrutiny, all while thinking they’ll be in the last place you look! Well of course they will be. Why would you continue looking for something after you’ve already found it? Some advice really is ridiculous if you stop to think about it.
I feel the frustration building in my chest and I let out a loud sigh in my living room. Throwing my hands up, I look to the ceiling as if in prayer to a higher being. Maybe some spiritual intervention will help them reappear, I start to think as a last resort.
Finally, about to give up, I pull my glasses off and rub the bridge of my nose. I stop mid stroke, staring dumbly at the bifocals now pinched between the fingers of my left hand. I can’t believe it. I’d been bloody-well wearing them this whole time!
Word count: 288
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What is Flash Fiction?
Flash fiction is a genre of fiction, defined as a very short story. While there’s no set word count that separates flash fiction from more traditional short stories, flash fiction stories can be as short as a few words (while short stories typically run for several pages).
Flash fiction is also known as sudden fiction, short-short stories, micro-fiction, or micro-stories.
Backyard tales 