Jessica Klimesh is a US-based writer and editor with creative work in or forthcoming in Flash Frog, Cleaver, trampset, Flash Boulevard, and Bending Genres, among others. Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best Microfiction, Best Small Fictions, and Best of the Net. Learn more at jessicaklimesh.com.
The Trip to the Zoo
Diane throws the covers off, and Bill mumbles, “What’s wrong,” not as a question but as a grunt of somnolent annoyance. Outside, the world has become flat, all craters filled in. No real darkness anymore. No real daylight.
“This pillow,” Diane says, “it hurts my neck.”
There’s a jab of silence before Bill sits up, jostling the headboard. “Did you sign Mac’s permission slip?” he says.
“Lay down, would you? I was almost comfortable.”
“It’s for the trip to the zoo,” Bill says. “Such an odd field trip, don’t you think? A zoo? I was eighteen the first time I went.”
“Maybe we should get a new mattress. We’ve had this one for, what, ten years? Since before Mac was born.”
“We went there on our first date,” Bill says, “but who didn’t back then?”
“Maybe a new comforter, too.” Diane gets out of bed, pulls the gray comforter off, crumples it up and lays it next to the wastebasket by the nightstand.
“It’s unsettling that they would take children to a zoo on a class trip. They’re kids! Times sure have changed, haven’t they? Next thing you know, they’ll be taking them to a science museum or something.”
“Gray! Everything is gray and boring. You can’t find anything with even a dab of color anymore. What’s wrong with a little color?” Diane pulls the gray top sheet off and stuffs it into the wastebasket. Then she proceeds to pull the fitted sheet off, working around Bill as if he’s not there.
“We went to that restaurant afterward, what was it called? Bella’s? I had no idea wine could be that expensive.” Bill laughs.
Diane gets back in bed, lies uneasily on the bare mattress pad. Sighs. “This is ridiculous. Maybe we need a bigger bed altogether.”
“Where do kids go on first dates now, if they don’t go to a zoo? If they’re going to zoos on a freakin’ field trip in elementary school?”
“Or maybe we should just sleep in separate beds.”
“In any case, I guess we should let Mac go. I haven’t heard of any other parents complaining.”
From the Editor:
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64 pages, published 4/16/2024
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