Refractions: A Collection of Short Fiction

By Sherri Tobias

Three women. Three challenges. Three vignettes about refractions of the soul. Each of the stories in Refractions: A Collection of Short Fiction explores how new possibilities emerge when we face life’s difficult questions. Includes the stories: “Liquid,” “Dandelion’s Dance,” and “The Fall.&rdquo

• Language: English
• Publisher: MeanderLore Press
• Release date: Aug 3, 2018
• ISBN: 9781945118067

Book preview

REFRACTIONS

A Collection of Short Fiction

by

Sherri Tobias

MeanderLore Press

Findlay, OH

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, and/or events is purely coincidental.

Refractions: A Collection of Short Fiction

Copyright © 2014, 2018 Sherri Tobias

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the following address: MeanderLore Press, PO Box 1222, Findlay, OH 45839

Refractions: A Collection of Short Fiction —2nd ed.

Print Version 2.1 (2018.07.20)

Fiction: Short Stories

ISBN-13: 978-1-945118-05-0 (paperback)

ISBN-13: 978-1-945118-06-7 (ebook)

Cover Designer/Cover Photo: Sherri Tobias

Edited by: Katie Erickson

for Ben

LIQUID

Old Mother Hubbard and I have more than one thing in common today. As the frigid air of the refrigerator spills into the kitchen, not only is the cupboard almost bare, but I feel old—from the soul out. At least Hubbard had company. I doubt her dog took off on a business trip a week after she gave birth.

I glance around the kitchen for dinner ideas. Dirty dishes fill the sink. A monster-sized pile of baby-sized laundry and a stack of unpaid bills claim the kitchen table. It’ll be a TV tray for one—again. But what to eat?

I crouch down to examine the mysteries on the bottom shelf—purgatory in Refrigerator Land. My bloated middle stops me halfway, a reminder that the baby wasn’t all I carried around the last nine months. Sighing, I pluck a faded cottage cheese container from limbo and crack the lid to determine its fate. Will it move up a level toward heaven as potential supper material or down to the lowest terrace of cuisine hell—the garbage dump? My mother would never have let food go to waste the way Justin and I do.

A penicillin-like smell emanates from the former sustenance, which now sports an afro and oozes a gray fluid that has formed a moat in the creases of the curds. I snap the lid shut, but the odor lingers in my nostrils.

Holding the container-turned-coffin as far away as my arm will stretch, I snag the milk jug with my other hand. I attempt to stand, but my center of gravity is off. My butt hits the floor followed by the milk jug, which bursts open. The condemned leftovers escape, a kitchen chair foiling their getaway. Chilled milk seeps through my pajama pants.

You stupid— I shriek. But I check myself. I’m not really alone. I can’t afford to wake the baby.

I sit and let the refrigerator’s winter flow over me, willing it to freeze