Aphelion Issue 292, Volume 28
March 2024
 
Editorial    
Long Fiction and Serials
Short Stories
Flash Fiction
Poetry
Features
Series
Archives
Submission Guidelines
Contact Us
Forum
Flash Writing Challenge
Forum
Dan's Promo Page
   

Refrigerator

by Thomas Reynolds


Death leaks
Onto kitchen tiles

Tinged with rust.
A spilled jar

Of gherkins
Lies empty

At the top of
The wastebasket.

One by one,
The last items

Are removed
And trays

Wiped clean.
It stands

Unplugged,
An empty shell,

And is carried
Onto the porch,

Where just for
A moment

One workman pauses
To readjust his grip,

Looking back through
An empty house,

feeling a chill
inside his chest

and a door peppered
with drawings

swinging shut
and a light going off.


© 2011 Thomas Reynolds

Find more by Thomas Reynolds in the Author Index.

Comment on this story in the Aphelion Forum

Return to Aphelion's Index page.