Marfa, Texas

Maria Gonzales pulls up at the post office in her rusting beige van. She takes all of the children she cares for when she runs errands. A dozen preschoolers hold hands in a line as they follow her in.

Leaving together, I hold the door open for all of them. A black-haired boy looks up at me, smiling, a front tooth missing. Then he holds his arms out like a wrestler and thrusts his chin forward. “We get two meals,” he says, proudly.

As Maria helps them into the van, a border patrol truck passes. The children bow their heads.









Daryl Scroggins has taught creative writing and literature at The University of Texas at Dallas, The University of North Texas, and the Writer’s Garret, in Dallas. He now lives in Marfa, Texas. He is the author of This Is Not the Way We Came In, a collection of flash fiction and a flash novel (Ravenna Press).

See more of his work in 7.2 and 7.2 again and in issue 6.2 here and here and here and in Special Flash issue 50/50 here and here