Anticipation

She buys an oak lamp table at a yard sale. She sees potential. Sand. Stain. She doesn’t bargain. She pays five dollars and knows she’ll tell people she paid four. At the last minute, she picks up a blue cloche. She’s contemplated hat wearing, boots, a costuming of self. She pays three more and leaves with the cloche on her head and the table in her arms. At home, in the back of the lamp table drawer she finds a torn scrap of paper. Will you—. Pick up milk after work? Walk the dog? Remember me? Marry me? She stands at the window and watches her neighbor work on his old motorcycle. He is faithful to his bike. He is out in the driveway every Saturday and Sunday. In a moment, she will introduce herself. Hand him a wrench when he asks.









Shellie Zacharia is the author of the flash chapbook Not Everything Lovely and Strange is a Dream (Monkey Puzzle Press, 2014). She likes to read, write, and run. She lives in Florida.