LADIES IN WAITING
by Julie Mark Cohen
"Where the hell is he? He's over an hour late," Katie groaned uneasily.
"This waiting . . . this pressure is going to kill me," lamented Suzie.
"Men! They make you rely on them, but they're never there when you need them," Debbie complained.
"There he is now. Finally, relief!" mooed Bessie, spotting Farmer Brown with his bucket.
DON'T LOOK DOWN
by Julie Mark Cohen
"Now what?" Thelma queried with trepidation, as uniformed men closed in around her.
"We're not giving up," said Louise, nervously surveying her surroundings.
Thelma winced, remembering how Louise, with a swift stroke, put the kibosh on her defiler. Grinning, she recalled how she countered by redirecting Louise to a Mexican route. Hadn't even met her in person, she recollected.
"Don't forget what we did for ourselves," recounted Louise, reminding herself that she quit her waitress job.
Thelma relaxed then smirked, as she recalled leaving her lout of a husband and taking his computer.
Seconds wore on like months.
"Any minute now," Louise drowsily stated, drifting back to when she blossomed into a best-selling mystery author and Thelma became a sought-after travel guide writer.
Thelma beamed briefly, replaying their meeting at a book signing. Instant best friends. She floated into her thoughts.
Fading, they struggled to hold onto how their lives had become inextricably intertwined.
The anesthesiologists finished prepping them for Thelma's kidney transplant.
Copyright 2003 by Julie Mark Cohen. All rights reserved.
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Julie Mark Cohen, Ph.D., P.E., is a consulting structural and forensic engineer who works out of Troy, NY. In late 2003, she treated 55-word flash fiction as a means to hone her writing skills for her novel SHEAR FOLLY. Now addicted, she is weaving 55-worders into her novel. Contact Julie.
