When She Was...

The idea here should remain simple. Flash fiction by Sean Ennis

Photo by Eduardo Soares on Unsplash

WHEN SHE WAS HIGH AT THE SUPERMARKET

and hungry, she imagined crazed recipes and waved at each camera on the ceiling in its black orb. The Black Orbs! she said. She spun and pointed—vinegar? vinegar—and headed to aisle 5. No matter what store we went to, that’s always where it was, she always checked. She was not shopping for vinegar. She zoned out at the butcher counter. She said, doughnuts. It was like 10:30 on a Sunday morning, loud thunder but not much rain. She said, Lover, doughnuts, and pushed herself towards the bakery through the church crowd. 

The idea here should remain simple. 

She really was pretty normal otherwise. It was a good day. 

This is just a fun story. I was high too. We did it on purpose. But this is a difficult story to punctuate.

WHEN SHE WAS HIGH DURING THE POWER OUTAGE

and the severe storm, she suggested we play a card game she called Paradox.  It required three decks, which took us forty minutes to find. She was inventing the game on the spot. It seemed like poker mixed with spin the bottle and a drinking game. The rules were contradictory. I drew three of diamonds, and she claimed I had to remove my shirt. The rain and wind were still knocking on the door, and it was getting hot in the house. She didn’t laugh. Then she fell asleep holding her cards. The power came back on, hours later, with a clang. And every light in the house. And the TVs were talking. I woke up upside down, but she remembered everything.

WHEN SHE WAS HIGH AT THE AIRPORT

punctured by paranoia.  I don’t remember where we were going. She thought security knew that she was high, that they could see it in her bones, but there were no alarms.  I gave her a nudge through the magic threshold. Now I remember where we were going. 

We were very young.

---

Sean Ennis is a Philadelphia native, now living in Water Valley, MS. His fiction has appeared in Tin House, Crazyhorse, Diagram, Hobart, The Mississippi Review, Wigleaf, and Pithead Chapel. A recipient of a Mississippi Arts Commission literary grant, he is the author of the story collections, Hope and Wild Panic (Malarkey) Cunning, Baffling, Powerful (Thirty West) and Chase Us: Stories (Little A/New Harvest).