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by Don McLellan


About the Author: Don McLellan has worked as a journalist in Canada, South Korea and Hong Kong. He has been listed twice for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and has had two story collections published, In the Quiet After Slaughter and Brunch with the Jackals. More at donmclellan.com.


Excerpt

They came a few days after she’d started working for the Worthingtons. Mrs. W was reclining on the bed, cucumber slices squeezed into her eye sockets, her face smudged with an expensive cream. She had been applying the gunk for decades. Any improvements were illusory.

Mr. W was in the den checking stock prices on a laptop when they came. He heard a loud noise at the rear of the property, something shattering. He palmed the fogged-up window, but noticed nothing. A few minutes later he heard it again, louder. Raccoons, he thought. Little buggers. He pulled on a cardigan and stepped into the yard. A pair of planters had been upended; pottery shards were sprinkled across the frozen lawn. 

At the side of the house he was surprised by two strangers.

“I didn’t realize we had visitors,” he said. “What can I do for you?”

Just as her head begins to throb from everything she’s expected to remember, like what temperature to set the thermostat at night, like how each of the Worthingtons prefer their breakfast eggs, the boy, Ethan, bursts into the den where Annabelle is vacuuming.

“Have you seen my mother?” he asks, yanking iPhone buds from ears as large as her friend Belle’s chocolate chip cookies. Before she can reply he shrugs the parka from his spindly teenage frame; it settles dripping wet at her aching feet. 

“It goes in my bedroom,” he says. “Third floor, end of the hall.”



Story Comments

Jul 14 - Benny

I like pie! And I like Don McLellan's tales!




Jul 14 - Elizabeth Varadan

Good story! Well-developed plot. Satisfying ending. Annabel is a sympathetic character.




Jul 14 - June Lorraine Roberts

Nicely done!




Jul 15 - Karen Dent

Really enjoyed this story. Well developed, pacing was perfect and the ending - very satisfying.




Jul 15 - Tina Jude

Ah, very good! I enjoyed the read! Interesting ending!




Jul 16 - Frances Dunn

Great story, loved the ending.




Aug 3 - George Garnet

Great job, Mr. McLellan! Sir!




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