Elaine Thomas: Micro-Fiction : February 2021

Fiction

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I am legitimately southern. Both sides of my family go back many generations in North Carolina. I live (and write) in Wilmington.

Broken

“It’s broken,” Mama said, as though Jim couldn’t see the handlebars for himself. “I told you to quit trying to do a wheelie. It’s a bicycle, not a motorcycle.” She shook her head. “Sometimes I think you could destroy an anvil.”

Jim’s heart sank. He knew farm kids didn’t just go buy a new bike because they broke the old one.

“Isn’t there any way it can be fixed?” he asked.

His daddy winked at Jim. “Let’s you and me go see Coy Kearns. They say that boy can weld anything from the crack of dawn to a broken heart.”