Margaret Fieland
Spring 2008
Since You Didn't Ask
My wife was holding both Rottweilers and I was bent over retying my shoelace when she started in on me.
"Is Sadie on your list?"
I looked up, nearly falling over onto the grass beside the path. I could tell by the set of Helen's jaw that she was wanting an argument.
"What do you mean?" I knew full well what she meant.
"Your lovers," she spat. "Is Sadie on the list, too?"
"Of course not! What are you talking about?" I said, pushing myself up to standing.
"You said the same thing about Mabel!" She glared at me for a brief second. It was like running my eyelids through a can opener.
"Mabel was different," I mused, staring intently at the ragweed behind the fence. "Anyway, you swore that you and Herbert haven't been intimate."
"We haven't."
"Oh, come, now. I heard you on the phone with your mother last night discussing Herbert's kisses."
"So?" Helen raised one perfectly arched eyebrow.
I gritted my teeth so hard I could feel the enamel eroding. "You're going to Wyoming with him, how do you explain that?"
Helen shrugged.
"You put the reservation on my credit card so I know you only booked one room."
Helen turned red and started down the road with both dogs. I could tell by the set of her shoulders she could cheerfully have slit my throat.
"I hope you and Herbert have a good time in Wyoming," I shouted after her. Perhaps I'd call Sadie after all.
Born and raised in New York City, I have been around art and music all my life. I am an acomplished piccolo and flute player and the daughter of a successful painter. I am published in a number of poetry and short story anthologies as well as print and online journals. I am a long-time science fiction fan; I selected Robert A. Heinlein's "Farmer in the Sky" for my tenth birthday. My all-time favorite book is "Alice in Wonderland." Among my other talents, I can wiggle my ears and write backwards.
Visit Margaret at her website.
"I did not do it" by Alex Nodopaka
