Two Microfictions
by Cheryl Snell
Flash Flood
A mother called to her chick. Come out of all that cumulus and peck some holes in these rain barrels. They are flooding the cactus again.
Must I? Last time the cactus gave me a splinter for my trouble.
Then, this time, you give it a ticket!
The sparrow began his pecking. Water gushed out of the holes he made, spraying the cactus. It tried to twist its arms to shield itself. To no avail.
You’re making it worse! Are you trying to drown me! it screamed. Why oh why?
Hey now, said the sparrow. Simmer down. You’ll thank me later.
The cactus began to green up, made like Clark Kent changing into Superman in the telephone booth. It began to move, dancing to the ambient sounds of nature. The sparrows watched from inside the safety of a stranded clunker.
That was when the cactus uprooted itself and lumbered toward them.
First Commission
An artist is painting a picture of a clown for her nephew. Perhaps a court jester would be better. They have cooler hats—three corners hung with ringing bells. She wants to please her little client but also expand his cultural horizons. Not all comics wear a honking red nose, so she brushes her subject’s under a tendril of paint. A ruff of red, green, and purple appears before it dissolves into folds of blue wind. She is the magician in her nephew’s life. He will remember her like this, her circus of ideas twisting through his mind like a contortionist.
Cheryl Snell’s books include poetry and fiction. Her most recent writing has appeared in On the Seawall, Maudlin House, Ghost Parachute, Flash Boulevard, Bending Genres, and Midway Journal, and in the 2025 Best Microfiction and Best Small Fictions anthologies. She lives in Maryland with her husband, a mathematical engineer. See https://www.facebook.com/cheryl.snell/ for more.
