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This writing was accepted for publication in the 108 page perfect-bound ISSN# / ISBN# issue/book “Just a Few Butterflies” Down in the Dirt, v193 (the 3/22 Issue) Order the paperback book:

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As a Shadow

Robert Funderburk

Wayne sat on a plastic chair,
t-shirt blood-spattered, blade-
ripped halfway down the front,
left eye swollen shut, soon to
blossom with color. Will he ever
learn to keep his mouth shut?

Double doors banged open, but
the emergency no longer existed.
A white-suited attendant pushed
a gurney steadily and almost
silently across the lobby toward
a No Admittance sign. An arm
had fallen from underneath the
sheet, swaying slightly with that
unrestrained freedom that only
death can create. The arm was
smoothly and gracefully muscled,
without the bulk that would have
come later with manhood. Tattooed
on the outside of the bicep, the words
Born to Raise Hell eulogized a
brief and violent life.

Wayne turned his one-eyed gaze
toward the arm, his expression
never changing.
“Remind you of anybody?”
He stared at the floor, nodding twice.
“Who?”
“My dad.”
The man in white pushed the body
of the boy on through the door
and down a dim hallway
toward the light
at the far end.

 

(Previously accepted by Dead Mule School of Southern Literature)

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