Six beers stabbed in wet sand—chilled daggers. A black ocean distantly breaks. Waves lick grit close to rented shoes. A wind warm, stirs tie—slack now, dancing about a throat. He sits, encircled. A wedding continues behind, indifferent. “Little Wing” floats on faint breeze.
She had made him watch.
So in sand, he sips deliberately, and remembers much too much.
On a nearby picnic table, two bridesmaids make out—fingers tangled in each others hair, gasping, thrashing. He tries not watching. He tries forgetting familiar sounds.
But it’s useless to try. He watches.
One beer down, five to go.
Bio: James Blevins is a poet and writer of short fiction currently studying English and Creative Writing at the College of Central Florida . His first published short story, “For All the Bending,” was included in the recently published 2016 Scythe Prize collection, available on Amazon.