“No food during the day at all?” asked Phurnell. “Nah, dude,” replied Malik. “We eat as a family to prepare for the day. And then no food till sundown when we break fast as a family.” “And you got through 30 days of that?” “Yeah, 30 days plus a half day waiting for the new moon.” “That’s hard,” mused Phurnell. Read More
Category: Trunkated Tales
Trunkated tales demonstrate uncommon pachyderm proverbs that begin with “elephants never…” Each flash fiction tale features at least one elephant in a strikingly human situation. Most tales also occur in a world similar to our own, with the obvious exception of talking pachyderms having a prominent place in human society. Otherwise, trunkated tales create their own realities.
Makeover
by Lori Cramer Melinda decided her living room needed improvement, so she chose Colorado Rockies purple for the wall color and asked an old boyfriend to come over and paint. The vibrant violet hue exceeded her expectations, but something wasn’t quite right. Her old furniture clashed with the new color. She scoured the internet for a black velvet sectional sofa, Read More
Cement
“Phabian, they’ve already finished the foundation! Why won’t you celebrate with me?” “Because it’s unnatural, you can’t convince me otherwise.” “But Phabian, you agreed. You said you wanted to do this with me.” “No, Jennifer, I said that I loved you and that I’d do whatever would make you happy. At no time did I express a desire to build Read More
This Time, It’s a Bomb
by Caleb Echterling At a Greek war council, Odysseus laid out his strategy to end Trojan War 2: Electric Boogaloo. The Greek army would construct a giant wooden steer, and pack it full of explosives. They would roll the steer to the gates of Troy, where the Trojans would see it as a peace offering and take the statue inside Read More
Get Bred
They’ve been wanting to play matchmaker for so long. Now, he has arrived: Phomello, the alpha male that was promised. Eshe can imagine the office hens clucking away. Already they’ve spoken of futures they have no right to compose. “Hey, Eshe, do they really do trunk-tying at pachyderm weddings?” “David’s has a new line of plus-size dresses, did you hear?” Read More
Herds
by Anita Goveas I’ve always wanted a trunk. Hands are useful, but wonky lungs mean more time bumside-down means itches in hard-to-reach places. I saw Asian elephants at Chester zoo, Aunty Devika drove us from Stockport in her Mini Cooper. They liked to roll around in the mud, I could see that. But it turned into a two-inhaler day, so Read More
Loralie Was Death
by Adam Lock For more than twenty years, the only time Loralie had sex was when someone died. Like when Sheila, an old school friend, was hit by a motorbike. She invented the death of a second cousin to test her theory; Arthur consoled her and they made love. The sex noises from next door begin at ten o’clock. They’re Read More
Forgive
Pachyderms have adapted to human society in so many ways, adopting our customs and manners with steady grace. Yet, the average human understands little about pachyderm culture or the ways it remains separate and distinct. Indeed, opponents of integration worry that dark and inhuman secrets remain concealed. Too often when the two cultures have conflicted, human ways have overpowered our Read More
Rest
They sway out of the dust, elongated noses and bottom teeth scraping at the ground. Huge, striped bulks of flesh and armored skin emerge from a storm they’ve carried from the steaming north. They look exhausted, but they won’t rest until they reach the flooded grasslands behind me. Indeed, this herd has marched relentlessly for hundreds of miles just to Read More
Refuge
by Jack Somers Dennis left on a Saturday morning. He called Mom a miserable bitch, emptied his drawer in the bedroom, and thundered out the front door. I was relieved. Of all the boyfriends she had brought home over the years, I liked Dennis the least. He took money out of my piggy bank to buy booze and smacked me Read More