flashquake Fiction
Second Place

flashquake
Life on Backorder
by Jennifer Maslowski

This isn't what he promised me. He promised me a dog, and a baby, and a little house furnished by Pottery Barn. And what he gave me is a dog, and a baby, and a little house furnished by Pottery Barn.

Damn, writing it down it sounds like he gave me exactly what he promised. But he didn't. The dog isn't the right dog, the baby isn't the right baby, the house isn't the right house. Even the bookshelves and the lamps and the placemats are the wrong bookshelves and lamps and placemats.

He promised to give me everything I wanted. It's not my fault that what I wanted looked better in the catalog.

© 2002 by Jennifer Maslowski

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