By J.S. O’Keefe
The field ahead looked worked over, flattened in patches like multitudes had crossed it for centuries. Brown grass under frost. That didn’t matter to me before.
Men standing in lines. Faces too close to each other, shoulders almost touching. I didn’t recognise any of the faces.
A colonel moved down the line. Everyone stiffened when he passed, so that's what he must’ve been. Or major. Maybe brigadier general. He stopped beside me; my boots settled deeper in the mud. Training. Reflex.
An order came. The body moved before I caught up to it. Rifle raised. Words said, worn smooth from too many times. Mouth working through short sentences that lost their meaning years back. When it was done, the lips kept going a little. The faces melted into new faces.
They put a paper in my hands. Faces waiting. I thanked all who were there, or were dead, or both. Both? At that I lost my place, quickly skipped ahead, kept on reading. Nobody knew the order had broken. Sentences closed over it.
Night after. Stove going, kettle starting to boil. I grabbed it too fast, burned my hand. Ran it under cold water until it stopped feeling it was mine.
***
Metal in my left knee, shrapnel. Doctors have said it'll quiet down.
The blast happened a long time ago but I can still see it clearly. Maybe it's in someone else's recollection. Either way I shorten my stride. Try not to favour it. A small limp but I don’t want people to notice it.
Things go wrong in small ways. Boots not where I left them. A thought that stays. Or it's the body. Weight pulling one way, then the other. Balance?
Some days are clean. Coffee, dressed, out the door. Nothing to account for later.
Other days the room shuts. Sealed. I know it's me doing it.
Morning comes and the room opens on its own.
Not sealed again, until…
About the Author
J. S. O’Keefe is a scientist, trilingual translator and writer.
His short stories and poems have been published in Roi Faineant, Scribes*MICRO, Every Day Fiction, AntipodeanSF, 101 Words, Microfiction Monday, 50WS, Friday Flash Fiction, Medium, Paragraph Planet, 6S, WENSUM, Spillwords, Satire, etc.
You can find out more at his website: <https://www.szjohnny.net/>
My time at Nambucca Valley Community Radio began back in 2016 after moving into the area from Sydney.
Mark is an astrophysicist and space scientist who worked on the Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn. Following this he worked in computer consultancy, engineering, and high energy research (with a stint at the JET Fusion Torus).
Merri Andrew writes poetry and short fiction, some of which has appeared in Cordite, Be:longing, Baby Teeth and Islet, among other places.
Alistair Lloyd is a Melbourne based writer and narrator who has been consuming good quality science fiction and fantasy most of his life.
James Walton was a librarian, a farm labourer, and mostly a public sector union official.
Geraldine Borella writes fiction for children, young adults and adults. Her work has been published by Deadset Press, IFWG Publishing, Wombat Books/Rhiza Edge, AHWA/Midnight Echo, Antipodean SF, Shacklebound Books, Black Ink Fiction, Paramour Ink Fiction, House of Loki and Raven & Drake
Ed lives with his wife plus a magical assortment of native animals in tropical North Queensland.
Tara Campbell is an award-winning writer, teacher, Kimbilio Fellow, fiction co-editor at Barrelhouse, and graduate of American University's MFA in Creative Writing.
Tim Borella is an Australian author, mainly of short speculative fiction published in anthologies, online and in podcasts.
Brian Biswas lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
Sarah Jane Justice is an Adelaide-based fiction writer, poet, musician and spoken word artist.
Emma Louise Gill (she/her) is a British-Australian spec fic writer and consumer of vast amounts of coffee. Brought up on a diet of English lit, she rebelled and now spends her time writing explosive space opera and other fantastical things in
Barry Yedvobnick is a recently retired Biology Professor. He performed molecular biology and genetic research, and taught, at Emory University in Atlanta for 34 years. He is new to fiction writing, and enjoys taking real science a step or two beyond its known boundaries in his