MARK BUDMAN is the publisher/editor of the Vestal Review. Mark has been published in many online and print publications, to include: Mississippi Review, Virginia Quarterly, Exquisite Corpse, Web Del Sol, Happy, Recursive Angel and elsewhere. He writes fiction, poetry, and, of course, flash stories.

                                                          good for nothing


Can you talk well with a gun barrel in your mouth? I couldn't.

"Do you love me?" she said.

I nodded.

"Then say it!"

"Ah lah uu."

"I don't understand a word you're saying."

"Ah lah uu unee."

"Do you still think I'm good for nothing?"

I still thought so. But you can't always be confrontational with a gun barrel in your mouth so I shook my head.

"Say you're sorry."

This time I wasn't going to budge; a man has to draw a line in the sand. I shook my head again.

She squeezed the trigger. The hammer clicked like a diseased bone snapping. I had taken all the bullets out a few minutes before, and I knew she wouldn't bother to check. I wrenched the gun out of her hand and loaded it.

My turn.

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Copyright © 2002 Mark Budman