Art Credit: Dawei Ding
HEARTS AND MINDS
This afternoon, using a broom cupboard scrounged from the shattered house, we buried a little girl who bled to death yesterday. We put in some blossoms and laid the girl’s leg in beside her. Then we lowered the cupboard into the damp earth close to a lilac bush in the backyard. The village was strangely quiet, except for a few sullen locals who stood nearby, speaking a language we couldn’t understand.
About the author:
Barry Basden lives in the Texas hill country with his wife and two yellow Labs. He is coauthor of Crack! and Thump: With a Combat Infantry Officer in World War II. His shorter work has been published widely, both online and in print. His latest flash collection is Wince.
“Hearts and Minds” was previously published in Thrice Fiction.
Art Credit: Dawei Ding