A Dance with the Devil by Lorette C. Luzajic

The start of the sound, Sunday salsa in the square. The ice xocoatl is my only relief from the oppressive blaze of the sun, but the locals don’t seem to notice or mind. No one else sees the devil, either, but there he is, in blazing polyester, head to toe and skintight. His feet are flamboyant in ridiculous botas picudas, pointy red boots so long they look like skis.

I catch the eye of the butcher as the carousel of couples spins past. His joyous face is round and ruddy, his chubby fingers sprawled across the back rolls of his dancing queen. A toothy grin invites me to step into the circle. But my dance card is full. All the bobbing, jumping faces flash by, jovial jowls, sky-wide smiles, even as the devil lurks there in the shadows. He’ll find his way over to me. He always does.

Lorette C. Luzajic reads, writes, publishes, edits, and teaches flash fiction and prose poetry. Her own has appeared in Ghost Parachute, The Disappointed Housewife, Bending Genres, Unbroken, Trampset, The Citron Review, Flash Boulevard, NFFR, and beyond. She won first place in a flash contest at MacQueen’s Quinterly. She is the author of two collections of small fictions, Pretty Time Machine and Winter in June. She is the founding editor of The Ekphrastic Review, a journal of literature inspired by art. Lorette is also an award-winning neoexpressionist artist, with collectors in more than 30 countries. She is also passionately curious about art history, folk horror, ancient civilizations, artisan and tribal jewelry, and culinary lore, to name a few.