Neighbor-Bill’s a pill! we joke—at first. New in the neighbourhood, we begin on friendly enough footings. Bill offers endless help. To hear him pontificate, you’d swear he’s President of The Entire Fucking Universe—but he’s a retired mailman.
He asked her if he could try something. Her lips were wrapped around him, so she looked up to meet his eyes. She nodded. In one swift motion he grabbed her head and pushed it down once, twice, three times—harder each.
It was a bright morning, when they came. Blue-skied and yellow, and so beautiful it left you feeling vulnerable, and wondering how it was a sky could fill you like that, with so much joy. A blue so bright, it hurt your heart.
This special issue collects work published as part of our “Banned CDC Words” feature. The prompt is in response to the fight over seven health-related words the Trump administration instructed the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to avoid in its 2019 budget request.
New flash fiction by Gary Fincke, Judy Darley, Sandra Arnold, Daryl Scroggins, Clare MacQueen, Paula Friedman, Frankie McMillan, Rhoda Greaves, Christopher DiCicco, Jonathan Cardew, Colleen Maynard, Tony Eprile, Grace Campbell, Nuala O’Connor, Charles Rafferty, Sharon Eckman, Nicholas Cook, Cari Scribner, Andrew Stancek, Kyle Hemmings, and Pamela Banayoti.