Flash fiction: "Jigsaw Puzzle"

It was interesting, because the puzzle witnessed all the indiscretion. Hanging benignly on the wainscoted wall, facing west, the wide window with the musty vertical blinds always drawn. The puzzle, a triumphant rendition of the U.S.S. Constitution engaged in pitched naval warfare, the very waves praising her courage, loyalty, fortitude. My mom’s loyalty, fortitude. Her patience with the 5000 piece puzzle. Her loyalty to the concept of finishing it, framing it, giving it to her husband to hang in his office, his new office. She worked on it throughout our whole vacation - instead of going to the beach or the pool, she hunched over the dining room table in our timeshare and pieced the ship together.

I’m positive she didn’t know what the puzzle would see. What the walls in his new office were already party to. Why he chose a spot for it on the wall that was not in his direct line-of-sight from his desk.

posted @ 2/01/2004 01:43:00 PM 0 comments