FLASH FICTION WEEK 2026
Runner-up
BY NADJA MARIL
Copyright is held by the author.
I DON’T need anything, but I want something new. I touch and grope the lacy tops and silk blouses. I feel the fabric of each pair of slacks and assess each colour. I search for price tags and size labels, reminding myself no need to economize.
The sales clerk looks up from folding sweaters. Can I help you?
I want to find something that will make me feel like a celebrity. I want to find something that will make me feel the way I felt wearing my new lace up boots on the first day of school. The newness doesn’t last long. Scratches and scuffs soon scarred the smooth leather.
I say nothing. I hand her several items for the dressing room.
Alone with my thoughts, I imagine myself young again. I still have the figure for snug pants and a cinched in waist. The extra small skirt fits me, but not the size 2 pants. Does anyone actually wear 00? I don a long dress, and admire the floral print, imagining myself wearing it. No party invitations on my calendar, I remember the nights when everyone invited me to sit at their table. I reach out my arms to greet the world and am restrained by tight sleeves.
For more than 50 years I’ve been buying clothes and I see nothing fresh and exciting. I select a pair of comfortable blue jeans.
I want the sales clerk to notice how good I look in those new blue jeans. Too busy selling multiple ensembles to a glamorous 20-something, she doesn’t notice when I wear them out the door.
***
Nadja Maril’s prose and poetry has been published in literary magazines that include, Lunch Ticket, Blink Ink and Across the Margin. Commuter Lit published her prose poem, “St. Patrick’s Day Green” in March (2026) and her flash fiction story, “The Moment Before You Take Your Last Breath” in January 2024. Her chapbook Recipes from My Garden, a compendium of poems and short essays centred around herbs, a kitchen garden, and family memories was published September 2024 by Old Scratch Press. A former journalist and editor, Nadja has an MFA from Stonecoast at the University of Southern Maine and lives in Annapolis, Maryland, U.S. You can follow her “Addicted to Writing” posts on Substack https://nadjamaril.substack.com/ or to learn about her other books and publications visit Nadjamaril.com.