Fiction
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A Molotov cocktail flies through the air,
rotating end over end as it moves forward,
graceful in its slow motion revolutions. It stops mid-air, suspended. A drum beat
plays lightly in the background. Boom boom pop, ba boom boom pop, boom boom
pop, ba boom boom pop. Like that. The bottle, the gasoline inside, the air surrounding
it, almost everything is motionless. Only the flame still burns, still continues to devour
the rag. The bottle is clear glass, and the sky behind it is cloudless.
The fire peters out.
The Molotov cocktail surges forward, ripping through the air until it slams into the
target with a thud and lands on the ground. Music stops. The target is a cardboard
outline of a generic car. It resembles a car in overall shape, but has no characteristic
features. There are no wheels, windows, doors, mirrors, fenders, nothing. Where the
driver’s window should be is a hand drawn target. The bottle lies on the ground near the
tail end; the rag has come loose and gasoline is spilling out.
graceful in its slow motion revolutions. It stops mid-air, suspended. A drum beat
plays lightly in the background. Boom boom pop, ba boom boom pop, boom boom
pop, ba boom boom pop. Like that. The bottle, the gasoline inside, the air surrounding
it, almost everything is motionless. Only the flame still burns, still continues to devour
the rag. The bottle is clear glass, and the sky behind it is cloudless.
The fire peters out.
The Molotov cocktail surges forward, ripping through the air until it slams into the
target with a thud and lands on the ground. Music stops. The target is a cardboard
outline of a generic car. It resembles a car in overall shape, but has no characteristic
features. There are no wheels, windows, doors, mirrors, fenders, nothing. Where the
driver’s window should be is a hand drawn target. The bottle lies on the ground near the
tail end; the rag has come loose and gasoline is spilling out.
David
Wirthlin
David Wirthlin
currently lives in Colorado with his wife and three kids. He holds an
MFA in Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a BFA in English,
with creative writing emphasis, from Chapman University, and is working on a PhD
in English and Creative Writing at the University of Denver. His work has appeared
in journals such as the Denver Quarterly, elimae, and Sleepingfish. He has taught
at Chapman University and the University of California, Irvine. He is fiction editor
at fireHABIT press, and also edits the smallHABITS chap-journal of innovative fiction.
www.davidwirthlin.com
MFA in Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a BFA in English,
with creative writing emphasis, from Chapman University, and is working on a PhD
in English and Creative Writing at the University of Denver. His work has appeared
in journals such as the Denver Quarterly, elimae, and Sleepingfish. He has taught
at Chapman University and the University of California, Irvine. He is fiction editor
at fireHABIT press, and also edits the smallHABITS chap-journal of innovative fiction.
www.davidwirthlin.com