Synkroniciti is stoked to welcome writer Niles Reddick, based in Tennessee, with a zany flash fiction comedy, “The Missing.” Margie, a dental hygienist, takes extra care in packing her groceries into her Subaru, but it’s all to no avail.
“When she got home, she was even more upset to see the milk had leaked, the twelve-pack had smushed the bread, and the tomatoes were bruised. When she got everything inside, she could have sworn she bought two cans of green beans, two Vidalia onions, and two apples, but only one each was bagged. She went back to her car and looked in the trunk, on the floorboard, and underneath the front seats but couldn’t locate the missing even though her receipt confirmed she’d bought them.”
We’ve all been there…leaky liquids, crushed items and things missing. Do you take the time out of your day to go back, or do you paste a smile on your face and move on? Groceries being as expensive as they are these days, maybe we should all be more proactive.
On top of all this, Margie’s having weird dreams and the people around her are beginning to look like produce. Is this pattern coming from Margie’s subconscious or is there something nefarious going on? Niles deftly hides all the clues in plain sight and it’s a pleasure and a delight to see where they lead.
Remember, it’s never advisable to encounter “a dental hygienist in a bad mood.”
Read “The Missing” in Synkroniciti’s “Patterns” issue, available here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Niles Reddick is author of a novel, four short fiction collections, and two novellas. His work has appeared in over five hundred publications including The Saturday Evening Post,Flash Fiction Magazine, Bending Genres, Citron Review, Midway Journal, and Vestal Review. He is a ten-time Pushcart nominee, a three-time Best of the Net nominee, and a three-time Best Micro nominee.