“Three Ghosts for Maisie Tidwell”
Three ghosts aid a teen for her prom. Plus Cloudbreak, a forthcoming collection of short stories.
She chants quietly. Brandt runs over, swirling and swilling, and bumps into her. Blue slush sparkles over the pamphlet. Ink bleeds. Paper crumbles. Pages tear. The binding swells and snaps. Brandt apologizes. Maisie tells him she’ll see him at his car. She rubs the blurred and frayed blue-sparkled spell. “‘A confederate of…’ Is that right? Is that ‘football’? And ‘neither rhyme nor reason’?” She squints and repeats the muddied phrases.
William Auten – “Three Ghosts for Maisie Tidwell”
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