Fiction by Maureen Sherbondy
At the dance club, the man’s shirt pattern peels away and bops to the tune. The red and black circles jive back and forth, shimmying to the drummer’s four-four beat. Now void of any pattern, the shirt stares with white-cotton envy at the gyrating circles.
Five other times the man had worn his fun shirt to the club, promising he would finally get out on the dance floor. But he just couldn’t work up the nerve.
Tired of words that held no meaning, the pattern calls a mutiny this night and creates their own adventure. When the man orders the circles back in their place on his torso, they roll out the door, eventually stealing away on the tires of a jazzed-up sports car.
Maureen Sherbondy‘s latest book is Lines in Opposition. She has published in Litro, Calyx, Stone Canoe, and other journals. Maureen lives in Durham, NC.
