Susie Pancakes had a dream wherein she was flying. Thick black wings made of babies’ flesh erupted from her spinal column and grew to the size of pirate ship sails. From the dream world below, dream people thought her a giant black butterfly, her needle-sized body barely visible beneath the monstrous baby-meat wings. The dream people pointed while covering the eyes of their children.
The flying went on into eternity…in the dream. So many ribbons of rivers…so many squares of green, squares of brown, clouds, buildings, and the quiet cold loneliness. The rotting death of newborns, strong on her back, keeping her airborne…alive, Susie Pancakes was forsaken.
Over and over, Susie Pancakes willed the wings to take her to the ground, but they did not comply. Susie Pancakes longed for the touch of grass beneath her feet, the feeling of shoes on cracked pavement and the idea of gravity.
Eventually Susie Pancakes became lucid in her dream, and willed herself awake. The room was dark and still. She sat upright, turned, and put her feet onto the floor. Finding gravity, Susie Pancakes walked the welcome safety of the floor to the kitchen, and proceeded to create warm stacks of her namesake.
Lost in the familiar, the burnt crust of the dream shook loose and was lost.
Copyright 2009
Author's Bio: xTx has a forthcoming chapbook with nonpress, and will be featured in the 2009 Dogzplot Flash Fiction Anthology. She blogs nonsense here. She thanks you for your time.
