Flash Fiction, Huina Zheng
When I was a little girl, Ba loved to tell a bedtime story every night. It was about a nearly 90-year-old man with a white beard who, because two large mountains blocked his house and made travel difficult, called upon his entire family to remove the formidable obstacles. His neighbor mocked him as foolish, saying he had too little time left to accomplish such an impossible task. Ba liked to pause here, slow his speech, and emphasize the old man’s response to his neighbors. He claimed to have endless descendants and that he would eventually flatten the mountains. His sincerity moved the Heavenly Emperor who then had the two mountains removed. At those moments, Ba’s eyes would deepen, his gaze seeming to emanate from the very core of the earth. I adored his resolute expression. Little did Ma and I know that years later, when he became obsessed with buying lottery tickets, he would turn into that old man wielding a pickaxe, breaking rocks, like a moth throwing itself into the flames, trying to convince us with his belief: I will win, I will win. He spread his wings, wanting to fly out the door, but we were prepared. Ma lunged from the side to grasp his waist, and I snatched the wallet from his hands, my fingers diving into what felt like the mouth of a bull that was chewing alfalfa, unable to feel the texture of leather or the thick silk of our remaining monthly living expenses. My fingers continued to search. Soon, a candle’s flame began to devour the antennae that were once Ba’s hair, scorching his cookie wings and emitting a faint hissing sound while skipping over his chocolate abdomen. Ma battled the flames engulfing his chest until her hands turned into the painful black of charcoal, resembling a pebble. I kept fighting the flames devouring Ba’s wings until I transformed into thick, sticky brown sugar bun soil, enveloping his trembling body until he cooled down.
Huina Zheng, a Distinction M.A. in English Studies holder, works as a college essay coach. She’s also an editor at Bewildering Stories. Her stories have been published in Baltimore Review, Variant Literature, Midway Journal, and others. Her work has received nominations twice for both the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. She resides in Guangzhou, China with her husband and daughter.
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