Competition Thirty-One Winning Flash Fiction: Sun, Moon, Stars by Kerri McCourt

You told me there are three stages of a dandelion—sun, moon, and stars—while our tandem kayak glided across the lake, and beside us, the field shimmered gold. Remnants of sunshine kept us warm, bathing us in its final glow.

A flock of waxwings gathered to feast on wild cherries. They looked like cinnamon sprinkled across the sky as they danced in perfect sync—like us finishing each other’s sentences, laughing at the same silly things.

Thick stems with buttery caps fill the field once again; they’ve taken over, claiming the space as their garden, though no one planted them. In fact, great efforts are made to eradicate them. Still, they return, spreading quickly, uncontrollably. I pick a puffball, round as the moon, like one I wished on thirty years ago when I was five, on the lawn of our childhood home, hoping for a baby brother.

And you came true.

On the pebbled shoreline, my red kayak rests. I climb in, empty seat behind me, and set off. My breath sends seeds tumbling like stardust over the water, scattered like your ashes—

which nestle among wildflowers in the meadow of a rugged mountain you once scaled.

Magical wishes don’t always come true.

I’m in deep, a submerged forest below: thick weeds whirl. A person could sink, get tangled, or become lost. Trees, digging in their roots, grow sideways and upside down, as if the world has gone mad.

Under moonlight, a beaver splashes, carrying sticks to build its home; a loon emits a siren cry.

You thought an overused paddle stroke caused pain deep within your body and bones. Crisis struck like wildfire. There are four stages of cancer, you said, your eyes wide as a doe’s.

I lie back, searching for stars in a dark, dark sky.

Kerri McCourt’s fiction has appeared in Free Flash Fiction, 101 Words, Blank Spaces Magazine and elsewhere. She writes from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Read “Serenity” by Kerri McCourt — The September 2024 Bronze Medal Winner at Blank Spaces

Read the CBC First Person column piece by Kerri McCourt

Letter Soup by Kerri McCourt was shortlisted in FFF Competition Twenty-Seven – read it here

Photo courtesy of Kerri McCourt

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