Levitating by Julius Olofsson

Granddad is in the casket before me, closed lid, and I thumb the sheet with hymns. It’s a schedule—an itinerary—so we know when to sing, when to rise and when we can enjoy the sandwich cake I helped Mom prep, slicing cucumbers with everlasting dedication, each slice equally thin, unleashing a helpless odor in the kitchen of not-so-acceptable cucumber, and we thought he’d live for maybe one more Christmas.

Mom nudges me, and I drop my sheet—it’s my turn to say my goodbyes.

My hand is on the oak, and I fake it. No tears, not here, not now, and I haven’t wept, even when Mom called, saying he was gone, and earlier, my aunt praised the thinness of my perfected cucumber slices and how they were frolicking amidst the mayonnaise we bought using a coupon.

Back at the pew, I bend down to pick up my sheet, noticing that the whole bench is levitating. I kneel—it’s suspended a few millimeters above the floor with everyone still on it. I sit down with vigor to see if I can force it to where it should be—pews aren’t to levitate. It doesn’t budge. While sitting, I grab hold of the bench in front of me, toiling to push it downwards—a small “oufh” flees me. Others stare as Mom asks what I’m doing, and I tell her that the pew is levitating. She chuckles at me at first but starts crying as I get up, putting my foot on the seat, using all my might, my memories, hoping to make it right.

Mom tells me to give up, and now I cry, oodles of endlessness, torpid summers, prosaic winters, and I tell her that I must make sure that the pew isn’t levitating, and she says, “no, you really, really don’t.”

Born in Sweden, Julius works as a narrative designer in video games and writes anything from flash fiction and books to games and screenplays. He’s been longlisted in The Bath Short Story Award (twice), The Bath Flash Fiction Award and The Aurora Prize for Writing. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Flash Fiction Magazine, Roi Fainéant Press, Lavender Bones Magazine, The Airgonaut, Sage Cigarettes, The Heimat Review, Hidden Peak Press and elsewhere.

He’s found on Twitter as @PaperBlurt and at www.juliusolofsson.com

Julius’ debut chapbook, Moebler, is now available! Read more here!

Photo – Presbyterian Church – public domain

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