The rat and the lizards, handsome and charming in their spiffy uniforms, sprint to the back door of the palace, where the comely food server sends them off with delicacies and bottles of champagne. Wow, they say, drinking. They like this human business. They think about running off, but find a deck of cards, and with their clever minds they play games while they wait, drink too much, cheat like men, lose track of time. They will curse the clock as it begins its striking toward midnight, one toll after another, until once again they’re left wordless, scrambling to hide.
Linda Lowe’s stories and poems have appeared in Outlook Springs, Defenestration Magazine, Gone Lawn, Eunoia Review, Crack the Spine, Misfit Magazine, and others.
