CURTAIN UP: Commandante
sitting at desk. A knock is heard at the door.
Commandante: Come.
(Mrs. Smith walks through the door.)
Commandante: Ah, Mrs.
Smith.
Mrs. Smith: My husband?
(Commandante picks up phone.)
Commandante: Smith?
(Commandante listens for a few moments, looks up,
Mrs. Smith comes toward him. He holds up his hand and shakes his
head. Turns attention back to phone, picks up pencil and taps it on
desk, occasionally shuffles through papers with pencil eraser. When
he hangs up, he points to window. Woman looks out, a shot is heard,
she screams.)
(Commandante leans back in his chair and a big
smile spreads across his face.)
The end
Curtain down
Phyllis
Nielsen lives with her
husband in Portland, Oregon. Tried without cause first
appeared in the fall 2001 issue of flashquake.
