November’s Guest Storyteller, Christy Birmingham

Christy Birmingham 600x600

Christy Birmingham is a poet, author and freelance writer in British Columbia, Canada. Her debut poetry collection Pathways to Illumination is available exclusively at Redmund Productions. If you haven’t been by her blog Poetic Parfait yet, check it out. You can also find Christy on Twitter.

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Shoveling Conversation

We stood, I threw onions, we never left… in our minds.

It was Thursday, and we weren’t any more drunk than usual. Only a few bottles of Merlot in and already Alex was throwing words my way that amounted to a hit that felt like a shovel to the face.

“You can’t tell me that,” he said. “You told me – you said you wanted to give her up for adoption. How was I to know you didn’t mean it?”

I didn’t hear anything other than give her up for adoption. His mouth moved in ways that I wish I had never felt on my body.

I threw the onion I had been cutting up at the kitchen counter at him. It hit his left ear and he looked at me with the astonishment I wish I had received months ago.

I didn’t know if my tears were true or fake, like our love. Either way, the knife in my hand wasn’t keeping anyone safe around here, and my wine glass was less than halfway full.

 

©2014 Christy Birmingham

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Sarah says: Thank you so much, Christy, for guest storytelling this month. Your piece of flash fiction illustrates so accurately the breakdown in communication that can happen between males and females just because their brains are wired-up differently. I wonder how many times in history men have said to women “how was I to know you didn’t mean it?”.

You can find the links to previous guest storyteller posts at https://sarahpotterwrites.com/guest-storytellers-2/

Author: Sarah Potter Writes

Sarah is a British eccentric who writes offbeat fiction, haiku and tanka poetry. When stuck for words, she sketches or paints instead. She's into nature conservation, sustainability, gardening, dogs, natural health, and reading. Her sociability is something that happens in short bursts with long breathing spaces in between.

47 thoughts on “November’s Guest Storyteller, Christy Birmingham”

  2. I do follow Christy who by the way, lives in the same province in Candaa that I do. Her words always touch a core in me and this piece Shoveling Conversation wants me to know more. The title is brilliant! She has a way of baring what lies beneath in her wonderful poetry and writing!!

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    1. Wow, Cybele — both Canadians from the same province.I don’t know any bloggers from my particular county in the UK. Are you and Christy going to meet up some time? I had a whale of a time meeting up with a fellow blogger from my adjoining county. Being a fellow writer, we never stopped talking from the time we met to the time we parted!

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      1. I am so pleased with the response to the flash fiction piece! It also reminded me how much I like writing fiction 🙂 I am pleased you get to meet new people at WordPress too, Sarah! Hugs!

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    1. It certainly has the potential to form part of a longer piece, but I think it worked extremely well as flash fiction, as it left me reading between the lines and thinking about all the whats and ifs of the situation.

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  8. I like the story because it says more than its words, each sentence is so loaded with emotions that have been sidelined, that have never been felt or respected. So apt to call this conversation shoveling – the word itself conveys all!
    Stay blessed!
    Balroop.

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  11. A microcosm of disconnection all the more powerful for it’s brevity. I am familiar with the author’s poetry and a move into Flash Fiction seems natural because this writer can tackle everything from current politics to Greek mythology – a veritable polymath.

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