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Bed Bugs
Zvi A.
Sesling
Rufus
Campbell awoke one morning to feel something akin to a sting bothering his left
leg between the ankle and the knee, almost on the bone he surmised. He gave
it a quick scratch then dismissed the
annoyance. But about twenty minutes later after he had eaten breakfast and
dressed the irritation was back. He pulled up his left pant and scratched away.
He looked down and saw three perfectly aligned little sores where he had clawed
away. Damn it, bed bugs, he thought. Rufus had read that bed bugs make three
little sores in a perfect line so he checked his cell phone for exterminators
and found Keyth Exterminators, “We make bugs bug out.” Sounds perfect, he
thought.
When Gregory Keyth arrived at 11 a.m.
he assured Rufus he would eliminate any and all bed bugs in an hour or two and
true to his word at 1 p.m. he departed leaving Rufus feeling as if he could
sleep comfortably knowing the little pests had met their end. But the next
morning there was an itch on his other leg. When he checked the sores were on
the right leg as well.
Rufus immediately called
Keyth who told him he would do a redo at no charge. And when Keyth once again
left after a two-hour cleansing, Rufus Campbell settled down to watch the
evening news.
And the latest on the mysterious sores
on peoples’ legs which seem to occur at night. Doctors from Mountain View
Hospital say it appears to be of alien origin, possibly deposited in the area
by a meteor that landed on the mountain thousands of years ago. There is probably
no cure at this time but
those with it …
That was enough for Rufus. He sat back
and waited.
Zvi
A. Sesling, Brookline, MA Poet Laureate (2017-2020), has published numerous
poems and flash/micro fiction and won international
prizes. A five-time Pushcart Prize nominee, he has published
four volumes and three chapbooks of poetry. His flash fiction book is Secret
Behind the Gate. He lives in Brookline, MA. with his wife Susan J.
Dechter.
KJ Hannah Greenberg is eclectic.
She’s played oboe, participated in martial
arts, learned basket weaving, and studied Middle Eastern
dancing. What’s more, she’s a certified
herbalist, and an AP College Board-authorized teacher of
calculus. Her creative efforts have
been nominated once for The Best
of the Net in poetry, once for The Best of the Net in
art, three times for the Pushcart Prize in Literature for
poetry, once for the Pushcart Prize in Literature
for fiction, once for the Million Writers Award
for fiction, and once for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel
Award for the Art of the Essay. To boot, Hannah’s
had more than forty-five books published
and has served as an editor for several literary journals. Channie’s
latest book is Eternal not Ephemeral, Eternal not
Ephemeral: Greenberg, KJ Hannah: 9798852494016: Amazon.com: Books, a collection of fifty tales, including
"Absinthe for
Aliens," "Isabelle," "Transitory Unease,"
and "Special Teeth," which were
originally published in Yellow Mama or Black Petals.
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