I’m Stuck A Zama City Erica Brown Fever Dream

burhan buudai - god of wheat lara erdenee

18

bindlestiff the youngest

Playing cards and bootblack wrapped like pork bits in a dumpling in a handkerchief skewered on a stick.

This is all I need, all I bring with me as I walk out the door, Bindlestiff the Youngest, aged 7 ¾, and I swear on the ace of spades, now suspended behind me like a worm on a hook, that I will not be back.

I am a refugee escaping an authoritarian regime: Grounded, two weeks, my only crime, eating the whole jar of honey.

I will put my bee-stung tongue to good use. It will shine silver in the moonlight, belting camp songs fireside. All will love me, especially the jailhouse boys; they will appreciate my card tricks, and the sheriff, how his shoes shine.

19 damian a. fitz