Avital Gad-Cykman ~ This is When the Sun Spreads Cherry Bloody Spots

A coun­try grows, waters its deserts, rais­es its chil­dren, cul­ti­vates trees, con­structs cities, opens schools, equips hos­pi­tals, defends its bor­ders, builds sky­scrap­ers, pro­grams its com­put­ers, fights a nec­es­sary war, accepts immi­grants, starts busi­ness­es, names its restau­rants bistro or gourmet, goes to anoth­er war and then anoth­er. This is when min­ions work for their mas­ters, dogs bite every stranger, news­pa­pers close down, pumper­nick­el tastes bet­ter than home­made bread, and a skunk feeds on everybody’s breath.

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Avital Gad-Cykman is author of the flash col­lec­tion Life In, Life Outpub­lished by Matter Press. Her prize-win­ning sto­ries are forth­com­ing or have been pub­lished in Prairie Schooner, The Literary Review, Ambit, CALYX Journal, Glimmer Train, McSweeney’s, W.W. Norton’s International Flash Fiction Anthology and else­where. She lives in Brazil.