My gran used to iron the sheets just so she could hear the crack as she shook them out. A thunderclap of tidy energy. There. Mum takes me with her to choose the coffin. That one, she says, and I see it again. That nod. That downward flick of the eye… So much pale, pink silk. Her cheeks are flushed. ‘She’ll like that,’ she says. Such a soft way to sink a person.
GDS commentary: Jane’s piece is a splendid example of how good microfiction takes a minuscule moment in a character’s life, and makes it speak volumes. We loved the form of rebellion, the economy of language, and the poetry.
Jane O’Sullivan has won the Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction, joanne burns Microlit Award and DWF/Swinburne Microfiction Challenge. Her short fiction has also appeared in Mascara, Meniscus, Island and the Pulped Fiction anthology. She works as an art writer and is a regular contributor to Vault, Art Guide and others.
