Crashing

flash fiction

She was eight and at the beach and she felt like a movie star. Her jumper was as bright as a Lifesaver, falling well above her knees, with inch-wide shoulder straps. She played catch with her sister but she was the movie star. Her straps slid pleasantly back and forth as she dove for the ball. Before going to the beach, they bought it at the drugstore, the ball, along with things like her father’s film and the Juicyfruit gum that would slide out of the pack and to the bottom of her mother’s purse. She was sure her mother knew when she snuck the flat, foil-wrapped sticks from between the…