Mara Masolini

“MEETING AFTER A LIFETIME” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #186

MEETING AFTER A LIFETIME “ What a beautiful surprise! I’m  so much happy to see you” “ Oh, from your face I wouldn’t say it at all…You look rather scared, I’d say” “ Scared? But no! I’m instead so much incredulous, I can’t quite believe that you’re really here” “ Yeah, how long since we saw each other?” “It’s been years, many years” “Oh, you say years! It seems to me it’s been a lifetime! I’ve been thinking about you a lot” “ I thought about you too. And every time I thought about calling you but…I couldn’t do it” “ Ah, you thought ...

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“THE ANGEL WITH FLOWERY WINGS” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #185

 THE ANGEL WITH FLOWERY WINGS Richard, who had always been a framer, had begun to collect every work of painting that he happened to find or that he could afford to buy since, for almost a long time now, with the advent of contemporary art, painting seemed a forgotten practice, certainly no longer considered an art. If you continued to paint in the era of installations and video art you were at best a craftsman, certainly not an artist. But you could also be considered a troglodyte or a poor fool. Richard had always been passionate ab...

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“SAFETY PIN” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #184

SAFETY PIN Charles lived alone in an almost isolated house. When he woke up in the middle of the night with her heart in turmoil from a nightmare _____he was dreaming that monstrous-looking dogs were chasing him, they reached him and grabbed him by the waist ( belt) of his trousers. He, trying to escape those ugly and bad beasts, fell into a deep pit, but those terrible dogs didn’t let him go, they were on him, their fangs stuck into his meat___ the first bad surprise was that there was no light. Groping around he looked for the...

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“A STRANGE GUY” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #183

A STRANGE GUY “ Yes, in my opinion, Maggie should wear the yellow dress. It suits her more than the green one” Even on that festive, cheerful, relaxed occasion Peter couldn’t help but say exactly the opposite of what he thought. Whenever it happened to him, and it happened to him regularly, to say the opposite of what he thought he felt like he was two people in one: one for the others, who he knew so much were never sincere, and one for himself, who had to remain hidden, unknown to others. So it was when he had asserted that the most ap...

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“RUNNING IN YELLOW” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #182

RUNNING IN YELLOW The lady was dressed all in yellow. She also had a yellow hat, a handbag and shoes too yellow. Yellow was the big Maserati he had to follow. “ Follow the car of that bastard wherever he goes! Don’t lose sight of it! Have you seen the license plate? It’s: EK 773867” Joe ___also the taxi he was driving was yellow ___had put it in fourth and had set off in pursuit. When any other car entered between his taxi and the raised ass of the yellow Maserati, the lady in yellow became nervous and started shouting. “ By God! Look: I...

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“UNKNOWN DESTINATION ( WALKING ON THE WRONG WAY)” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #181

 UNKNOWN DESTINATION (  WALKING ON THE WRONG  WAY) The road ( path) was that, but sure. He recognized the stones, even the vegetation was the same. So WHY that feeling of being lost suddenly? With a few more steps and on the right he would have found the oak tree confirming that he was on the right path. But why wasn’t the oak there? Why couldn’t he arrive at the oak tree? The oak couldn’t have disappeared if the road was the right one. If the oak wasn’t there it meant that he had gone the wrong way. Yet he was sure he was...

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“THE FLIGHT OF THE COIN (FLYING WITH THE COIN)” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #180

THE FLIGHT OF THE COIN (FLYING WITH THE COIN) Here the( soccer) referee holds the coin in the palm of his hand, spins it with two fingers without looking at it, lifts the palm, and throws the coin in the air. No, it’s not possible that the winners of a such hard-fought match played to the last breath could be decided by the toss of a coin, Joseph thinks. He is the captain of the Blue Devils which have fought like lions against the Red Roosters, and which deserved to win. Instead at the end of the penalty kicks, which followed extra time, t...

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“THE FINAL DECISION (THE LAST MINUTE DECISION)” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #179

THE FINAL DECISION( THE LAST-MINUTE DECISION) It was the last day of the year. He too would celebrate the end of the old year and the arrival of the new. But…there was that decision to be made, that he had kept putting off by day after day for too long, which he had to make before the end of the year, of which only that day remained. He had to make that decision for Katia, his lover, and also for Mary, his wife. Katia was his lover for three years, and he had promised her he would divorce her wife to start a new life with her. Together the...

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“ THE CHRISTMAS NUT” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #178

THE CHRISTMAS NUT Mary and Louis spent every Christmas in their cottage in the Alpes with their children. They had been married for ten years. Every year, at Christmas there was a new child. In their cozy cottage, there was always a Christmas tree and a Nativity scene made with the figurines that Louis and Mary engraved in wood and that their children modeled in clay. To have a pinch of novelty to the usual Christmas Mary and Louis had decided to inaugurate a completely new tradition. All of them were found in nuts and loved squirrels.&nbs...

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“THE UNEXPECTED GUEST ( UNEXPECTED CHRISTMAS)” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #178

  THE UNEXPECTED GUEST( CHRISTMAS UNEXPECTED) Theirs was little to say it was an extended family. Lucy and Albert had married very young and had two children, Daniel and Carol. They had divorced in their early thirties. Lucy had married Therese and had two other children, Tony and Luce. Albert had married Frank and they too started a family. Using the rented womb they had two children, Rosamunde and Telesio. Meanwhile, Carol and Daniel also had children with their respective partners. When they all got together, theirs was more ...

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“THAT WORD, JUST THAT” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #177

THAT WORD , JUST THAT When she had left her country, so much disgusted and embittered, many years ago, swearing that she would never set foot there again, the thought that she could forget her MOTHER TONGUE had not even for an instant crossed her mind. She had worried about getting by in the country where she was going, and also learning that language. A Hungarian writer she loved said that the only HOMELAND was the language, meaning above all the mother tongue. She felt so homeless ( stateless) that she could not even dwell on such a...

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“MY MOM'S HANDS” by Mara Masolini

MY MOM’S HANDS Here I’m, I’m BIGIO, also affectionately called BIGIETTO ( Little BIGIO), because as much as my hair ( fur) is called gray, it is not really gray but rather BLUE-GRAY, or gray with a veil of blue. Just a veil, eh, but which is enough to make me anything but a gray cat or…..a BIGIO. Who knows why my mom called me Bigio…..Ah she, my mum, whose name is Luce, is truly a love! She is the best mum a cat can have. She cuddles me, she feeds me, she plays with me….and she listens to me. She is very attentive to my requests. There is...

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“THE MAGIC IN THE BOX” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #176

THE MAGIC IN THE BOX ( MAGIC IS IN THE BOX) The cellar was the coolest room ( zone) in the house. It wasn’t certainly a room where to stay in winter. But however, there was a sheltered place there in the cellar which, besides being suitable for hiding, was almost warm. It was not a warmth for heating, it was rather the warmth of the hot drinks in winter . It was in fact the old vat, no longer used now for years, where her grandfather had crushed the grapes and fermented the wine. That afternoon __it was a Friday in February___ Nicholas was...

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“A CARPET OF COLORFUL BLACK LEAVES” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #175

 A CARPET OF COLORFUL BLACK LEAVES Saul was in charge of raking the leaves which in that season ____it was late November___ continued to fall like rain from the lindens, the poplars, plane trees, and oaks. The gardens had to be cleaned and also the sidewalks and the street ( had to be cleaned). Yet he, Saul, felt displeasure in destroying those wonderful carpets of leaves that looked like works of art created by chance. Seeing fleeting at a certain distance, as happened to those who passed on the street, these carpets of leaves s...

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“THE BLACK ROSE” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #174

THE BLACK ROSE ( for now….perhaps DRIED ROSE? WITHERED ROSE?) When they were ( had been) schoolmates( classmates) Flora had jet very black hair and a very white, milk - white complexion, her cheeks reddened with emotion or cold. Her mouth, little, almost heart - shaped, and fleshy was very red. Now that she too, like Miriam, was in her sixties, she ( Miriam) would have expected ( would expect) to see her old friend if not with white hair, as Miriam had, with hair dyed a light color than her own pitch ( deep) black. But ...

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