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Blind Love

Story by Robert Bradley (Read author interview) September 15, 2005

Art by Marty D. Ison

He said, “I’ll sit by you.”

She turned her head and coughed. The nub of a cigarette burned between two fingers.

He said, “I’ll sit beside your silences and I’ll sit beside your screams. And I’ll hold you as needed, and fill what needs filling.”

“Could you?” she said, hating him.

“I’ll empty your ashtrays….”

“Would you?” she said and flicked her cigarette ash to the floor.

“And when the time comes, I’ll sift through the ashes for a sign that…”

“But you’re blind,” she said.

He took the cigarette from her and let it burn down to his fingertips, dropped it, stepped on it.

She looked at him.

He, at the floor.

About the Author

Robert Bradley has had stories published in taint and Avatar Review. He lives on an island off the coast of New York. When he’s not sitting in traffic he teaches an obscure method of mind/body awareness called the Alexander Technique. He is also writing a novel or something.

About the Artist

A native of Ohio, Marty D. Ison lives with his wife transplanted in the sands of the Gulf of Mexico. He studied fine arts at Saint Petersburg College. In addition to the visual arts, he writes poetry, short stories, and novels. See more of Ison’s work here.

This story appeared in Issue Ten of SmokeLong Quarterly.
SmokeLong Quarterly Issue Ten
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