Dairy Queen by Jennifer Pashley art by geocam2000 That time your mother crashed the car into the Dairy Queen she had dropped her cigarette and was reaching around on the floor and hit the gas instead of the brake and the car went into the window. It was two am and no one was at the Dairy Queen but we had just been there, high and looming in the headlights of other cars, three of us trapped on the sidewalk, blinded and unmoving. You were carrying the baby in the little bucket seat, swinging it like a basket and we laughed so hard our stomachs hurt up the sides. We were so close when she hit it we could hear it from the hill where we inched sideways to the creek, the impact of metal and glass, a sound you can't make any other way, like water against water in mid-air. You put the baby on your knees and we slid down towards the water. It was so hot and still we were going to wade. He kept looking around like he did at that age, like he couldn't miss a thing, his hands balled into fists, and his face, looking, watching what we were doing. There was the crash and we looked up and the baby's fists moved and you said some idiot. We were in up to our knees then, and you put the baby on your head. Read the interview. Jennifer Pashley is the author of the "seriously out-of-whack" story collection, States, and has more stories appearing in PANK, Mississippi Review, Salt Hill and Los Angeles Review. More of geocam2000's photography can be seen on Flickr. All content in SmokeLong Quarterly copyright 2003-2012 by its authors. Issue Thirty (December 22, 2010): Eulogy for Maria Mamani, Fire-eater by Ed Bull «» Language Barrier by Thomas Cooper «» A Goblet Falls by Barbara Diehl «» Life Lesson by Damian Dressick «» Yams by Gary Fincke «» How We Handle Our Midnights by Charles Hale «» The Corn by Kathleen Hale «» Amelia by Aubrey Hirsch «» Inside by Ashley Inguanta «» About Things That Are Lost and the Places That Things Get Lost Andrea Kneeland «» The Good Woman by Sara Levine «» Buckaroo by Ravi Mangla «» Her New Friend Jesus by Michael Meyers «» Conjugation by Jen Michalski «» Dairy Queen by Jennifer Pashley «» What Do You Do? by Dariel Suarez «» Up, Up and Away by Art Taylor «» Three Jokes by M. Thompson «» Between Budapest and Dying by Dean Marshall Tuck «» Crash-o-rama! by Chris Wiewiora «» Thirty-Word Story Contest Winners «» Interviews: Ed Bull «» Thomas Cooper «» Barbara Diehl «» Damian Dressick «» Gary Fincke «» Charles Hale «» Kathleen Hale «» Aubrey Hirsch «» Ashley Inguanta «» Andrea Kneeland «» Sara Levine «» Ravi Mangla «» Michael Meyers «» Jen Michalski «» Jennifer Pashley «» Dariel Suarez «» Art Taylor «» M. Thompson «» Dean Tuck «» Chris Wiewiora «» Cover Art "Holiday Wishes" by Marty D. Ison «» Letter From the Editors Interested in subscribing to SmokeLong's weekly newsletter? Click here. An email should be created. Send it as is, and you'll be subscribed. If the link does not work for you, send an email to imailsrv@smokelong.com with Subscribe slq-info in the body of the email (no subject is necessary). You'll receive updates detailing the release of new issues, new reading periods, contests, etc. We do not make our mail list available to anyone else.