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SmokeLong Quarterly

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Obit

Story by Mitch James (Read author interview) December 16, 2024

I wrote my best friend’s obit and left out what mattered most. It wasn’t the remaining children, his second wife, or being a mechanic. He didn’t love being a husband or fatherhood. He liked to drink and so did his women, so the kids came naturally. I witnessed him at dance competitions and ball games with foam on his mustache, head down, watching the Browns on his phone. And I’ve felt him huddled against me in the hood of his Cadillac Series 62, saying, jokingly, “No, God damn it,” a wall of booze on his breath as he clutched my hand instead of taking the wrench, quipping that it’s my pussy grip from sitting at a desk all day. Together, we twisted, our bodies creating torque, and when the bolt popped loose, he chuckled and slapped my back but didn’t lift his hand.

___________________________

“Obit” was a finalist in The SmokeLong Grand Micro Contest 2024.

About the Author

Mitch James is a Professor of Composition and Literature at Lakeland Community College in Kirtland, OH, the Editor-at-Large at Great Lakes Review, and the owner of The Write Methods (LLC), where he teaches therapeutic and creative writing modalities to guide others in experiencing the transformative power of the written word. Mitch is the author of the novel Seldom Seen: A Miner’s Tale (Sunbury Press) and has published works across the genres of short fiction, poetry, and academic scholarship. You can find his latest short fiction in Bull, poetry at Shelia-Na-Gig, and scholarship at the Journal of Creative Writing Studies and New Writing: The International Journal for the Practice and Theory of Creative Writing. Keep up with Mitch at mitchjamesauthor.com and @mitchjamesauthor.bsky.social

This story appeared in Issue Eighty-Six of SmokeLong Quarterly.
SmokeLong Quarterly Issue Eighty-Six
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The SmokeLong Grand Micro Contest

Deadline November 15th!

The SmokeLong Grand Micro Contest (The Mikey) is now an annual competition celebrating and compensating the best micro fiction and nonfiction online.

The grand prize winner of The Mikey is automatically nominated for Best Small Fictions and any other prize we deem appropriate. In addition, we will pay the grand prize winner $1000. Second place: $500. Third place $300. Finalists: $100. All finalists and placers will be published in the December ’25 issue of SmokeLong.

Previously published as well as previously unpublished work will be considered.