Quick Change Slow

by Louella Lester


Layla takes off her sweater and settles it on top of her parka, which is squished into the chair between her and the older women sitting poker straight next to it, a cardigan draped neatly over her arm. They smile at one another before turning back, with hope, to face the medical receptionist’s desk. Layla swipes sweat from her forehead, removes her outer T-shirt, and drops it on top of the sweater. A minute later she shivers, pulls it back on, and says, “When does it end?” The older woman pats a hanky across her own brow. “I wouldn’t know.”  


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Louella Lester is a writer/photographer in Winnipeg, Canada, author of Glass Bricks (At Bay Press), a contributing editor at New Flash Fiction Review, and has a story included in Best Microfiction 2024. Her writing appears in a variety of journals/anthologies, including most recently: Roi Faineant, 50-Word Story, the Dribble Drabble Review, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Gooseberry Pie, Paragraph Planet, Hooghly Review, Bright Flash, Cult. Magazine, and SoFloPoJo.