Waiting

by Louella Lester


Press 1 if you know the extension of the person to whom you wish to speak. My best friend. My dead father. Maybe a lover. Press 2 if you don’t know the extension number. Press 1 to type in your 4 digit PIN. Press 2 if you don’t have a PIN. Press 1 to type in the account number found in the upper right corner. Of the street. Of my house. Of my face. Press 1 to set up a PIN. Press 1 to answer one of your authorization questions. Press 2 if you have not set up authorization questions. Press 1 to set up a series of authorization questions. Who is the actor who played Logan in Succession? What city were you born in? What is the meaning of life? Press 1 to connect to the front desk. The chair. The door. My co-workers. Press 1 to choose music. Press 1 for jazz. Press 2 for pop. Press 3 for silence. 


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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.