Flash Fiction

It was a fun challenge using six words in a very short story. Mine were: mellifluous, bellicosity, ennui, weird, bloke, chocolate.

Saturday Night

He was a weird bloke. Despite the mellifluous voice, his bellicosity led me to believe he was a bunyip-shifter—the kind who’d come to town for the cage fight on Saturday night. Our outback town is known for two things: cage fighting and chocolate. I doubted this guy with his ripped muscles and a scarred, but handsome, face had his sights on Madge’s Chocolate Fountain. I wondered what he was doing in my florist shop.

            I’d run the shop with Sally Boganmaster for the past three years. During that time, we’d had all kinds of customers, but never a cage fighter. They tended to spend their money on other things—like medical expenses.

Bike helmet in hand, the bloke strode up to the counter, looked me in the eye and said, “I’m new in town.” His fists were clenched as though he was primed and ready to fight.

            Sally, who didn’t give a damn about anything much, including tall, built bikers, yawned widely.

            To make up for her ennui, I made an effort to be polite. “How can I help you, sir?” Call me suspicious, but I got the feeling he didn’t want to buy flowers.

            “I’m looking to make some new mates. Get to know the locals. Ya know.”

            “You here for the cage fight?” I asked, unable to keep the edge from my voice. I was no fan of the sport.

            “I’m here for a lot of things,” he said.

“Such as?”

            Suddenly he seemed shy. Glancing at my name badge, he murmured, “Chloe,” as though my name tasted as good as a cold beer. “I’ve seen you around. You wanna do something sometime?”

            “Like a date?” I squeaked, hoping I was mistaken. This guy might be handsome, in a scarred weird kind of way, but I didn’t date cage fighters.

“Yeah, like a date,” he said, his dark eyes meeting mine. “How does Saturday night sound?”

            I groaned inwardly. No way was I going to the fight with him. I opened my mouth to say, no.

            But before I could speak, he went on, “I was thinking we could go to Madge’s Chocolate Fountain.”

            Hmm. Perhaps he wasn’t so weird after all.

***

Janni is the author of the Allegra Fairweather: Paranormal Investigator series, and the Sassy Chance series of fun mystery novellas. The first Sassy Chance story “The Bride, The Groom & Me” is currently free here: Amazon, Kobo, iBooks, Google Play