Flash Fiction Contest Winner #31

Thank you to everyone who provided yummy stories of cookouts!! Made me hungry. =) But, regrettably, there can only be one winner, and that is: Stephanie!


The sun burned hotter than the burgers on the grill. Two look-alike women – one older and one younger – wearing huge floppy hats and brightly flowered sundresses laughingly shooed flies away from bowls of potato salad and coleslaw as juicy meat sizzled and popped, its mouth-watering aroma temporarily overpowering the sour tang of chlorine and the slightly sweeter scent of sweat mixed with sunscreen. Kids screamed and splashed in the above-ground pool, oblivious to the rough-and-tumble game of two-hand touch on the other side of the backyard, just one touchdown away from finally turning competitive.

I stood at the grill with a spatula in one hand and a glass of ice-cold lemonade in the other, fat drops of condensation rolling down the sides of the glass and drip, drip, dripping onto my hand. A bit of grease plopped onto the coals causing a burst of flame that nearly devoured a hot dog and sent a heatwave rolling toward my face. But the flames died down just as quickly as they came, leaving their porcine victim charred to perfection and me pressing my glass of lemonade against one heat-flushed cheek with a quiet sigh of relief. 

Not sure which was cooking faster – me or the meat – I stared longingly at the kids splashing in the pool, at my pretty young wife as she stood in the cool shade slicing big, juicy pickles into small perfectly round slices, and finally at the football game, which seemed to have degenerated into a full-contact sport. Maybe one day I'll get to join in the fun, but not today, because I am the grill master, and this is our family cookout.