Wearing Smiles
written by: Mir-Yashar Seyedbagheri
@dudesosad
Mother decides to wear a smile for Halloween. She wants to go trick-or-treating because adults need some damn candy.
I’m seventeen. I can’t argue. I think Mother wants some small indulgence she doesn’t have to explain.
After Dad, I can’t blame her.
Mother rehearses her smile.
First time, it’s too sharp. The second, third, and fourth times, the smile’s rife with sorrow.
I tell Mother she’s beautiful. Something Dad said once, a rarity.
Wrong choice.
Then I mention how I envy her artistic gifts.
She smiles again. This time the smile’s crooked.
I say I love her.
The smile’s widening.
Mir-Yashar Seyedbagheri is a graduate of Colorado State University's MFA program in fiction. His work has been published or is forthcoming in journals such as A Story In 100 Words, Unstamatic, Aromatica Poetica, and Ariel Chart.
Latest posts by Mir-Yashar Seyedbagheri (see all)
- Wearing Smiles - October 24, 2020
- The Boy Whose Mother Left - March 24, 2020
- Christmas Love - December 14, 2019
