​​​​UPSHOTS

F   I   C   T   I   O   N 

Dust to Dust

He had followed her wishes. On the windy seashore the others stood in black. Too young to die, she never got over his infidelity, his sly abuse, his absences, her anger. Others noticed her wasting away.

Now, theatrically, he held the urn to the gray sky and up-ended it. Her ashes flew up and out, and then abruptly turned back on him. He recoiled, covered in soot, coughing desperately and clutching his throat. They came to help him slowly, and just as slowly walked him away.

His coughing never stopped. In between the constant and bloody spasms he cursed his wife's vengeful soul and two months later was dead from lung cancer.