Pepé In Critical Condition
by Tomi Shaw
Redux: Vanilla Wafer
"Life would be so much easier if I were a cartoon character."
He heard it in line at Starbucks that morning, pouring out of the sour mouth of a stickly old lady with frosty-purple-icing hair. Betty Boop popped into his head, his chuckle derisive. He ordered his coffee and stomped his loafers out the door without even bothering to listen to which cartoon character she figured would improve her life. She was the antithesis of Betty Boop, and that was all he needed to know.
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"Pepé In Critical Condition" is roughly 700 words.
Tomi Shaw lives in Kentucky amid the clutter of her work, three daughters, husband’s toys, and a shedding orange mutt. She has a fuzzy home. Her work has appeared in over fifty publications, including Identity Theory, The Barcelona Review, Pindeldyboz and storySouth.