Something in the Water

by Suzanne Hicks

Everyone’s chatting and forking lunch into their mouths, but I can’t take my eyes off the fish tank behind the bar, remembering the lake back home, watching hooks pulled from jaws, mouths gaping, gills pumping to breathe, smelling that lake water no matter the distance I put between us. If only I could plunge into the tank, gather all the fish in my arms, take them to salty, open waters. But I know they’d suffocate before I could find a place where they could feel what it’s like to swim free.

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SUZANNE HICKS is a disabled writer living with multiple sclerosis. Her work has appeared in matchbook, Gooseberry Pie, Milk Candy Review, and others. Her stories have been selected for Best Microfiction and the Wigleaf Longlist. Read more at suzannehickswrites.com.

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