My grandfather nearly lost
house
wife
kids
Friday afternoons
paddling through smokers’ fog
sitting at red and black
betting on green.
His hand felt empty
coming home to Reno
from the army’s tender care
(bullet in the gut)
so he filled fingers
with a Colt Lightweight Commander
semi-automatic
chocolate bar grips.
It carried seven rounds
(lucky number seven).
It must have been lucky
he never fired it once
at an intruder until one snuck into
his brain intent on overcoming
his last defense.
Instead, he shot it
killed that fucker dead
with his lucky number seven.
Alison McBain is an award-winning author with nearly 100 short works published, including prose/poetry in Litro, FLAPPERHOUSE, and The Airgonaut. Last year, her poem “Assimilation” was nominated for the Puschart Prize, and her debut fantasy novel The Rose Queen was named one of the best books of 2018 by the reviewer website Bookshine and Readbows. In her spare time, she is the Book Reviews Editor for Bewildering stories, and the lead editor of the small press publisher Fairfield Scribes.
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