Online Dating

Microfiction

by Ralph Dumain

So, long before there was online dating, I had nonetheless been involved with a number of single mothers. In those days, they all had one child, at most two, and the women in question were of quite different socioeconomic backgrounds. Obviously, that is not the easiest life to live, and I myself was raised by my mother, and I am an only child grateful for the lack of siblings.

So, in the online world, I connected with Karen, who had a daughter, and like so many women in more recent memory, she had two jobs and little free time, not much time to do anything but work, take care of her daughter, watch TV, and go shopping.

So we were talking on the phone, and Karen tells me she would like to have more children. They werenʼt going to be mine, if I could help it, but my intervention was more general, having become familiar with so many working class women like her. So I said, “Why on earth would you want another child?” She responded, “Shanice should not be alone.” I said, “I see nothing wrong with being an only child. And since you are already overburdened with one, why would you want more?” Karen replied, “Well, that’s just something you want.” I said, “But why? Are you sure this is a good idea?” Karen said: “You have a lot of thoughts on this subject. You should write a book.” Then I said, “But youʼd never read it.”

Note: This was a spontaneous piece I wrote for a webinar on writing flash fiction, conducted on 12 January 2022 by Nathan Leslie. This was my second exercise in the session, completed at 19:46 EST. I received the highest praise from the instructor and other participants. If you are familiar with the principles of microfiction you will see the compressed and interconnected nature of all the elements of the narrative, plus the element of surprise. I let them know I first learned the potential of this genre from the Hungarian author István Örkényʼs “One minute stories” [in Esperanto translation], basically the same sort of microfiction but a genre that Örkény originated, which has an emphasis on irony, originating from an oppressive social environment.

Maksimanlibro de la minirakonto
de Luis Britto García, trad. Jorge C. Mosonyi

Uz-instrukcio al la “Unuminutaj noveloj”
de István Örkény, trad.L. Tárkony

Offsite:

Flash fiction - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

István Örkény - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

mikronoveloj @ Ĝirafo

István Örkény @ Ĝirafo

CONTACT Ralph Dumain

Uploaded 5 November 2022