“What’s the matter?” asked Bill. He was standing with his back to her at the kitchen counter.
“You know that feeling when you’re half asleep and half awake?” said Alice.
“Mm hmm,” Bill nodded.
Alice bent down to avoid bumping her head as she entered the kitchen. Now she could see that Bill was holding a hatchet in one hand while trying to keep a fat green trout still with the other. The fish mouth was squirming and twisting. It almost seemed like the fish was trying to face Alice. To tell her something.
Alice shook her head and continued explaining her feeling to Bill. “You’ve been dreaming, and for a second, you think the dream is true. But then you realize that nothing makes sense. You can’t count on anything, and you feel your confidence oozing out of you. But you know it’s gotta be a dream. And you just want…”
Alice stretched her arms out and opened her hands as if trying to pull the words out of the air.
“Yes, go on,” Bill coaxed.
“You just want to wake up. But, what if — what if you can’t? What if it's like a bad trip that goes on and on, and you never figure out if you’re awake or not?”
“Well, then you’d be insane.” Bill said, and he turned his head and smiled revealing a shiny row of tiny razor-sharp teeth.
And for the first time Alice realized that she was talking to a lizard.
This 270-word piece was originally published in 2007 as a 50-word piece by Le Meridien hotels and Lilly Café when they offered their customers original works of flash fiction with every cup of coffee.
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