ALEXANDER SLOTKIN - THE ANNIVERSARY DINNER

Alexander Slotkin is a flash fiction writer and graduate student pursuing a PhD in writing and rhetoric at the University of Florida. His fiction has been featured in Literary Juice, HelloHorror, Blood Moon Rising, Mulberry Fork Review, Insanity's Horse, The RavensPerch, and Ariel Chart.

The Anniversary Dinner
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She smiles in the mirror. Not too bad, she thinks while swishing the ends of her cocktail gown back and forth. Silvia is ready for her anniversary dinner, a dinner she has never missed in her fifty-year marriage to Mark Goldstein.
Tonight’s anniversary dinner will be no different than the previous forty-nine. The merry couple will dine in their New York apartment, starting with a glass or two of their favorite champagne, Dom Perignon, and a nice halibut dish (with fingerlings, fava beans, meyer lemons, and crème fraîche), and ending with hugs and goodnight kisses. Mrs. Goldstein readied everything, except for her date.
“Mark, honey! Dinner’s served,” Silvia calls out. She walks out of the dining room and down the hallway leading into their bedroom. “There you are,” she says from the doorway. “You aren’t even dressed! C’mon, let’s spiff you up.”
Silvia strolls into their bedroom, taking time to admire the perfume-saturated air. Chanel No. 5—as sweet as can be, she thinks with a smile. After dressing Mark, whom she’s called ‘sweetheart’ or ‘honey’ since they began dating at age fourteen, Silvia struggles to help him into his wheelchair.
“I’m getting too old,” she moans.
Finally, after managing to seat Mark, Silvia wheels him to the dining table before excusing herself.
“I’ll be just a moment,” Silvia assures him. “I want to close these curtains before our date.”
She makes her way over to the dining room window and closes the    curtains. Silvia wants to ensure their privacy; not many people can understand the love between a woman and her deceased husband.

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