STORY SHOWCASE #3

<< Back to story selection <<

---

TAILS, YOU LOSE

by Lisa Danny Roberts

---

A little taster…

I walk downstairs to my car and there she is in the window. She stretches up onto her hind legs, places her paws on the glass, beckoning me. I rush over and put both palms on the windowpane. The world falls away as we stand paws to palms as if in prayer. Her eyes are like pools of polished emeralds, unimaginably deep. Then she is gone.

If I see her in the window, I can sell a policy to a corpse. If not, my day is filled with unanswered calls and no-show appointments. Seeing her is a crapshoot. Sometimes I see her six days in a row, then nothing for months. During a fallow spell, I develop an itchy rash, throbbing headaches and a sour stomach. The anxiety of feeling powerless unnerves me.

About the author

Lisa Danny-Roberts is retired. When she’s not writing, she’s playing board games, sharpening her skills for the next board game convention. Her work has appeared in Pulphouse Fiction Magazine, Witcraft, Close to the Bone and Modern Drunkard. Her recent narrated short stories can be found on her YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@L.D.Roberts

We asked Lisa…

K&R: What was the spark or idea that led you to write this story?

LDR: My husband and I have always had cats; one day our cat figured out how to about all the drawers and cupboards in the kitchen. My husband said, “She’s smart – good thing she loves us and isn’t plotting against us.”

K&R: Do you have any other work do you have out there, for folks to dig into?

LDR: I have a YouTube channel that contains all of my short stories in narrated form (see the link above).

K&R: What’s next for you as a writer?

LDR: I have a new series of videos posted on my YouTube channel. It is a series about two cats, Chester the Tom Kat and Portugal Tom. The artist who drew the thumbnail for each story is just starting out and I was thrilled to be able to give her the chance to showcase her work.

K&R: What does “trashy fiction” mean to you, and what do you love about it?

LDR: I love trash fiction, because anything goes. Absolutely anything.

K&R: If you’ve read the rest of the stories in Trash Tales, what’s your favourite, and why?

LDR: My favorite story is “Love and Other Addictions” by Kay Hanifen. She did a nice job of describing how loving the wrong person can obliterate all ability to think rationally.

---