[Flash fiction is an umbrella term used to describe any fictional work of extreme brevity, including the Six-Word Story, 140-character stories, also known as twitterature, the dribble (50 words), the drabble (100 words), and sudden fiction (750 words)]

He wanted to surprise his new young wife who worked in a different city and so chose not to inform her of the week’s leave he had managed to get from his boss. In fact the last time they spoke he had specifically told her he couldn’t make it any time soon, something about not getting any leave sanctioned, and she had cried. He smiled now, thinking of how she’d cry again seeing him walk up the driveway, only thing this time it would be happy tears. But he was the one in for a surprise on reaching home late in the evening to find the door locked. Maybe she was working late, he rang her office and it was they who told him. She had, at the very last minute, opted to attend the two week training course for selected employees at their main office. His ingenious plan had backfired. Now it was he who wanted to cry.

© Shail Mohan 2020