FLASH fiction is all about the 'imply.' In this story I've leveraged the one-sided conversation to suggest the other 600 words that do NOT appear. Scene, timing, characters have no time for explication. They must reveal themselves as onion layers on each reading.

Enough with the primer on flash techniques. There are many other great ways to approach the problem of word limits. I'm looking forward to my reading binge this weekend!

we all need fawning fans. you just promoted yourself to president of the fan club, young lady.

my wife'll take me down a peg or two after she reads your review, just to make sure I don't explode spontaneously.

you may have just stumbled into my highest hope, and greatest conceit - to get my readers to read it more than once...

yes, this being FLASH fiction i'm hoping the last line would provide the context and get the reader to reconsider what they THINK they know of the first 600 words.

Yeah, I read it once, but like Val said, I couldn't quite get my head around it either. You know what I'm saying? Your fault, Nah, not yours. I'm just a bit slow, see! Not your fault. Hey, do I sound like you? I do! Well neat, coz man I sure love your voice in this here story.

Oh, give it up.

Sorry, I'll talk properly now and tell you this was fine. I can't say it was Superb, Outstanding, Awesome, Flawless, but it was good. Really good.

I think you need to define the boundaries a bit better, so that when idiots like me come across it and have a little read, they're not frowning and feeling like they have to read the thing all over again just to understand it. Although, saying that, it may not be such a bad thing. I read a classic short like that once. That was superb and the only way of knowing it was superb was by reading it all over again. And reading it a third time just made it even better.

Anyway, by boundaries, I mean your opening and your closing. Your opening is only recognizable once we read the title and the blurb. Without that we wouldn't have a clue what you were talking about. I'm not saying completely change it, just introduce a line or two that shows us where you are

And the ending is just a little jarred for me. When you throw in a punch line, it has to read as smooth as butter, otherwise you lose the impact. The way of knowing if you have it right is by saying it out loud and if it sounds like music to your ears, then you have it spot on.

Just wanted to mention your voice in this, which i loved. It reminded me of Mel Gibson's voice-over in Payback. Really smooth and classic.

So, overall, I really liked it. A bit of a classic flash actually, if you edit it a bit more.

Good job
Well done

I am a big fan of yours, and always enjoy your writing. I had to send you a private message because it seems that even a sixteen year old (Robbedbygreed) "got" your meaning, while I was floundering a little.

After reading it a second time, I realized my assumptions were correct - it takes a devastating blow to one's life to give one another opportunity to repair any damage that was done - take new chances, etc. You wrote this beautifully and have my vote.

Ahh! Ahhh! Ahhh! Ahhh! I can't stop freaking out over your awesomeness!

Bravo, oh Bravo!

You must tell me when the voting opens up. This is the winner. I'm sure of it. This is the winner, yes sireee!

You are a very talented writer and I smiled inside and out at the end of this piece. You are a genius! Ah, this is the perfect piece of Flash Fiction. I can't believe how awesome it is. There is nothing I can think to change.

I'm Speachless.

Superb, Outstanding, Awesome, Flawless, Amazing job!
Keep writing, you awesome person!

---RbG