Liminal: occupying a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold. OED
Flash fiction
Bonbons in a glass jar tempt me; a jar of chopped-up rainbow. I swirl a yellow one around my mouth, expect the zing and tang of fresh lemon. I spit it into my hand when no one is looking and bury it in a potted ficus by the TV set. I hate bananas. My husband devours them instead of crisps and candy. I smell them on his clothes; just a hint, through wood-spice aftershave and whiskey.
I inhale roses and jasmine in the garden, stroke my forearm with a yellow rose petal. Its satin caress excites minuscule hairs and sends tingles to my fingertips. Through squares of trellis, I see the couple next door under their awning, intertwined. His hands devour her, and I know he smells of lemons. I imagine lying on moist grass early in the morning, with dewdrops clinging to my flesh like the cold sweat of anticipation on skin. Wet, glassy beads reflect pieces of him; they’re all over my body while nearby, grasshoppers buzz. His scent of lemon zest stirs the ache of what could be mine.
I am a glass for my husband too, but a cloudy one, where lemonade looks like dishwater. He no longer drinks me; prefers to drink from clear crystal goblets while I hide in the long grass surrendering to illicit desire, alone. This saves me from further temptation, that pulls me next door to a man who once stroked my glass skin–smooth yet silky, with his fingertips.
About the Creator
Teresa Renton
Inhaling life, exhaling stories, poetry, prose, flash or fusions. An imperfect perfectionist who writes and recycles words. I write because I love how it feels to make ink patterns & form words, like pictures, on a page.
Reader insights
Outstanding
Excellent work. Looking forward to reading more!
Top insights
Compelling and original writing
Creative use of language & vocab
Excellent storytelling
Original narrative & well developed characters
Heartfelt and relatable
The story invoked strong personal emotions
Keep reading
More stories from Teresa Renton and writers in Fiction and other communities.
The Gingerbread Baker
So the gingerbread man sits on the fox's tail. And the fox begins to swim —The Gingerbread Man Ladybird book She baked gingerbread men daily—whole families of them—using her own recipe. Ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg spiced the air as she swished her wooden spoon around her bowl, kneaded, rolled, and cut her figures. She'd even baked her own family—Mr Robinson and the children. It was the only way to guarantee a perfect family.
By Teresa Renton9 months ago in Fiction
Prettier If You Smiled
I know lots of women say they want to be beautiful, but for me the downsides outweigh the advantages. If I wanted to skate by on my looks, it'd be great. I want to work hard and be taken seriously. It's difficult to achieve that, being a woman in STEM. Being "pretty" doesn't help.
By L.C. Schäferabout 6 hours ago in Fiction
THE ENVELOPE PLEASE
Fiesta! ¡Olé! It's Cinco de Mayo and time to celebrate the ASK ME IN DECEMBER the unofficial challenge winners. The creators had fun and it was fun reading all their entries. From Ballads to the Blues and a Villanelle to a Haiku, I was honored by the forty-four entries.
By Babs Iverson3 days ago in Writers
Comments (18)
A magical piece of fiction
Woah!Teresa– Every single word is magical and holds so much weight. This piece lit up all of my senses and broke my heart. Bravo! 👏🏽👏🏽💫
you deserve to join the Vocal Awards https://tinyurl.com/3cjr6788
Its very helpful, thanks
"Liminal" I've seen that word lately, and hadn't known what it meant. The data scientist in me had to look up a chart, and it has "gone ballistic", an expression that has been going the other way lately. https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Liminal&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=3 You bring in a lot of senses and scents into this lovely poetic story which carries some sadness of love that isn't as fiery as before. Congats on TS!
Very good
Powerful piece! Great work!
Congratulations on Top Story!!!♥️♥️💕
That was fabulous. Congrats on the TS.
Well, yep. this is just gorgeous. ❤️❤️❤️😭😭
Congratulations on your Top Story🎉🎉
Oh my. This gave me goosebumps. Beautiful. And literally every line is 'the line' Wow! Super congratulations on a wonderful Top Stoy! 🤍🤍🤍
Oh my goodness. This is incredible!
Great work! ♥️
If this hadn't gotten TS, I was totally ready to nominate it in the Discord. This needs to be in a literary magazine. The color yellow, lemons, bananas; then the glass. Masterful use of literary devices here. The delayed gratification for what they all mean made for a completely gut-punchy ending. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 🤯
oooofta this is like a gut punch. well done!
This evoked such loneliness in me
I love the way you draw on senses throughout this, to make it so sensual, a contrast to what the narrator does not have.