Corporation Is Sad!
Corporation sits on a hill overlooking the duck pond. It sits next to me while I eat lunch. I've packed a turkey and cheese sandwich with mustard. Along with some apple slices. Corporation eats from a microwaved black plate filled with what might be pasta or rice, it's hard to tell. It has red sauce on its face and white shirt. I don't say anything because Corporation will get upset and then I'll have to hear about it for the rest of my break. I look out at the pond, trying to watch the ducks, but Corporation is going on about long-term debt to equity and I'm sitting here thinking you make 3000x the amount of money I make, and I ignore it, so I can watch the mallards in peace. Corporation's now going on about all the laws it has to follow and how prohibitive everything is.
Corporation is sad!
Corporation is sad!!
Corporation wants to fuck the world.
Corporation SMASH!
Corporation says it deserves!
Corporation, LIFE!
Corporation drinks a small brown latte and reads an email.
It tells me it'll give me 250 million if I just listen to it complain and respond with kindness and sound advice and now the mallards are gone and I know there will be never be any peace after this and, surprising even myself, I'm like, fuck your 250 million, I can't take it anymore, I'm over it, I'm over you, and I go eat my lunch somewhere else.
Author Bio
Ron Burch's fiction has been published in numerous literary journals including South Dakota Review, Fiction International, Mississippi Review, New Flash Fiction and been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and other awards. His last novel, JDP, was published by BlazeVOX Books. He earned his MFA from Antioch University Los Angeles and lives in Indianapolis, IN. His story, "The Club," appeared in Issue #4 (Summer 2000) of The Cafe Irreal.