FLASH FICTIONThe AliensLynn Mundell
The army sergeant was disgusted by the breastfeeding mother at Target, who thought that all people in camo were scary, as were the two nearby Goths with the black makeup, who were freaked out by the staring missionaries, who were most shocked by the tattooed cashier — Why would anyone ruin the body God gave him? — who hated all gays, especially his handsome next-door neighbor, who was afraid of him but shared his dislike of slow-driving old people, especially their fathers — but, really, all old people — who collectively despaired of the bad manners and cell phone usage of Young People Today, who by and large still loved the grandfatherly politician who had once promised everyone free college tuition, and who loved them, too, although they were just so damn young, and who joined them in outrage over the man with the fly-away hair, who did not understand Muslims, Hispanics, African-Americans, liberals, and women, who all had some combination of biases against atheists, people who littered, gun owners, reality TV stars, The One Percent, smokers, one another, and men — all of whom at one time or another looked at passersby and silently wondered if aliens intent on destroying humankind walked among them.
Lynn Mundell’s work has appeared in Tin House Flash Fidelity, The Sun, Superstition Review, Flash: The International Short-Short Story Magazine, Literary Orphans, and elsewhere, with more forthcoming in 2016 in Mulberry Fork Review, A3 Review, KYSO Flash, and Five Points. Lynn lives in Northern California, where she co-edits 100 Word Story.
