{"id":2925,"date":"2015-12-08T03:48:49","date_gmt":"2015-12-08T03:48:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/?p=2925"},"modified":"2015-12-08T03:48:49","modified_gmt":"2015-12-08T03:48:49","slug":"our-last-encounter-by-brian-burmeister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/our-last-encounter-by-brian-burmeister\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Last Encounter by Brian Burmeister"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Harvest<\/a>
Harvest by Lynda Warne<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our Last Encounter<\/h1>\n

by Brian Burmeister<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d<\/p>\n

The patio door swung open. I panicked and jumped about ten feet. She was near me, a car\u2019s length to my left.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat, are you stealing my trash?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d I had been trying to look in her windows. I hadn\u2019t gotten a good position and didn\u2019t see her coming. My hands were empty and I was nowhere near her garbage. She didn\u2019t care. \u201cWell, someone has been!\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A neighbor rolled into sight, mowing the grass next door. I had to restrain myself from waving.<\/p>\n

She said, \u201cYou can\u2019t keep doing this, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n

I nodded. The phone was ringing and ringing and robbing me of this moment. All I could do was nod.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I don\u2019t think you do.\u201d<\/p>\n

She floated back towards the door.<\/p>\n

She said, \u201cI am going to get this, and you are going to go.\u201d But she stopped just inside the house. \u201cYou\u2019re not supposed to love me anymore, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n

She hurried in and answered the phone. I stayed on the porch, waiting. But she came immediately back, phone in hand, and slid the door shut from the inside. Locked it. \u201cYou are going to go.\u201d She turned back to her conversation on the phone, leaving me to leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d I said, though I knew she couldn\u2019t hear me, and began the hike back to my car.<\/p>\n

Some seconds later I heard the door slide open behind me.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd quit sending me cats! I just have to give them away.\u201d<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

Brian Burmeister is Program Chair of English and Communication at Ashford University. He co-wrote the nonfiction play Farmscape: The Changing Rural Environment, published by Ice Cube Press, and his writing has appeared in Cleaver Magazine, The Furious Gazelle, and Yellow Chair Review. He can be followed @bdburmeister.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d<\/p>\n

The patio door swung open. I panicked and jumped about ten feet. She was near me, a car\u2019s length to my left.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-short-story"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t