Who Are You?
She’d only seen his whole face in old photos. So when he greeted her on a random Tuesday
afternoon, clean-shaven, two decades into marriage, and his naked mouth said, “Surprise!” she
replied, “Who are you?” For days, she couldn’t look. When they kissed, she fought unwelcome
visions of their teenage son’s friends. Sleeping late Saturday morning, he kissed his way down
her body, as usual, and she had to fantasize his beard not to feel unfaithful. When she rolled him
over and felt the soft curl of fur tickle her nose, she could finally exhale. There you are, she
thought.
John Sheirer lives in Western Massachusetts and teaches at Asnuntuck Community College in Northern Connecticut. His work has appeared in Flash Boulevard, San Antonio Review, WordPeace, Five Minutes, Iceblink, Fiction on the Web, Wilderness House Literary Review, Meat for Tea, Poppy Road Review, Synkroniciti, 10 By 10 Flash Fiction, Scribes*MICRO*Fiction, and Goldenrod Review, among others. His most recent books are Stumbling Through Adulthood: Linked Stories (2021 New England Book Festival Award Winner) and For Now: One Hundred 100-Word Stories (2023 New England Book Festival Award Runner-Up). Find him at JohnSheirer.com.
