Five-Tooth Woman
By Thomas Ray
The wilting world screamed with each flash of lightning. Skeletal trees bowed and whistled in the wind. Caves and ravines flooded, people and animals were trapped and overcome by the rising water, and the sound of rushing seas drowned out everything but the constant, booming thunder.
At the highest peak of the highest mountain was a shack. It was still standing.
Inside, the five-tooth woman held a threaded needle between her gummy lips, propped up the eyeless, inanimate body before her, grabbed two maroon buttons, and started sewing.
The five-tooth woman knew the girl would love having eyes, so she sang a song all about it. The girl couldn't hear it over the thunder, however, so the woman stopped after a while.
The world continued tearing itself apart, and the needle kept digging in and out, in and out, in and out, in and out, in... And out...
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