Flash Fiction by Phil Temples
The woman bent over and picked up the small doll off the ground. It was a Raggedy Ann variety made of cloth. The simple plaything was nothing like the Barbie fashion dolls put out by Mattel. Raggedy Ann’s hair was matted with dried mud. Her dress was torn near one sleeve. She was one tough little doll.
Unlike Barbie, Raggedy Ann was not constructed using plastic parts. She did not feature 22 flexible joints––joints that a little girl might take advantage of to contort into impossible poses. Ann was just a simple, stuffed doll dressed in an old-fashioned, turn of the twentieth century costume and adorned with bright red yarn for hair.
The woman figured that’s why Ann survived the tornado’s 315 mile per hour winds. Barbie would have undoubtedly been smashed to pieces.
Phillip Temples lives in Watertown, Massachusetts. He’s published several mystery-thriller novels, a novella, and two story anthologies in addition to over 180 short stories. Phil likes to dabble in mobile photography. He is a member of GrubStreet and the Bagel Bards.
