We present a debut short story by M. Gail Moore, who was born in Northern California and graduated from San Francisco State University. Ultimately, she joined the faculty of a community college on the West Coast in the late 1990s. She has written book reviews and several non fiction articles about her travels in Mexico, Thailand, Guatemala, Belize, Brazil, Canada and the U.K. She divides her time between Washington State and California with her husband, daughter and six potted plants.
If only the moment before could be different, when they were walking away from the beach and Zach had jauntily slung the new Nikes, black with a white swoosh, over his shoulder. They were both laughing. Laces looped a white bow tie over his right index finger, hooked backwards and pointed at the sky. The shoes bumped lightly against his shoulder blade. Their argument began moments before they reached the pavement. It was then that Kate snatched them from his hand and sent them arcing above his head with her strong tennis arm. Love perfected. They landed each one astride, bound by their laces to swing, footless wanderers, over the power line twenty feet above the road. The left shoe rode a foot higher than the right and there they swayed and bobbed, rocked and dallied before settling in for the long dangle. Read the complete story here.
