That she hasn’t had her breakfast yet; that her parents woke her up from a pleasant dream about baking Keranian cream puffs to help fix the starboard navigational sensors (again); that the configuration of said sensors means the wiring can only be accessed through a series of tubes only she fits inside, yet her parents have no plan for handling repairs after her inevitable growth spurt; that even at max speed and efficiency their destination is still seven years away; that tomorrow is her birthday and there certainly won’t be cream puffs; she might never eat a cream puff again.
Ruth Joffre is the author of the story collection Night Beast. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Kenyon Review, Lightspeed, Pleiades, khōréō, The Florida Review Online, Wigleaf, Baffling Magazine, and the anthologies Best Microfiction 2021 & 2022.
themartianmagazine.com 