One of my short stories has been published in the Adelaide Literary Magazine. Setting is a writer’s conference in Malibu.

Mozart’s Sonata in D Major

Drawn by the prospect of publication, writers gathered at the conference in Malibu. A bespectacled woman, her gray hair uniformly curled under at the edges, stood and read from her work. “The mother left her children on the beach and went for a swim. She got caught up in the rip tide.”

When she finished, the workshop instructor asked for comments.

A man in the back of room raised his hand. “The protagonist is careless and irresponsible. No one wants to read a story about a character like that.”

A young woman spoke up. “She has every right to go for a swim. She can keep an eye on the kids from the water.”

Norman Hobson agreed with the man about the character’s irresponsibility. Others in the workshop took sides and he joined the fray. “Isn’t this interesting,” he said. “The men think she’s irresponsible, and the women say she should be able to do whatever she wants.”

Everyone laughed— except for the woman in the front row. She turned and glared at him. “Not all the women,” she said. At the break, she came over and sat beside Norman. She had pale gray eyes, a mane of dark hair and scant make up. Probably in herlate forties though looks younger, Norman surmised. Her badge read ‘Greta.’ READ MORE.