We are thrilled to share with you the tale that won our 2021 Web microfiction contest. Discover this unique take on the contest’s theme of metamorphosis. The descriptions are visceral. The raw and real characters stay with you. Latham wields the power of precision like a master.

DOLORES TELLS CHARLIE SHE’S GOING TO THE GYM

But really, she sits in her car outside of McDonald’s listening to talk radio. She loves that Dr. Tony, the one who solves everyone’s problems in ten words or less: Lose the weight. Leave the man. Move out of your mother’s basement. She eats fries to the sounds of other people’s epiphanies. Confuses transformation with the taste of salt and fat. Hungers for it.

When she gets home, Charlie’s on the couch playing video games for the sixth straight day. Fix your lag, Dude.

Dolores stands in the doorway, savoring the grease on her lips like a secret.

Kathleen Latham is a poet and short fiction writer whose work has most recently appeared in Bright Flash Literary Review, Boston Literary Magazine, and Fictive Dream. She currently lives outside of Boston, MA with her spouse and an ornery cat. She can be found online at KathleenLatham.com.