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The Casket of Fictional Delights

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The Smallest Boxes

by Lydia Unsworth

Flash Fiction Unsettling, Weird

They took the thing we did and put it into a series of smallish boxes, which they then handed around to everyone in the hemisphere, along with a cheap cotton tote bag filled with attractive brochures. The thing we did was gentle and ill-defined, violent and urgent, vast in scope. In the little boxes its skin dried out and had to be painted over to maintain its former sheen. They brought out miniature pots of paint: eight colours that people were quickly trained how to mix and use. The colour held well, but not in heavy rain or in bright sunlight. Shelters were constructed to keep the weather out and people began to check the smallish boxes that contained the thing we once did on a regular basis to confirm the quality of the shine. This checking became more and more frequent, and after a time was followed by a flash: a sort of unavoidable outward-facing verification of the check by whoever happened in that moment to be passing by. This check-flash routine was supposed to be a nurturing gesture, was supposed to keep people attached to the thing we once did, was supposed to be something of an extension of ourselves; a gift or an invite to be known to one another. Instead, people began to recoil from the incessant flashing, the snippets of versions of other people’s now essentially uniform creative urge. The attractive brochures in the tote bags presented, for example, such entrepreneurial endeavours as: Ways to Make your Box Stand Out From the Crowd; How to Make the Most of a Fly-By Flash Session, What Paint Does for Your Health and Wellbeing, and How to Check Tall.

We looked around us for the thing we once did and, although it did seem as if it really was more popular than ever, we couldn’t shake the feeling that in all honesty it wasn’t anymore anywhere at all.

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About Lydia Unsworth

Lydia has published two collections of poetry: Certain Manoeuvres (KFS Press, 2018) and Nostalgia for Bodies (2018 Erbacce Poetry Prize), and two pamphlets. Her latest pamphlet YIELD (KFS Press) and debut novel Distant Hills (Atlatl Press) are will be published in 2020. Recent work can be found in SPAM, Bath Magg and Blackbox Manifold.

Lydia Tweets @lydiowanie


Visit Lydia Unsworth on the web

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Everyone at The Casket is hoping 2021 will be a better year than 2020.  We have some great short stories and flash fiction lined up for your delight.  We kick of the year with a story by Lydia Unsworth “The Smallest Boxes” and then for Valentine's we have a story by Dylan Brethour which will also be available as a podcast. Later in the summer we have a new Flash Fiction Summer Collection which will be published online and as podcasts read by Menna Bonsels and Richard Hodder.  We hope you enjoy the stories we have for you and look forward to welcoming you back regularly.

Joanna & The Casket of Fictional Delights Team

 

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Please consider making a donation to The Casket of Fictional Delights.  All content on the website is free and widely available to audiences worldwide.  We do not receive any grants and all our content is Ad free.  The Casket of Fictional Delights specialises in producing high-quality podcasts which are recorded by professional actors/voiceover artists from around the world. We hope you enjoy reading and listening to the stories and finding out about Joanna’s varied brooch collection.

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Prefer to listen? - from the beginning The Casket of Fictional Delights has specialised in producing high quality podcasts of short stories and flash fiction compilations. The podcasts are recorded by actors and voiceover artists and produced by a professional studio manager ensuring we maintain a consistent high standard. I’ve chosen three to highlight the variety and quality of work we have to offer - visit our Podcast page for more. I hope you enjoy listening to them.

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Text & stories © Joanna Sterling 2021
Stories © various authors
Audio by Menna Bonsels
Brooch photography by Mark Colliton
Other photography by Rosie Marks
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