Tart

"As you dip your hands into the cool bowl of flour, the alligator drags its belly up on to the Palmetto grass. Your daughter is a few yards away from it, burying marbles in the damp creek soil, her small body brown with sun. You are making an apple tart, even though Andrew is adamant in his dislike of apples, hating the sound their flesh makes against his teeth. Though you are twenty-nine, you have never outgrown the idea that your tastes are objective truths; Andrew would come to crave apples, because apples are the perfect fruit, your daughter would come to weep unashamedly during the final scene of The Last Picture Show (how Cloris Leachman presses his hand to her cheek, her chin, her neck, as if he has already died), because it is the greatest film ever made."

"Tart" was published in Compose. It's about alligators and ex-boyfriends. To read the full story, visit their site. This volume of Compose was reviewed in The Review Review.