– by Karen Schauber –

Marcel left the door open, so I followed him through to the other side. A silver intaglio serving plate decorated with pineapples and twisting vine leaves greeted me upon arrival. A dozen freshly baked Madeleines set me drooling; my fingers quivering at the touch, deep spongy cake texture begging to be dunked. Sadly, the lime blossom tea—ice cold.

[after Proust]

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Karen Schauber is a Flash Fiction writer obsessed with the form. Her work appears in 50 international literary magazines, journals, and anthologies, including *Bending Genres, Cabinet of Heed, Cease Cows, Ekphrastic Review, Fiction Southeast, New Flash Fiction Review, and Spelk. The Group of Seven Reimagined: Contemporary Stories Inspired by Historic Canadian Paintings* (Heritage House, 2019), celebrating the Canadian modernist landscape painters, is her first editorial/curatorial flash fiction anthology, winning ‘Silver’ in The Miramichi Reader’s “The Very Best” Book Award for Short Fiction”, 2020. Schauber curates ‘Vancouver Flash Fiction’, an online flash fiction Resource Hub, and in her spare time, is a seasoned Family Therapist. A native of Montréal, she has called Vancouver home for the past three decades.