By Gary Duncan

When it’s hot, Ethan likes to park at the top of the hill and sit there with the windows and doors closed.

He thinks this would be an interesting way to die.

He managed three and a half hours once.

Anushka, his new girlfriend, said she wanted to try it. They’d only been together for a couple of weeks, but something had clicked. He liked the way they sometimes ended each other’s sentences, like an old married couple.

They parked at the top of the hill when it was hot and sat there with the windows and doors closed.

After an hour, Ethan said, “What do you think? Do you think this-”

“Would be an interesting way to die? I do.”

She’d taken her shirt off and had unbuttoned her jeans.

She said, “It’s hot-”

“But not too hot.”

An hour later, drifting in and out of sleep, she said, “My dad died in a house fire when I was three. I never told you that, but it’s true. That’s what happened. All that was left of him were his two front teeth and his fake Rolex.”

She took her bra off and said, “Mum’s still got the watch. But they buried his teeth in a ceremonial grave. It wasn’t a big grave. Sometimes, I go and talk to him. Well, to-”

“His teeth.”

“Yes, his teeth.”

Ethan, sweat running down his chin, said, “That must be-”

“It is,” she said.

*   *   *

Gary Duncan’s stories have appeared in Unbroken Journal, X-R-A-Y Literary Magazine, Flash: The International Short-Short Story Magazine, 100 Word Story, and New Flash Fiction Review, among others. His flash fiction collection, You’re Not Supposed to Cry, is available from Vagabond Voices.