Note. I took a wonderful flash fiction class with John Himmelheber in 2016. Stories were posted on Dropbox and read in class based on their posting date/time. I was anxious to have my story on Kudzu vines and vegan diets be the last word in the last class. I kept making minor revisions up to that last morning. I was all set. Unfortunately some of my classmates wrote stories with really long words that were difficult to pronounce, taking longer to read. Mr Himmelheber said “Well, that’s it. Thanks for all your contributions. I can’t seem to find Bill’s story in the queue. He might have deleted it…”
Last Class, Last Story
The huge angry roar could be heard all the way down the hill and even inside the Ramsey Library reading room. Hot beverage containers, flip phones and unopened low-fat yogurts were hurled at the interactive smart-board projector screen, their pieces and contents exploding and running down the wall onto the re-carpeted floor in room #207 at the Reuter Center.
“Make sure your coffee cups are covered and cell phones turned off,” had been an almost comical bit of administrative precaution in view of what had just happened. “We can disagree, but please do so in an agreeable manner,” an ironic platitude, a cruel joke for today. Mr. Himmelheber jerked into a fetal posture behind his lectern.
Tires squealed as sixteen enraged hard-of-hearing boomers gunned their cars and took off from the OLLI parking lot far ahead of schedule. Luckily there were no gray Priuses idling in the corners waiting for available spots. Campus stop signs were run and horns blared as they all fled the scene. The online appraisal surveys, normally sent out the next day, would be unnecessary. The Flash Fiction class had already voted.
Somehow, Bill LaRocque’s last story had been deleted from the Dropbox queue and was not read that day. Too bad…
The End
Thanks John, and to all the wonderful writers, for an informative, entertaining and inspirational class.