Skip to main content
A blinding oat-splatter

Oat splatter

Honey, strawberries, pumpkin seeds, raisins, and underneath that wheatgerm, flaxseed, oat bran, oats.

“What’s not to like?” asked Ira, eyeing her husband, hands on hips, “I added full-cream milk, too, it’s creamier. ”

“Nothing,” said her husband, his words as still as the way he slept, straight, like a corpse, unmoving all night, after they had gone at it for a bit, most nights, or had an argument, which was each night.

“So? Sit down and eat it then. You know you have to look after your heart, now that we’re planning a baby. All this is good for your heart.”

“Yes,” he replied, and sat down, fork in hand.

She watched him as he mixed up the contents of the bowl, reducing the gold of the honey and raisins and the ruby-red of the strawberries into brown-white goo. As his fork paused to pick a bite and lift it to his mouth, Ira saw the goo rising by itself, like an exploding mudslide, splattering his face, blinding him.

“Come back early today, honey,” she dropped a kiss on her husband’s head as he struggled through his breakfast. “I have a feeling things will work tonight.”

Damyanti Biswas

Damyanti Biswas is the author of You Beneath Your Skin and numerous short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US, the UK, and Asia. She has been shortlisted for Best Small Fictions and Bath Novel Awards and is co-editor of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her literary crime thriller series, the Blue Mumbai, is represented by Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency. Both The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon were published in 2023.

I appreciate comments, and I always visit back. If you're having trouble commenting, let me know via the contact form, or tweet me up @damyantig !

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.