The Moss Attack

by Shane Jones

Spores of moss began appearing on the horse’s feet, and eventually, layers of green on their legs and back. Selah spent nights awake and outside, trying to defeat the attack of moss by pulling it out in patches and then soothing the horse’s skin with tulip petals she had soaked in the troth. We continued the water troth attacks until the moss collapsed each horse, forming a dark green blanket to their heads. Selah couldn’t destroy the moss with her hands anymore because of the thickness of the moss, which was now bigger than each horse. She stayed out in the woods for four more days, sleeping next to the dying horses until the moss made its way down their throats. After the horses died, the moss moved its way from the woods and up the hill towards our home until we woke one morning and saw it crawling under the front door.

6S

Shane Jones lives in Albany, New York. His fiction has most recently appeared in Hobart and Rumble, and is forthcoming in Monkeybicycle. A chapbook of poetry, Maybe Tomorrow, is available from Boneworld Press.