Blade of the Butcher

by Lois Perch Villemaire

My grandfather was a character. He pretended to be gruff, but I could tell it was an act because he would laugh. He hugged my grandmother a lot. On Sundays, he would loop a white handkerchief around his neck, reminiscent of his younger days as a butcher and ceremoniously began clanging the carving knife rhythmically against a sharpening steel rod, as he prepared to slice the standing rib roast. Everyone took a place at the dining room table. He executed his ritual with artistic flare like a mime, as the grand performance whetted our appetites.

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Lois Perch Villemaire resides in Annapolis, MD. Her stories, memoir flash, and poetry have appeared online and in journals including Ponder Savant, The Literatus, Trouvaille Review, FewerThan500, The Drabble, Pen In Hand, North of Oxford, Flash Frontier, Flora Fiction and several anthologies published by Truth Serum Press. She blogs for Annapolis Discovered.