Slippers

by Suki Dennis

Gerald had bought his ninth pair of slippers this year, convinced that some cosmic force was stealing them at night. Every morning, he’d wake up to cold floors and an empty spot where they should be, shaking his head in frustration. Constant slipper replacement seemed to be his fate. Then, one evening, while searching for a photo of his deceased wife, he opened the attic door and gasped—there, neatly arranged in a perfect spiral, were all his lost slippers. At the center sat a tiny, ancient-looking raccoon, staring at him with knowing eyes as if it'd been expecting him. “Took you long enough,” the raccoon sighed, putting on the coziest pair and vanishing into thin air.

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Suki Dennis is a writer, teacher, and amateur pianist who lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden.