Didn’t I tell you it would be like this? I know, it’s only fair to take turns. But giving everyone a chance to host, that’s how you end up with 28 pears to snack on while you try to steer discussion away from Edna’s son the doctor and back toward Jane Austen.

You don’t believe there are 28 pears? You’re right, there are probably more. Take a look in the bowl. What did you think was in there, sangria? We should be so lucky. The thing is brimming with pears. I heard Dolores in the kitchen telling Edna and Sara all about them. Apparently, Dolores dragged Harvey to one of those “You Pick” orchards where you pay to harvest your own fruit and they were hauling everything back to the car when he threw his back out and dropped the basket. So here we are now. Enough bruised pears to get us through a discussion of Proust’s In Search of Lost Time.

Oh c’mon. Did you try the bread? I didn’t think so.

I wish we had just let Sara host again. We could be at her place right now, lounging on her couch, maybe savoring her copy of Dalí’s Les Diners de Gala and sipping Albariño. Remember the spread she laid out last time? Those little shrimp tapas and the bacon-wrapped dates. I don’t know how she finds the time to make them, but they’re addictive. And her cheese board. Ugh! Get down, you horrid things! If these Pekingese want something edible, they should prance on over to Sara’s house.

Surely, you’re not suggesting this is all my fault? Just because last time we got stuck here I mentioned that some carbohydrates might be nice? You know I only said what everyone else was thinking when Dolores was on that kooky keto kick. Who puts out beef jerky and Brazil nuts for book club? Well, she certainly overcorrected. And I’ll tell you another thing...

Oh hi, Dolores. Yes, of course, everything is lovely, these pears are simply delicious. Another pear before we get started? Why, yes, thank you. I’d love one.

Still Life with Small Pears, Bread, Flask, Bowl, and
Dry Leaves (oil on canvas, 1760)

*Luis Egidio Meléndez (1716–1780) is now recognised as among the greatest
Spanish still-life painters of the 18th century. Museo del Prada in
Madrid, Spain holds the original Still Life with Small Pears...

Image above was downloaded from the public domain via Wikimedia:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bodegonconperitaspanjarrafrascoytartera-MeléndezFXD.jpg

Tracy Royce

is a poet and writer with work appearing or forthcoming in Bending Genres, Best Small Fictions 2026, contemporary haibun online, The Ekphrastic Review, Frogpond Journal, The Mackinaw, MacQueen’s Quinterly, and ONE ART. Her work was selected for Best Microfiction 2026 and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best Small Fictions, and a Touchstone Award for Individual Haibun. She lives in Southern California, but you can find her on Bluesky: [at]tracyroyce.bsky.social

More on the Web: By, About, and Beyond

⚡ Side A List Poem by Tracy Royce: “Things That Remain Suspended (Handsfree) When Wedged Beneath My Breast” (includes videotape of author reading, and text of mini-interview by HFR) in Heavy Feather Review (16 April 2026)

⚡ What She Wore in 100 word story (November 2025)