David Queen

Thomas and Cora

In the early part of winter one year, Thomas asked Cora what she'd meant when she told him that she usually felt alone, but she didn’t know how to reply.

Together, they stood on a bridge above the river. Cora gripped the railing, and turned to face Thomas. Her lips were purple from the cold. She shook.

“You know when you’re listening to someone play a song on a piano, and you think you hear notes that are there, hidden in the back, but they’re not actually played?”

Thomas cupped his hands around his breath for a moment.

“I can't stand this cold,” he said.

“Did you hear me?” she asked.

“Yeah, I don’t know. I’ve never really noticed that before.”

Thomas put his arm around Cora, and together they walked back the way they’d come, wading through the snow.

Now Cora is dead and Thomas has since put all his time and effort into creating those little glass bottles with model ships inside them.

It was always a mystery as to what brought them together in the first place, Thomas and Cora.

David Queen was born and raised in Ohio, and now lives in Brooklyn, NY. He is currently working on his first collection of short stories, which originated in the form of his blog Postcard Stories; an ongoing series of stories based on real vintage postcards that he collects.