A juicy ending!

Authors Mark Poirier and Amber Dermont lectured at the Iowa Summer Writers Festivallast week on Happy Endings. Satisfying endings recall the beginning and add a new insight; leave us with a feeling; surprise us without implausibility; shock us without artifice. This week, I’m paying attention to endings.

“Reunion,” by John Cheever

In our Short Story workshop, Andrew Porter asked us to watch for revealing details in this story. “The last time I saw my father…” are the first and last words that bookend the final encounter between an estranged father and his young son. A perfect setup.

“Final Grand Jete,” by Cecile Barlier, Knee-Jerk Magazine

A story overheard in a dentist’s office introduces us to  a dying man  fixated on a ballet class in the studio a floor below him. We learn that when the man tumbled to his death from the window above,  the dancers continued to hold their focus. A spot-on ending; when we hold a tight focus, we never see things that might make us lose our balance. 

• “Suburban Lullaby,” by Kristen Hamelin Tracey, Prick of the Spindle Vol 7.2

Two  iPhone-agers bound for a school dance take a detour. One is hopped up on pills and alcohol; the other is along for the ride. The inevitable hook-up happens and we are left to wonder if the hanger-on will continue to just go along. Postmoderns resist closure. The ending is ambiguous. Whatever.

• “Swept Away,” by Jody Hobbs Hesler, Valparaiso Fiction Review

What begins with a rogue wave that snatches a person off shore, ends when relief washes over an estranged father. The ending is not as implausible as the action Roger takes–rushing across country to check on a daughter he has ignored for years. His relief stems as much from finding her alive as it does from discovering she is still willing to talk to him.

• “August 8, 1974,” by Katherine Hubbard, Front Porch issue number 23

In more innocent times, kids played outside while parents worked inside. Family time defined relationships and built trust. Kit is torn by her desire for freedom and her love for her parents.

She felt separated; in two places at once: the dining room, but also on the other side of the walls, outside in the yard, looking through the window at her parents, her sister, her self.

At the end, the family watches Nixon resign the Presidency. Is their laughter relief, or have they missed the significance of broken trust?

• “CL,” by Samantha Eliot Stier, Gemini Magazine, June 2013

A girlfriend plays along with her insensitive BF who makes a living buying and selling on Craigslist. When she encounters the painful circumstances that prompt people to sell their valuables, she begins to feel less playful.

• “Breathing In Phoenix,” by Carolyn Ziel, Diverse Voices Quarterly

Flash fiction endings should slam the action out the park and bring the point home. This ending strikes me as foul play. Craft a clever sentence and tack it to the end of any story you don’t know how finish and you have instant ambiguity.

“I wonder if anyone can breathe in Phoenix.”

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