The Centifictionist

I was a rubble-cleaner at Dessauer Ufer who escaped when they transferred us to Wedel. Figuring I could do no worse, I jumped into the Elbe. Years after I swam ashore, wandered for days, and hid with a family in Lübeck till 1945, I became a Hamburg tour guide. I show the spire of the Nikolaikirche, which remained after the firebombing that killed over 44,000 civilians. I answer questions but not about the camps or how millions could follow a madman. Then I raise my tourists’ group pennant and summon everyone to follow. They come whenever I call them.

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David Galef has published short fiction in the collections Laugh Track and My Date with Neanderthal Woman (Dzanc Short Story Collection Prize), long fiction in the novels Flesh, Turning Japanese, and How to Cope with Suburban Stress (Kirkus Best Books of the Year), and a lot in between. His latest is Brevity: A Flash Fiction Handbook, from Columbia University Press. Day job: professor of English and creative writing program director at Montclair State University. He’s also the editor of Vestal Review, the longest-running flash fiction magazine on the planet. Website: davidgalef.com, Twitter handle: @dgalef.