Fiction: Selections From Paul Germano (Twelve Word Stories)

False Friends

When his Toyota is repossessed, the guys stop calling to hang out.

 

 

 

Gratitude

The mice appreciate the food left for them, unaware they’re being poisoned.

Truce

Minutes after their handshake, he reconsiders and delivers a devastating sucker punch.

Le Liar, Le Liar, Le Pants On Le Fire

 

His resume boasts he’s fluent in French. They quickly discover he’s not.

 

 

 

Jackass

He turns, coughs, then shouts “My turn!” aggressively cupping his doctor’s junk.

Dead Drunk

Falling off his barstool, he sees the room spinning one final time.

Neck

 

He panics, having second thoughts. Too late! The rope does its job.

 

 

 

 

Paul Germano lives in Syracuse, smack dab in the center of New York State. His fiction has been published in over 70 literary magazines in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and India, including Blink-Ink, Boston Literary Magazine, Bull, Friday Flash Fiction, The Hong Kong Review, Suddenly And Without Warning, 10 by 10, Vestal Review, and Voices in Italian Americana. His story “Hand Against the Doorjamb” appeared in A Thin Slice of Anxiety in March 2025.