Margarita Meklina
Margarita Meklina beautifully evokes an entire family drama in this short short, “Four Hands,” which is clearly why it was chosen to be anthologized in Norton’s Flash Fiction International: Very Short Stories from Around the World (2015), pp. 131-133. It originally appeared in the book Margarita coauthored with Lida Yusupova, У любви четыре руки [Love has Four Hands], 2008.
Mother: A short, black-haired jackdaw, she cordially opens mouth, door, piano. She walks right in, sits, begins playing right off. Bravo, Nonna, says her husband. It really is bravura. On the walls: candelabras and handicrafts created from nature’s cornucopia. Gay elation: “Know what I’m playing?”, then acute condemnation: “Surely you’re joking, not the boyish Shainsky! It’s Chopin!”