Cynthia Sample lives in Texas and reads Lydia Davis and Jorge Luis Borges and, when she comes to write, combines genres and forms in ironic and hilarious juxtaposition. She writes little stories, microstories, that delight the eye and the mind, stories that startle you with their originality and unique angles of attack. In this one she uses the genre of the concordance to tell a steamy tale of love, lust, adultery and divorce — it will make you smile.
dg
DANCE (danced, dancing)
Ecc 3:4 a time to d and a time to mourn
2Sa 6:14 d before the Lord
Ps 30:11 You turned my waiting into d
LUST (lusted, lusts)
Pr 6:25 Do not l in your heart
1Th 4:5 not in passionate l like the heathen
1PE 4:3 in debauchery, l, drunkenness
LOVE (beloved, loved, lovely, lover, lover’s, lovers, loves, loving, loving-kindness)
Ge 20:13 This is how you can show you l
Ge 22:2 your only son, Isaac, who you l
Jos 22:5 careful to l the Lord your God
ADULTERY (adulterers, adulteress, adulteries)
Lev 20:10 both the a and the adulteress must
Heb 13:14 for God will judge the a
Hos 3:1 she is loved by another and is an a
Jer 3:8 sent her away because of all hr a
Ex 20:14 You shall not commit a
Mt 5:32 The divorced woman commit a
Mk 10:11 marries another woman commits a
Jn 8:4 woman was caught in the act of a
DIVORCE (divorced, divorces)
Dt 22:19 He must not d her as long as he lives
Dt 24:1 and writes her a certificate of d
Mal 2:16 “I hate d,” says the Lord God
Mt 19:3 for a man to d his wife for any reason
1Co 7:27 Are you married? Do not seek a d
LOVE (beloved, loved, lovely, lover, lover’s, lovers, loves, loving, loving-kindness)
Jdg 4:16 You hate me! You don’t really l me
LIE (liar, liars lied, lies, lying)
Lev 19:11 Do not l
Nu 23:19 God is not a man that he should l
1Jn 2:21 because no l comes from the truth
Ac 5:4 You have not l to men but to God
END (ends)
Ps 119:112 to the very e
Ps 1:19 such is the e of all who go
Ps 5:4 but in the e she is bitter as gall
Ps 14:13 and joy may e in grief
Ps 16:25 in the e it leads to death
Ps 19:20 and in the e you will be wise
FORGIVE (forgiveness, forgave, forgives, forgiving)
Ge 50:17 I ask you to f your brothers the sins
Ex 10:17 He will not f your rebellion
Isa 15:25 f my sin and come back with me
Col 1:14 in whom we have redemption the f
Eph 4:32 to one another, f each other
SECRET (secrets, secretly)
Dt 29:29 the s things belong
Ps 90:8 our s sins in the light
Pr 21:14 a gift given in s soothes anger
Jer 23:24 Can anyone hide in s places?
Mk 4:11 the s of the kingdom
Php 4:12 I have learned the s
—Cynthia Sample
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Cynthia Sample received a MFA in Fiction from Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2005. Her stories have appeared in Between the Lines, the Wichita Falls Literary & Arts Journal and Love After 70. She has work forthcoming in The Summerset Literary Review and Sleet. In 2007, she was one of four Emerging Writers to present her work at the WordSpace Literary Festival in Dallas, Texas, where she is a lifelong resident.