"What Never Happened With Ahmed"

The theme of the January issue of Pilcrow & Dagger is "do-over" and I was reminded of a friendship I turned down in my Peace Corps community. What might have happened if I had let things develop with my student's Uncle Ahmed? I'll never know. (I'm not even sure that was his name!)

Seated one spot away on my left was one of their brothers, a slim, compact young man, not too tall, with short dark hair, neat and clean-shaven. He reached around his sister to shake my hand. “My name’s Ahmed. I’ve just come back from university in England.”

“Let me guess. You were in York.”

Ahmed was speechless for a moment. “How did you know?”

“You have the most perfect, unmistakable York accent I’ve ever heard from a non-native speaker.” Even after studying abroad in England for a year, it was the only English accent I recognized.

Find a sneak peek here, and get the whole story from Pilcrow & Dagger.

I found this publishing opportunity through the Duotrope Weekly Wire email.