Cigarette Break

by Irma Fritz

“Cigarette Break” is the first in a series of short stories about death. C.J. and Crystal seem to be a typical young couple vacationing with their three small children. If it were not for the fact that C.J. suffers from PTSD. He’s an American soldier on leave after three tours of duty in Iraq and with orders to deploy to Afghanistan. When they cross the border into Canada, C.J. says he’d rather kill himself than go back. The family stops at a remote B & B where they’re the only guests. Crystal decides it's an idyllic place for the kids. For C.J. it's the place where he plots his suicide. What happens when he decides he can’t leave her behind?

27 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 28, 2012

About the author

Irma Fritz grew up in a German town whose name you wouldn’t be able to pronounce. She studied writing at California State University at Los Angeles and worked at Hollywood PR agencies. As a young press agent, she witnessed James Stewart’s grand entrance on an elephant at an L.A. Zoo fundraiser; shared an Orange Julius with Neil Diamond at a Hollywood carwash, and turned down Alex Trebek’s dinner invitation.

Irma bicycled across the U.S. and lived in the Canadian bush country. Her serendipitous life journey took her to Seattle where a friend tricked her into a date with the handsome, young man who became her husband.

A writer of novels and short stories, Irma’s latest novel, “When There Was No Moon,” won first place in the Pacific Northwest Writers Association Unpublished Literary Novel Contest and Nancy Pearl Finalist Best Book Literary or Mainstream.