Robert Laughlin lives in Chico, California. He is the founder of the Micro Award, the first annual competition
for previously published flash fiction. Two of his short stories are Million Writers Award Notable Stories, and his novel, Vow of Silence, was favorably reviewed by Publishers Weekly. His Web site is at www.pw.org/content/robert_laughlin.
The parade moved on, but not the elephant that collapsed in the city’s busiest intersection. People in their stalled cars watched a city truck arrive. The city men planted a sign in the asphalt: