Three’s Company by Steven Lemprière
from Seven Deadly Sins: a PUNK NOIR Magazine series
Sophie took the last of her husband from the freezer.
A muscle that should, like other hard-working cuts of flesh, become mouth-wateringly tender when slowly braised.
The seven-year threshold since Oliver’s disappearance had rolled over, and with no activity on his part, the High Court had declared him dead. It was time to move on, and tonight, it gave Sophie the opportunity to kill a second bird with the same stone.
She’d invited Lettie, her younger, free-spirited, and as she once heard her mother say, prettier sister, to celebrate.
“Delicious,” Lettie exclaimed, as she dug in. “What meat is this?”
“Pizzle.”
“Never heard of it.”
“It’s a type of offal.”
Lettie grimaced.
“I remember our father loved variety meats when we were children, or so mother led us to believe. Although, looking back, I’d say the limitations of his pay packet were behind its regular appearance at our dinner table.”
“Don’t remind me. It was like chewing leather, but this…This is so tender.”
“Good. I had a feeling you’d like it. I wondered if it might remind you of something you’ve tasted before.”
“Really? Can’t think what.”
“No. I felt sure you would. Maybe it will come to you.”
This story appears as part of Seven Deadly Sins, a PUNK NOIR Magazine series, originally published July 2025.
Bio
Steven Lemprière’s flash has appeared or is forthcoming in Flash Fiction Magazine, The Drabble, Friday Flash Fiction, 50-Word Stories and 50 Give or Take. He undertook a creative writing course while a patient at an Irish psychiatric hospital, and shortly after his discharge, found himself shortlisted for the New Writers Prize at the Cúirt International Festival of Literature. Originally from London, he now lives between the West Coast of Ireland and South-West France.
PUNK NOIR, the online literary and arts magazine that looks at the world at its most askew, casting a bloodshot eye over the written word, film, music, television and more.
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OK, that made me laugh ... black humor at its best.