scan·dal
/skandl/
noun
an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage.
“a bribery scandal involving one of his key supporters”
synonyms: (outrageous) wrongdoing, impropriety, misconduct, immoral behavior, unethical behavior, discreditable behavior, outrageous behavior.
the outrage or anger caused by a scandalous action or event.
“divorce was cause for scandal on the island”
synonyms: shame, dishonor, disgrace, disrepute, discredit, infamy, ignominy, embarrassment.
rumor or malicious gossip about scandalous events or actions.
“I know that you would want no scandal attached to her name”
synonyms: malicious gossip, malicious rumor(s), slander, libel, calumny, defamation, aspersions, muckraking, scandalmongering, smear campaign; informal dirt
Welcome to the Scandal Issue!
In Susan Woodring’s short story “Reason Number 4,900,012 Why Brittany Everette Smith Has to Die,” a woman recounts a few of the reasons she wishes her best friend dead: “We became best friends, somehow. Ours was the kind of friendship girls who have known each other since kindergarten have, full of affection and fear. Like everything else, our friendship was tinged with self-loathing. We kept telling each other, no, you aren’t fat. And yes, that boy likes you.”
In Damyanti Biswas’s flash fiction “nemɪŋ,” a lover leaves his name in a woman’s pillowcase during a one-night stand, attempts to possess her, but ultimately “his name in her pillowcase crumbled, and bits of paper clung to the pillow. They did not reach her—not when she snuggled into it alone, warm under the sheets, nor when another head joined hers. The syllables of his name broke down into phonemes, and disappeared.”
In Katie Burgess’s flash fiction “Lawn of the Year,” a girl and her mother create an imaginary life, trespassing in and around a neighbor’s house when they’re out: “Soon, whenever the Martins left for church or the girls’ ballet recitals, Mom would break out the digital camera she’d won from a PTA raffle. I got into the spirit of it, too, begging her to take my picture with the Martins’ cat, Pud, whom I renamed Alexandra.”
In Steve Vermillion’s short story “Like Nothing Happened,” a man accidentally hits a kid with his car and keeps driving: “I’m no monster. I have feelings just like the next guy, but I don’t need that kind of trouble: a crowd and cops, jail. Besides, if it really was a kid I hit, I wonder why this kid was running out into the middle of the street late at night, no street light, no crosswalk, no warning. I don’t see why a kid who should have been at home is suddenly my responsibility. I mean, where were his parents?”
In A. Riding’s flash fiction “Having Game,” a man devises a novel strategy for getting dates: “Later, while you were having sex, he would suddenly ask, ‘Are you here with me, cause you seem like you are a long way away. Are you visualizing what happened to me as a baby? When I was raped.’ He would do this, even if you had not crooned, ‘Baby, baby,’ by mistake.”
Photo by AK Rockefeller
