“I 35” was published in Phoenix Photo & Fiction vol. 1, December, 2014.  http://waxpoetryart.com/phoenix/issues/001/johnbiggs.html

“I 35” Opening paragraphs:

“Them red ants are the worst. There’s millions of them, like the Red Army that gobbled up half of Europe back in the war.” Dad pointed his pipe stem at the line of ants marching through my my green plastic soldiers, looking for bits of Lorna Doone cookie I dropped on the World War II battlefield in our living room.

Baby Doll growled at them from a distance. She barked when I pinched a commie ant between my thumb and finger and dropped her on her comrades. They tore the body into thirds and carried them away.

“I tell you, Jackie, it’ll be the Russians in the next big war,” he said. “Atom bombs exploding over New York City and Tulsa. Can’t hide from radiation in a foxhole niether.”

Mom eased down on the floor beside me. She told Dad to, “Hush. You’ll scare the boy.”  She blew a puff of air onto the soldiers, scattering the crumbs and the ants, tipping green men over like they’d been shot by a German sniper.

Dad chewed on his pipe stem and watched the Indian Chief test pattern on Magnavox. He always turned the TV on as soon as he woke up, even though programs didn’t come on until eight o’clock on Saturday morning. If a new war got started, he wanted to find out before the world caught on fire.

You can read “I 35” free of charge here.