by Donald A. Ranard

            I’m a member of Triple A, I told the woman behind the counter. Do you give discounts to Triple A members?
            The color drained from her face. Triple A?
            Yes. I took my Triple A card out of my wallet and showed it to her.
            She looked at the card. American Automobile Association, she read slowly.
            Yes. Do you know it?
            She shook her head.
            Later I told an Argentine acquaintance about the strange exchange. That was how I learned that during the right-wing dictatorship, Triple A—Alianza Anticommunista Argentina—was a death squad that had murdered thousands of suspected leftists.

© Donald A. Ranard

Donald A. Ranard’s writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, New World Writing Quarterly, The Best Travel Writing, and many other publications. His flash fiction story “5/25/22” was chosen by Wigleaf as one of 2022’s top 50 Very Short Fictions, and his prize-winning play, ELBOW. APPLE. CARPET. SADDLE. BUBBLE., was recently performed by Veterans Repertory Theater in Cornwall, New York. Before settling in Arlington, VA, he lived and worked for many years in Asia, Europe, and Latin America.