Parting is such sweet sorrow. Especially when it’s a parting with a story I’m fond of, but the editors aren’t.

The unwieldily titled What happened while Don was watching the game collected its 8th rejection this week*, from Sniplits this time. Sniplits mastermind and editor Anne Stuessy seemed to take over a year to get to the story, but when I queried, it turned out that the story had never managed the electronic journey across the Atlantic. Even so, she felt so bad she promised to read—and did read—the story as soon as I resent it, and sweetened the pill of rejection by promising booze at some hypothetical future Con we both attend.

Seeing as how the critique session of WhwDwwtg at the Villa Diodati workshop was one of the more embarrassing 20-minute-periods of my life, I consider myself well-payed with this booze-for-rejection deal. I am now saying goodbye to Don, his temperamental wife, and their neglected baby son, and sending the story into retirement, with a set of false teeth and a large-lettered bridge manual.

* Not the highest number of rejections of one of my stories, not by a long shot: Prisoner of war was finally accepted by Space and Time Magazine after 13 rejections, and Queen of diamonds is at 15 and still doing the rounds.