Her children, somehow adults, took hundreds of vacation photos, posting daily. Curating an online life didn’t appeal to her.

Instead, she walked behind them, always, watching their hair, hearing their laughter, tucking the moment safely into her memory, where she could return and return when they left again in September.

Melanie Winklosky is a fiction writer trapped in a grant writer’s body. Her work can be found in McSweeney’s, and was named a finalist in the 2023 Boston in 100 Words contest and a 2023 finalist in NYC Midnight’s Flash Fiction Challenge. She lives in Swampscott, Massachusetts.