The story of the week for May 8 to 12 is…
Postpartum by Larissa Thomson
All posts by Tim
MICHELLE WILSON: 3AM Ambush
Claws out, they taunt from the kitchen-table office, growl on the nightstand, tower over the bed… tap-tap-tapping their way closer as I squirm beneath the covers, fighting panic.
Only in the triumphant light of day do they lose their fangs: the overdue spreadsheet, the pending invoice, an overflowing laundry hamper…
Michelle Wilson’s words have appeared in A Thin Slice of Anxiety, Rejection Letters, Potato Soup Journal’s Best of 2021 Anthology, Maudlin House, Litro Magazine, The Drabble, 50-Word Stories, Flash Fiction Magazine, and Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood, among others. Her story ‘Fish Brain’ was nominated for Best of the Net 2022. She lives with her partner in Miami Beach, Florida.
ERIN JAMIESON: Preparation
One day before she died, Anna watered peonies and sent a letter to her son. A rare bright November day, crimson leaves scattered on sidewalks. Anna shook her head at a scurrying squirrel. Because, she knew, there were some things—like your body failing—that you could not prepare for.
Erin Jamieson (she/her) holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Miami University. Her writing has been published in over eighty literary magazines, including a Pushcart Prize nomination. She is the author of a poetry collection (Clothesline, NiftyLit, Feb 2023). Her latest poetry chapbook, Fairytales, was published by Bottlecap Press. Follow her on Twitter at @erin_simmer.
JIM LATHAM: Deluge
Thunder rumbles. Lightning spikes. Cold rain pelts trampled grass, floods gutters, grounds kites, and confines boys, girls, and dogs to too-small houses where they press noses to windows and fog double-paned glass with playful hopes and pent-up energy. Eager bodies impatient for drier days fidget as numberless gray drops transform ditches to mirrors.
Jim Latham ditched Alaska’s oilfields in favor of central Mexico. He lives out of two zebra-print suitcases and divides his time between hiking, teaching English as a second language, and writing. He publishes flash every Wednesday on his Substack, Jim’s Shorts, and less frequently around the web.
PETER DUNN: Bonnie & Clyde
He was motley when she found him, wing broken, heart held together with string. She placed him, her hands soft and kind, in a basket lined with old towels; she bought his trust with food and song.
Now he preens himself and chuckles, another pilfered banknote delivered to her dresser.
Peter lives in Brisbane, Australia. His first book was an exploration of hell in Western culture; naturally, his second book was a romantic thriller. Follow him at @petedunnwords.
LARISSA THOMSON: Postpartum
I’m standing on the banks of the Fraser thinking about Chantelle. How the currents took her and the sturgeon found her before we could.
How I’d left for work that day, our baby crying, the rain falling, not realizing she’d already drifted away, long before she waded into the river.
Larissa Thomson is from British Columbia, Canada, and has been published with Blink-Ink, ScribesMicroFiction, Arc Poetry Magazine, Literary Taxidermy, and also, previously, here at 50-Word Stories. She believes in the power of story to not only evoke emotion in the reader, but to, hopefully, offer some comfort in the acknowledgment that we’re not alone in our struggles.
AMANDA LE ROUGETEL: Morning Blues
I drink coffee, eat porridge with apple and almonds for crunch, for noise, while I listen to the dead quiet of a house too big, filled only with memories of mornings alive with conversation, joy and heart. Yours now stilled, routine gets me through, my own not in it anymore.
Amanda Le Rougetel doesn’t mind being short and really enjoys writing short-form stories. She blogs at fiveyearsawriter.blogspot.com and teaches through writingastool.ca.
STORY OF THE MONTH: April 2023
The Story of the Month is chosen from the Story of the Week winners announced from the past month.
The finalists for April were:
Bees by Deborah Trowbridge
Widowmaker by Tim Boiteau
Closing the House by Carol Reeves
A Day at the Beach by Bob Thurber
Party Girls by Liz Mayers
Body by Jonathan Odell
The winner of the April 2023 Story of the Month, and the $10 prize, is…
Widowmaker
BOB THURBER: One Last Memory
He had married, he was sure, a woman of stature and grace, a spirited woman with strong arms and thick legs, a woman able to lift a man effortlessly, hold him straight-armed above her head. While he’d reached haplessly for shooting stars, she’d defended their great love against all enemies.
Bob Thurber is the author of six books. Regarded as a master of Flash and Micro Fiction, his work has appeared in Esquire and other magazines, been anthologized 60 times, received a long list of awards, and been utilized in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.
AMANDA E PHILLIPS: The Sudden Abduction of Theodore Cray
Theodore Cray said they called to him from the sky. He painted their portraits at night. We laughed at him.
“They’re lonely,” he said, hiding the canvases.
We scoured his house and burned the paintings in his kitchen. “It’s over,” we said. “No more.”
And then Theodore Cray was gone.
Amanda E. Phillips writes unsettling stories from Sacramento, California. See more at amandaephillips.net.