The story of the week for December 1 to 5 is…
Downstairs at the Community Centre by Ellen Townsend
All posts by Tim
DAN HEMMERLIN: Most Valuable Lie
An oil executive lectured at a geology seminar and gifted each student a novelty cup. His speech proclaimed that hydrocarbons were a more valuable resource than water, and that those who object could find a free drinking fountain right outside. Before he finished, the entire audience had turned to plastic.
Dan lives with his wife in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. He finds fulfillment in writing stories both short and long.
ELLEN TOWNSEND: Downstairs at the Community Centre
The salsa class had bass music thumping, floor vibrating, dancers spinning, skirts swirling, and sweat glistening, but upstairs, in the committee meeting, it was austere. Where clock ticks were amplified, the treasurer led, the chairperson’s seat empty.
Downstairs, Lorraine mopped her brow. The wrong room. An epiphany, daring something new.
Ellen Townsend is an art teacher and writer. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Flash Fiction Magazine, Friday Flash Fiction, 50-Word Stories and others.
MIKE SHIELDS: Sisters
We loved playing with the dolls Mother had personalized with our names, Anna and Constance, stitched on the skirts after the doctor told her he heard multiple heart beats.
When Mother passed, Anna and I were going through her belongings when Anna held up a third doll. “Who’s Beatrice?”
Mike Shields is a writer, speaker, observer and reasonably good listener.
MIKE KEYSER: Five Steps to Thursday
They announced: “The world ends on Thursday.”
In denial, we raged against shadowed figures with secret agendas.
Angry streets battered abandoned stone monoliths of authority.
Bargains offered to our gods and devils; contracts returned unsigned.
Depression discarded our fairies and magical endings.
With fate accepted, in peace, our stars faded.
Mike Keyser has survived myriad dystopian futures from the safe distance of speculative fiction.
CAROL HUEBSCH REEVES: For My Grandson With Love
The leaves have fallen—the holidays approach. This once joyous season threatens to overwhelm your fragile soul. Too soon to let go, or welcome the magic comfort of time, the broken heart searches blindly for a new self—a new dream. Have faith. The future is just outside, waiting quietly.
Carol Huebsch Reeves embraces the freedom and creativity of Flash Fiction. Most of her stories speak to life’s joys and challenges. Her work is often found in Flash Fiction Magazine and 50 Word Stories. Her memoir, “All the Little Miracles,” was published in 2022.
JR WALSH: After after
It’s not empty out there. This nowhere road is cluttered with bones. A toppled pile for every star burning in the black sky.
Shed your skin during the long walk of dying. Thoughts will churn into flashing colors.
Drop your bones in a clatter and float alone toward those stars.
JR Walsh is the Online Editor at The Citron Review. He teaches creative writing at SUNY Oswego. Find his writing on itsjrwalsh.com.
PAUL D’ARCY: Brevity
To write short, meaningful stories, one must think big and read wide, but watch and listen for the small things, the tiny moments when the best (and sometimes worst) of what it is to be human is revealed.
Recognize these moments, moments after which everything is different.
Write about that.
Paul D’Arcy tells stories. All real. Most brief. You can read more at pauldrc.com.
NICK YOUNG: A Yuletide Tale
We put up the tree as usual. Strung the lights. Hung the ornaments. Then came the topper—her angel or my snowflake. We discussed. We debated. We fought. In the end it was never about the angel, but I realized that too late, after she took it and moved out.
Nick Young is a retired award-winning CBS News Correspondent. In addition to 50-Word Stories, his writing has appeared in dozens of reviews, journals and anthologies. His first novel, “Deadline,” was published in 2023. He can be found on Bluesky @youngnick.bsky.social. He lives outside Chicago.
TRACY ROYCE: Field Trip Head Count
Old Mr. Walker tallied twelve sixth graders fiddling with phones, seven chatting, two shoving each other, and zero displaying any interest in the ancient artifacts. He sighed. As the teacher’s aide led the class into the next gallery, Mr. Walker remained behind, receding into the shadows among the other relics.
Tracy Royce’s work appears in 101 Words, Blink-Ink, The Dribble Drabble Review, Five Minutes, and elsewhere.