Category Archives: Touching

MIRIAM STEIN: Never in My Wildest Dreams

Submissions, Touching, , , ,

One husband
One son
One daughter-in-law
One granddaughter, married
Three great-grandchildren
One grandson married
One grandson married
One granddaughter married
Five grandchildren too young to marry
Hug, hugs, hugs
Talk, talk, talk
Laundry, laundry, laundry
Chicken, potatoes, broccoli
Apples, pears, oranges
Long table
Lots of chairs
I, an only child

Miriam Stein is a social worker, advocacy consultant, and author of Make Your Voice Matter With Lawmakers: No Experience Necessary. Her writings have appeared in local and national publications, including 50wordstories.com. See more at makeyourvoicematter.com.

MIKE SHIELDS: Sisters

Submissions, Touching, , , ,

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.

MARC SIMON: Unfulfilled

Artistic, Submissions, Touching, , , ,

Sunday mornings, father and daughter walked hand-in-hand to the Marienplatz for the freshest cinnamon rolls. She turned cartwheels on the way home, amber curls dangling freely. On her ninth birthday, she played Eine Kleine Nachtmusik for her piano recital, wearing the velvet jumper her father had tailored. Then came Kristallnacht.

Marc Simon’s short fiction has appeared in over fifteen literary magazines. Five of his one-act plays have been winners in new works contests. His debut novel, The Leap Year Boy, was published in December 2012. His novella, According to Isaac, is now published on Amazon.com. See more at marcsimonwriter.com.

NICK DI CARLO: Hello, Nice Lady

Amusing, Submissions, Touching, , , , ,

Folks tell me you take in strays—one-eyed cat, three-legged dog, baby squirrel. So, when I see you leave the park, I follow. Struggle to keep up. Ain’t no spring chicken no more. And the limp’s real.

At last—reaching your back door, I drop onto your stoop.

Woof?

Meeeoooow?

Nick Di Carlo has been knocking about the planet for seven decades and a bit. He’s taught writing and literature in universities and colleges on both east and west coasts as well leading wilderness writing workshops from the Grand Canyon to the Grand Tetons. These days, he encourages everyone over age fifty to write stories.

This story was first publish on Sudden Flash.

MAKENZIE MATTHEWS-BEARD: Grammy

Submissions, Touching, , , , ,

I imagined she’d show up one day. I just didn’t think she’d be wearing a sparkly dress and a silver tiara. She danced in the waves of my sleeping brain, now unbounded by those who’d hurt her on Earth, and reminded me that in the end, your spirit always wins.

Makenzie Matthews-Beard is a second-year college student at The University of North Carolina Wilmington. She loves incorporating nature, nostalgia, and womanhood into mediums like poetry, prose, photography, and music.

JAMES WHITMAN: Parenting on the Stairs

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Nobody tells you how much parenting you’ll do on stairs. (And, me, scared of heights.) From tying shoelaces, to exploring Souter Lighthouse, to throwing socks at one another.

Now I sit on the stairs outside your room, waiting for the WhatsApp message that’ll say you’re not coming over this weekend.

James Whitman writes from Sunderland. There are twenty-six stairs in his home, and he has parented on every single one of them.

ELLEN TOWNSEND: New Semester

Artistic, Submissions, Touching, , , ,

Same bus route to college; nothing had changed. New cargo jeans, angled bob haircut, laptop rucksack; ready for the semester.

At home, a single wineglass by the sink; the garage was full of old yearbooks, bikes.

Heavy backpacks jostled; she studied her course schedule: same college as sixty-five years before.

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.

NICK YOUNG: The Imprint of Time

Submissions, Touching, , , ,

It was an autumn afternoon in the park. A gust of chill wind and she turned my way, snugging the collar of her jacket, brushing an errant auburn lock from her forehead, smiling. It was only a fleeting moment; and yet, forty years on, it lingers as vividly as yesterday.

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 at @youngnick.bsky.social. He lives outside Chicago.

RA BURLINGHAM: First Date

Submissions, Touching, , , , ,

First dates are tough. He hated it took so long, but war has its own rules. Her eyes were so blue. Her hair like a spider’s web, but golden like hay. Face time was so distant. Finally, holding her tight. She felt so right. This would be forever. “Hello, daughter.”

R.A. Burlingham has been writing everything from advertising copy to screenplays for over 40 years.  He is a filmmaker, digital media and social studies teacher and editor of the book, Worlds Beyond My Window: The Life and Works of Gertrude McCarty Smith.

MICHAELE JORDAN: Teamwork

Submissions, Touching, , , ,

My cat sat on the corner of my desk and watched me type. Every day for twelve years. Sometimes she’d tap my keyboard to correct my spelling. Today she wasn’t there. So I put a picture of her there instead. But the picture doesn’t spell any better than I do.

Michaele Jordan is the author of Mirror Maze. See more at michaelejordan.com.