The story of the week for April 6 to 10 is…
Survived by a Daughter by Casey Laine
CAROL ANNE HARVEY: Backyard Jazz
Cardinals chirping, red-winged blackbirds trilling from the woods.
Percussionist woodpecker beats a syncopated rhythm from behind a leafless oak.
Cackling spring peepers, hidden in vernal ponds, improvise a backup chorus.
High above, hawk screeches a solo.
Self-isolating on my deck, I’m grateful for nature’s elusive musicians
creating a comforting concert.
Carol Anne Harvey finds comfort in music, writing, reading, and talking with family and friends during her solitary confinement in Massachusetts.
MARJAN SIERHUIS: Coronavirus Resolutions
Darn the holes in the socks
Touch up grey hair roots
Get up close and personal with some favorite cooking shows
Organize the kitchen cupboards
Attack the dust bunnies that reside under the bed
Binge read every single story published on 50-Word Stories
Or sit around and do absolutely nothing
Marjan Sierhuis enjoys reading and writing flash fiction. Follow @MarjanSierhuis
JOHN YOUNG: Liver, Bacon, and Onions
Hastening home through light drizzle and the deep chill of a January evening, Len pauses before his front door, repelled as always by the dark emptiness of the place.
Tonight, he will cook liver, bacon, and onions.
In the silence the aroma will linger, swaddling gentle memories of earlier times.
John Young is an old chap living in St Andrews, Scotland.
PERRY McDAID: Meeting Adjourned
Salamander called the Legged Reptile Party Conference to order with a wave of a half-regrown forelimb.
“Voiccceee your grievances.”
Chameleon rolled one eye at the emphasis.
“We’re tired of humans’ derogatory use of our names ,” Gecko piped.
“True,” Komodo agreed around a mouthful.
Salamander noted the depleted ranks. “Er…”
Absorbing the Donegal hills from distance only now, Perry McDaid’s creativity subsists on nature’s palette and scents. Unfortunately this sometimes involves silage.
JOHNNY LOWE: What’s the Theme?
“Pride goeth before the fall.”
“Excellent,” the professor said. “Ms. West is correct. That is—in essence—the theme of Melville’s novel.”
Another student snorted.
“Mr. Jones?”
“Sorry, sir. It’s just…that’s too artsy-fartsy.”
“Really. Then what do you say the theme is in Moby Dick?”
“Never lean on the railing.”
Johnny Lowe has copyedited books for a university press. He recently edited an anthology of short stories titled What Would Elvis Think? Mississippi Stories. Lowe has also lettered comic books and dabbled in ventriloquism.
STORY OF THE MONTH: March 2020
The Story of the Month is chosen from the Story of the Week winners announced from the past month.
The finalists for March were:
Wrong Room by Bec Lewis
Holes by Alison Carroll
Winter’s Child by Casey Laine
Offering by Melody Leming-Wilson
Aging by Vernae Coffee
The winner of the March 2020 Story of the Month, and the $10 prize, is…
Holes
My favourite thing about Alison’s story is how understated and indirect it is, which renders the emotions into something more abstract, difficult to grab onto. I imagine that’s what this level of grief can sometimes feel like, abstract and indirect with moments of sudden, intense clarity that eventually fade back into the abstract.
CHITRA GOPALAKRISHNAN: Act One, Scene One
Prologue: My day begins only when he arrives.
Act One, Scene One: He arrives and sits on the opposite side of the table in class. My clock begins to tick.
Act Two, Scene One: He smiles across the table at my best friend.
Epilogue: My soul shrivels. My clock stops.
Chitra Gopalakrishnan is a journalist by training, a social development consultant by profession and a creative writer by choice.
MATTHEW EICHENLAUB: Signals Intelligence
On the radio recently, a doctor said, “COVID-19 is a wimp; it can’t live long in the air.”
But radio waves do; they pass right through like it’s not even there
and propagate like ocean waves,
heavy and salty with memories of sunlight
or wishes for things long since gone.
Matthew Eichenlaub spends his quarantine days contemplating a lake in Maine from his kitchen table, yet despite his good fortune, he longs for the good ole days. When he could linger in the long juice and soda aisle of Hannaford Supermarket, and read the many different cranberry juice labels.
DON NIGRONI: Driveling and Dribbling
“The Governor said our next election will be an all-mail election,” the wife said.
“But that would be illegal,” her husband replied.
“Why?”
“Because of the 19th Amendment.”
“What was the 19th Amendment?”
“It granted females the right to vote, so actually you can’t have an all-male election ever again.”
Don Nigroni studied economics at Saint Joseph’s University and philosophy at Notre Dame but now cuts invasive vines at the Heinz National Wildlife Refuge.