“Your mom is perfect,” they say. Successful career, volunteers at school, gets along with everyone. Shuttles me to soccer practice, piano recitals, and Model UN. Monitors screen time, dictates my schedule, chooses my friends. Tells me: work hard, failure is not an option, eat healthy, make her proud. Demands perfection.
J. Hess enjoys traveling, reading, and writing flash fiction and creative nonfiction.
It’s a sweet and sour silent night. Like New York Jews, we follow wonton stars. Three Kings sing Blue Christmas on the open mic. Waiters shepherd crispy ducks onto paper tablecloths. Soon there’ll be a baby born, but tonight your eyes are neon signs leading me out of the dark.
Joe Pearson is a British fiction writer living in Paris. He always leaves dim sum for Santa. You can find more of his writing at joepearsonwriter.com.
The year after Pap-Pap died on Christmas, Dad’s ceramic holiday village expands from under the tree to along the wall. The next year, he peoples and houses the coffee table and end tables. The next, we eat off trays in the living room. I picture Pap-Pap walking the tiny streets.
Nicholas De Marino is a published crackpot. More at nicholasdemarino.blogspot.com.
The story of the week for December 8 to 12 is…
Holiday cards, she thinks icily… by Joanna Norland
and
Feud by Adrian L. Cook
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a human being of legal age, acceptable mental well-being, good physical shape, in possession of a few relatives and a living space with the potential to accommodate a food bowl, a toilet, and a scratching post, must be in want of a cat.
Olena Zheldak was born on November 13, 1981, in Ukraine. After February 24, 2022, having personally survived Russia’s full-scale invasion, she wrote and self-published an autobiographical wartime narrative, “From Irpin with L̶o̶v̶e̶ Pain,” and collaborated with the British author Paul White by writing a lead story for his new edition of “Life in the War Zone.” In 2025, her essay, “Life Interrupted. Resumed. Ended.” was published in the 195 Essays Project by 2084.
Cheers erupted behind us as we walked home. People flooded the streets, like birds soaring out of a toppled cage.
My mother flew with them then, singing songs of rebellion and hope.
Years later, she still sings the same songs, but fainter, like a caged songbird mourning the open sky.
Sarah Nassar is a young writer from Egypt trying to figure out adult life (she just graduated) and write at the same time. Her work has been previously published on 50-Word Stories, Spillwords.com and Literary Cocktail Magazine.
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.
I wake again in the night and you’re not here. Get up and read a bit, take some aspirin, stretch, and go back to bed. I change positions and turn the pillow over for the cool side and change positions again. Dreams evade me and still you are not here.
After decades of nattering on about moving abroad, Ed Walker finally retired and is currently living in Catalunya, Spain. His work can be found in 50-Word Stories, The Arcanist, Blink-Ink and elsewhere.
“You said you’d do it. Do it!” Patty demanded.
First, Tanner stared at the mallard’s smooth, storm cloud body as the buoyant bird moved peacefully atop the stream. Then at its metallic green head – too exotic for grey Nova Scotia.
Patty offered the rock with urgency and repeated, “Do it!”
Joe Couture is a writer living in rural Nova Scotia. He writes for his health. If you want to connect with him, try here: @rjcouture.bsky.social.
Poor taste? Actually, the flavor of our billionaire sirloin is quite rich. Served with too much butter and a greedy pinch of salt.
Inhumane? All our billionaires are free-range, able to travel where they please in private jets. None of them pay taxes, lest the meat turn gamey.
Bon appetit.
Parker Davis is a non-billionaire and a proponent for ethical agriculture. He feels particularly vicious when hungry.