We used to bike to the canal, improv outrageous cat symphonies. Wind rippling the water, we kept time with shadows creeping up walls.

Now we meet on screens the size of our hands. Exchange thumbs, hearts, yawns.

“Meet me at the canal?” I text.

Purring, you bat away my phone.

Michelle Wilson’s words have appeared in Wigleaf, Gooseberry Pie Lit, The Daily Drunk, Bending Genres, A Thin Slice of Anxiety, Rejection Letters, Maudlin House, Litro Magazine, 50-Word Stories, and Flash Fiction Magazine, among others. Her story ‘Fish Brain’ was nominated for Best of the Net 2022. She lives with her partner in Washington, DC. Read more of her work at michellekwilson.wordpress.com.