Category Archives: Touching

MICHELLE DINNICK: Happy Valentine’s Day

Amusing, Submissions, Touching, , , , , ,

I don’t know what possessed me to do it.

I was tired, feverish, losing my voice. That night, I’d had the audacity to ask for help with the boys at bedtime.

His words stung; I was very angry.

But I was smiling as I swished his toothbrush in the toilet.

Michelle is an award-winning author and poet. She is a contributor in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Spirit of Canada, and was a quarter finalist in the 2017 ScreenCraft Short Screenplay contest. Her writing has appeared in The Globe and Mail (one of Canada’s National newspapers) and a number of local magazines and newspapers including The Briar Crier, Total Sports, Voice of the Farmer, Arts Talk and Focus 50 Plus. Her short story “Lightning Strikers” (also featured on Commuter Lit) was made into a series in the Focus 50 + Newspaper because fans asked for more! In 2018, Michelle won the Ontario Writers Conference Story Starter Contest in two categories. You can find her online at commuterlit.com, fiftywordstories.com, femininecollective.com, michelledinnick.com, and @MichelleDinnick.

LISA CHAMBERS: A Love Story

Submissions, Touching, ,

April loved Dylan from the moment she first saw him. His blue eyes pierced her soul. She knew there could be no other.

Crouching down, she beckoned to him. Dylan, husky in breed and build, ran into her waiting arms.

Love born in a shelter, but exactly who rescued whom?

Lisa Chambers is a Texas girl who loves words.

CANDACE KUBINEC: Passing a Window Late at Night

Artistic, Submissions, Touching, , ,

Our eyes met through the glass, a chance that may never come again.
For one short moment we connected. Then just as quickly, she was gone—a graceful, young fawn.
I look for her on clear nights and wonder if she looks for me while eating apples under my tree.

Candace Kubinec posts her stories at storydribbles.wordpress.com and her poetry at rhymeswithbug.com.

CHARLOTTE McELROY: Therapy for Free

Amusing, Submissions, Touching, , , ,

Fifty-word stories force you to find the heart of communication.

My therapist was less than pleased when I explained to him I had found my cure using this process.

It took him fewer than fifty words to present me with his final bill for seventy-five dollars.

Charlotte has been writing most of her life. Fifty-Word Stories gave her the courage to submit her work.

ALLISON XU: Just Another Day

Submissions, Touching, ,

“Welcome to our adoption center,” Mr. Blake ushers people inside.

Time to please them. Maya barks softly. Kenny shakes his tail. Misty shows her pleading face. I know these tricks, but my limp hind leg is too obvious.

Maya is adopted. To me, it’s just another day in my kennel.

Allison Xu is a 7th-grade student and a book review blogger. Read more of her work at brightbookreaders.com.

MARY PENNER: Aspirations

Poetry, Submissions, Touching, , , , ,

Do you ever aspire
To set the world on fire
I do

To unearth a magic potion
To dare and spring into action
I do

To save all the children
Protect them from villains
I do

But I know I can’t
So I’ll do what I can
To protect two

Mary has written poetry from the age of ten. She enjoys writing poems and short stories of human interest.

BOB THURBER: End of the Hike

Submissions, Touching, , ,

At the edge of the woodlands we came upon a group in a field.

We took turns spying with the binoculars. No one said anything.

When it was my turn I saw the casket was unusually small.

There were three women and any of them could have been the mother.

Bob Thurber is the author of “Paperboy: A Dysfunctional Novel” and two collections of stories. A celebrated master of Flash and Micro Fiction, his work has appeared in 60 anthologies, received dozens of awards, and been used in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts where, though legally blind, he continues to write every day. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.

ROY GOMEZ: Toms

Submissions, Top Stories, Touching, , , , ,

The son feeds the cat, the father too, but they never speak with one another.

When they meet at the kitchen door, where the tom’s bowls sit, they’ll turn and walk away.

This is all I’ve got, each thinks in his way, the feeding of a stray and hungry cat.

Roy Gomez lives with his wife Cleo (and their pets) on a Texas hillside overlooking Medina Lake, directly below a starry Milky Way.

JO WITHERS: Jam

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, Touching

After the diagnosis, mother spent the summer making jam. Gelatinous globules spattered kitchen surfaces while friends and family gathered, chatting, laughing, boiling, sugaring, and preserving memories.

When we married in spring, I laced her legacy through each layer of our cake.

As I sliced it, I could smell her smile.

Jo Withers writes poetry, flash, and shorts from her home in South Australia. She is also author of the middle-grade science-fiction adventure “5 Simple Steps to Saving Planet Earth.”

MARIE A BAILEY: The Astronomer’s Wife

Submissions, Touching, , ,

You looked up into the night sky. Saw brilliant stars, expanding universe, mysterious galaxies, endless time. You looked down into my eyes. Saw faint light, boundaries of my soul, simpleness of my mind, the finity of my existence.

I linger beyond the border of light and dark, a black hole.

Marie A Bailey lives in the southeastern U.S. with a supportive husband and three cats. She has been published in The Disappointed Housewife as well as Florida’s Emerging Writers, An Anthology and America’s Emerging Writers, An Anthology of Fiction, Volume I, both by Z Publishing House. She blogs about writing, travel, knitting and cats at 1writeway.com.