Tag Archives: parenthood

TOM WILD: The Greatest Gift

Submissions, Touching, ,

Its arrival is fireworks—anticipated, unexpected, impossible to ignore. Trepidation collapses into joy. In an instant, life fractures and reforms. The warning “your life will never be the same” ceases to be prophecy, becoming fact, as the bundle in your arms wraps its small hand around your finger for the first time.

Tom lives with his young family in New Zealand and works as a primary school teacher. He has had a passion for stories ever since learning to walk and is currently working on a series of fantasy novels.

SEBASTIAN FUNARI: January 1st

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Today I became a father.

At the hospital, I spent hours sitting, not knowing where to put my hands. I observed my son sleeping. At the same time, the new year was beginning.

I believe life restarts like this: silence, with fatigue, fear, and desire to do well, today on.

Sebastian Funari is an Italian author who writes short stories for those with little time but who don’t want to stop reading. Simple texts, inspired by everyday life and personal experiences, strange or ordinary.

MICHELLE DINNICK: Back and Forth

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , , , , ,

“Only what I can put in my backpack.”

They ask for their Lego.

I hang a bag from each handle bar… Throws my balance off a little, but I can manage.
I can only make a few more trips before I have to make dinner.
Thank goodness it’s not far.

Michelle Dinnick really enjoys writing micro-fiction, often inspired by personal experience. Sometimes she writes longer pieces as well. She has been published in the Globe and Mail, and Chicken Soup for the Soul; and won several writing and poetry awards. You can find her online at: fiftywordstories.com, commuterlit.com, and femininecollective.com.

MELANIE WINKLOSKY: Moving Day

Submissions, Touching, , ,

She pulled the door closed, trying to ignore the dirty hallway and broken railing. She closed her eyes, straining to hear her daughter, somehow a woman, settling into her first apartment. She walked gingerly down the stairs, her legs and arms aching from carrying. Her heart aching from letting go.

Melanie Winklosky is a fiction writer trapped in a grant writer’s body. Her work can be found in McSweeney’s, and was named a finalist in the 2023 Boston in 100 Words contest and a 2023 finalist in NYC Midnight’s Flash Fiction Challenge. She lives in Swampscott, Massachusetts.

MELANIE WINKLOSKY: Photographs

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Her children, somehow adults, took hundreds of vacation photos, posting daily. Curating an online life didn’t appeal to her.

Instead, she walked behind them, always, watching their hair, hearing their laughter, tucking the moment safely into her memory, where she could return and return when they left again in September.

Melanie Winklosky is a fiction writer trapped in a grant writer’s body. Her work can be found in McSweeney’s, and was named a finalist in the 2023 Boston in 100 Words contest and a 2023 finalist in NYC Midnight’s Flash Fiction Challenge. She lives in Swampscott, Massachusetts.

JENNIFER BUSCH: Special

Adventure, Submissions, ,

What a girl! Chuckling, he picked up another shoe thrown impressively far. Everyone thinks their child’s special, but how could you not marvel at Hannah’s strength and speed, her spirit? It was practically superhuman.

Straightening up, his eye was caught by an ethereal glow. And inside it, his daughter, levitating.

Jennifer Busch ain’t afraid of no ghost.

BELINDA SAVILLE: Heavenly Creature

Poetry, Submissions, Touching, , , ,

Prepare yourself, warn the books and the midwives; they will not look as you expect.
My body breaks.
Ours cries, harmonious.
Your eyes see me for the first time.
And you, pulled from my dreams and painted true.
Breathtaking.
Resplendent.
My Sun.
I glow, blessed to bask in your light.

Belinda’s daughter/muse/editor asked why she always writes sad stories. So she wrote something happy, for her, with love. 16 years after their eyes first met, she remains the most beautiful thing Belinda has ever seen.

JARED M BENTLEY: Nothing Left to Give

Amusing, Submissions, Touching, , ,

Two robots fell madly in love, made possible by their companionship modulators degrading. They wanted a child, so they took mechanisms from each of their bodies and built a Smallbot. Each year, they added more pieces. Over time they gave their child everything, down to their last nut and bolt.

This is Jared’s second 50-word story. He is not a robot parent… or is he?

BILLIE-LEIGH BURNS: Snails Are Just Slugs With the World on Their Shoulders

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

A snail slicks up the wall, passes the hose-tap after morning coffee, reaches the sill as I grasp seconds of solitude. After the toddler storm of bedtime, I watch it scale the window.

With a flick, my husband resets its progress, announcing, “You forgot the laundry.”

It starts over tomorrow.

Billie-Leigh Burns is a writer from Liverpool. Her short stories and flash fiction have been published by Fictionette and Naked Cat Lit Magazine. She is currently working on a novel set in a dystopian future.

LESLEY BUNGAY: She sleeps lightly

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

For years she lay awake, listening for the return of fledglings burning the candle late. The turn of a key, the creak of the stair. Needing to know they were home safe before her own eyes could rest. Now flown, their phantom clicks and shadow steps still haunt her slumber.

Lesley also has short fiction published online at 101 Words, Paragraph Planet and Wensum Lit, as well as a number of competition anthologies. She grew up in the North East and now lives in Hampshire.