In late 2012, I wrote "A Lifetime Ago" for one of Janet Reid's 100-word contests. A few days later, I learned I won. Since it's 100 words, I think I can reprint it here.
The bonds we forged over a lifetime of
summers...
Playing pirate with swords fashioned
from Christmas wrapping paper rolls.
Seeking asylum from our sisters in your
treehouse (accessible only by a really cool, real rope ratline
fashioned by your dad).
Finding a family of possums, lodgers
under my front porch.
Games of stickball in the street.
Discovering what the girls in our class
would look like in a few years, courtesy of my big brother’s
Playboy collection.
All of that came unraveling in one
horrible second when you yelled, “Police! Put up your hands,
Bobby!”
And I drew first.
A few months after that, I learned that Medusa's Laugh Press was looking for flash fiction for a micro book. (These are the same folks who printed my poem "The Daily Caffeine Stream" as part of a 3-D poetry book.) So I submitted "A Lifetime Ago." And it was accepted. It's taken a while, but the book is out.
Holding your book is your hands is like holding your baby. It never gets old.
So good. Brilliant tale and great to see it in print.
ReplyDelete