Flash Fiction! "A Lifetime Ago"

By Michael Seese

I had not planned on posting today. But yesterday, super-agent Janet Reid offered up another of her contests. Write a 100-word short story, using the words

ratline
asylum
lodger
swords
bond

With the kids home, I didn't think I'd have much time t write. (But then again, it is only 100 words.)

I went to bed last night, contemplating...nothing.

I woke up this morning...nothing.

I thought I would have to sit this one out. But then an idea...

And a little more...

And more....

And finally, "A Lifetime Ago."


The bonds we forged over a lifetime of summers...

Playing pirate with swords forged 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.

(Two hours before the deadline, WHILE cooking breakfast!)

And, please, everyone have a safe and happy New Year's Eve.