Five Minutes explores five minutes of a life in one hundred words. Five minutes is edited by Susanna Baird, with editorial support from managing editor Maria s. picone, newsletter editor kate meen, and founding reader bobbi lerman, plus our rotating team of guest readers, who you can meet in the latest newsletteR. Five Minutes was founded in October 2020, with the Salem (Mass.)-based writing group Carrot Cake Writers supplying the journal’s first pieces. We’d love to read your five. Submit here

Bicycle

“Come on!” she whispered. We’d snuck into the McGuinn’s basement where Andy kept his bicycle. He rode that bike up and down our street most days, and evenings hoisted it over his shoulder to walk it down the concrete steps. That day, Andy and his old mother weren’t home. He talked like a kid, like us, but he was strong like a man. Black hair covered his legs. He was gentle. The adults didn’t explain it. “Come on!” she said again, but I didn’t move. I was sitting on Andy’s bike, my toes barely touching the floor, trying to understand.

Beth Anne Cooke-Cornell lives in Salem, MA. She admits to sneaking into her neighbors’ homes when she was a child. Twitter: @BACookeCornell

Clothes

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