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

Foul Ball

“Oooowww!” The small, hard projectile punches my thigh with bruising force. I look down, stunned. It’s a baseball. If I’d been watching the game instead of talking the whole time to my friend, I would have seen it coming. The ball, having bounced off my thigh, now rests in my lap. That’s when I notice: Nearby Orioles fans have been tracking the ball, and now the crazier ones, eager to snatch it away, thrust their hands toward my lap. Feeling violated, I clutch the ball, shielding it with my body. A nearby security guard mocks me. “Nice catch,” he says.

Angela Stevens is a retired pharmacist. Besides writing, she enjoys playing piano, pickleball, and traveling. She is actually a Mets fan.

The Visitation