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

Garden Party

Jump into the car with Jenny to seek the unexpected. In Kennebunkport, a sign reads “Garden Party.” We look at each other, smile, and turn right. We follow our noses behind a brick colonial. Our frayed jeans stand out amidst floral dresses and hats. In a white billowy tent, sculpted baked goods beckon from prim porcelain stands. Jenny poses, doing her silly gawp face in awe of carrot cake. Behind her, George and Barbara Bush enter. Nearby, two Secret Service agents eye us. George leans to Jenny, still posed, sweet slice halfway to her lips. “How’s the cake?” he asks.

Betsy Ellor is a novelist and the senior editor for Words Unbound Studio. She lives in the woods of Massachusetts and looks forward to road trips being a thing again. Twitter & Facebook: @bewordsunbound.

The Black House

Crossing