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

Invitation

The grass in the empty lot came to my thighs. Chain link fence, chicory flowers. My legs were brown from the sun, my feet red in their sneakers “Jill! Come over here!” My heart went dizzy, for I was never invited by my sister to come over here, or anywhere. Kathy O’Dwyer shouted for me to come too. “Come now!” Kathy was a snake with a freckled Irish nose, but I needed this anyway. I ran down the path, then tripped hard. Teeth into dirt. Palms bloodied, stone-studded. They had tied two long blades together, and called me to come.

Jill Pabich loves to write but cannot type. She takes pictures of ghosts and has too many animals. Find Jill on Instagram @jillpabichphotography.

Sno-Park

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