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

Not Fast Enough

I’m fast as lightning, fast as She-Ra’s rainbow-winged unicorn, a blur to anyone who sees me. I run down the driveway, past the shrub where my pet snake, Frank, lives, and to the safety of the andromeda bush, my hiding place for sardines. Dad calls my name. He’s angry and I know why. He saw my wet pants. It’s the second time today. I’m five years old and wearing light-green stirrup pants. I have two pairs and swap them out so I won’t get in trouble, but I’m out of light-green stirrup pants. I’m found, and sent to my room.

Alexis Kelleher lives in Connecticut and has been published in The Raven's Perch, Apple in the Dark, Streetlight Magazine, Spoonie Press, and New Feathers Anthology. www.alexiskelleher.com     

The Magic Trick

Even Here