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

Passing Time

Sunday afternoon, my brother and I are binge-watching Money Heist on Netflix, something we’ve been doing all weekend. As the hostages on the show deliberate yet another escape plan, my brother straightens from his seat. “It’s the barefoot dog walker again.” I peer out the window in time to see said man pass by the front lawn. “Fourth time today,” I say. “Didn’t he just walk the dog like an hour ago?” my brother asks. I check the time. “Just about.” He slumps back into the couch. “Geez, some people have nothing better to do.” I nod. “I know, right?”

Jennifer Lai lives in Washington state and works in cancer research. She loves writing flash and micro fiction in her spare time.

Upper Upstate

Death on the 5