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

Prankster

On my first time down as a certified scuba diver, I marveled over an extraordinarily large manta ray with its twenty-five-foot-wide wings until it aimed for me head on, its broad mouth open. The sheer size was intimidating. Terrified that I’d be swallowed, I desperately tried to get away, but unable to run or hide, I pushed rudely on my husband for leverage as I kicked my fins wildly. I would later discover that manta rays are filter feeders whose mouths stay wide open catching plankton in the water. The curious animal turned and floated away, surely having a chuckle.     

A retired nurse specialist in Oregon, Cathryn Vogeley travels to tropical water in winter for sun and diving. Her memoir, I Need to Tell You, was published in May. Find Cathryn at cathrynreadsandwrites.com, on Twitter @cvoge1 and on Instagram @clvclv.

Wish

Water, Vapor