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

Roach Slayer

My roommate and I come home tipsy in heels and short dresses, tossing purses on the couch and heading to the kitchen for something to soak up the alcohol. I flick on the light and the roaches scatter. Fuck, there are a lot. I grab the handheld vacuum and start going to town on those bitches. “You look kind of awesome,” my roommate says, watching from the doorway. When I’ve sucked up as many as I can, I pop the plastic canister out of the vacuum and stick it in the freezer. Tomorrow, I’ll empty the carcasses into the trash.

Elaine Cary is a writer living in Omaha, Nebraska. She will never sign a lease again without careful inspection of its pest policy. Twitter: @angsty_witch

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