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

The Family Van

The camper van was bought used. The shades were pulled down to block outsiders from looking in. There were a limited number of seat belts. Me, my sisters, my brother, the older cousins, the younger cousins, we squeezed in wherever, even in the crevice behind the backseat, meant to be the trunk. Those of us who could watched SpongeBob on the CRT TV. Saw how the 13-inch cube floated toward the ceiling, then crashed down and broke its wooden compartment. None of us were strapped in, either. Uncle, our babysitter making a shortcut turn, looked back at us. “Everyone okay?”

Kent Truong Ngo is a writer living in Southern California. His many siblings and relatives shaped him to be this way. Visit him @KTruongNgo on Twitter.

Crush

Birthday Clowns