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 Neighbor

My mysterious neighbor’s lips curve in a sardonic smile and a single eyebrow rises mockingly when I hand her the bag. “There’s been a rash of burglaries in the area. I collected the newspapers from your door so no one could tell you were away,” I say with a smile. She continues to eye me suspiciously as if I were Gladys Kravitz, the nosy neighbor on Bewitched. I’m puzzled by her reaction. After all, neighbors look out for each other, don’t they? “Thanks,” she says slamming the door shut while I stand on her stoop, feeling both bewildered and offended.

Linda Thompson enjoys stringing words together, changing them, moving them, and then doing it all again until they tell a story.

Wake Up

By My Side