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

Little Witch

The wind blows and the clouds are fat with rain. “I’m going to do a wind dance,” she says. “To scare away the wind.” I reply, “OK. But make sure you don’t bring the rain.” “It’s a wind dance, not a rain dance.” “Yes, but sometimes clouds get confused.” She gazes at the sky, nods. “Good point. I’ll do a sun dance instead. I need a hat and sun coat.” She fetches the items, mission critical for the spell. She dances in the garden, chants, waves her fingers. The sun breaks through the clouds. She raises her arms and beams.

Emma Burnett is a recovering academic. She’s big into cats, sports, and being introverted. You can find her @slashnburnett, @slashnburnett.bsky.social, or emmaburnett.uk.

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