Perhaps still high on my success in the 2013 Reader’s Digest 100-word story competition (I came runner-up), I’ve just entered the BNZ (Bank of New Zealand) Literary Awards, in the Short Short Story category (150 words). As long as your story is deemed eligible, it’s published straight away, at bnzstoryart.co.nz. Go and check them out. Some are dreadful, some are bizarre, some are beautiful, some are clever.

You can find my entry there, but to make it easy for you, I’ll post it here too.

I have no idea what prompted me to write this. It just seemed to flow.

Mother and Child

Your cry annihilates a rare dream. Since you came I snatch at sleep like a starving refugee. There, there. Hush hush. You fold into my arms and surrender and together we begin our 3am vigil. When dawn comes and I am giddy and aching you cry again. Feed me. My language is reduced to hushed exhortations, tender caresses, furious stabs of depleted independence. I change your soiled clothes, wipe your tiny backside, sing you lullabies. I know nothing except the inside of this house and the pierce of your wails and the tick of the clock. I love you and I hate you and I love you.