Microfiction: Short-short stories that take an itsy bitsy amount of time to read. Each microfiction piece on this page is under 350 words (comparable to three minutes or less reading time).
There once was a woman living in a large city that wanted to help people that needed help. She had fallen out of a tree when she was a little girl, breaking both of her arms when she landed. The doctors told her parents she’d need a certain type of insurance to get the ‘fancy’ arm repair she needed, but since they didn’t have that type of insurance they had to settle for the economy arm repair. Sort of like when one has to get the ugly silver dental fillings that show when they laugh, instead of the costlier off-white tooth-colored fillings. Her arms were ugly steel sticks.
Now that she was an adult, these arms helped her help people she felt needed help. She used her steel stick arms to dig and build tunnels underneath the large city. The steel sticks were great for building tunnels, walls, rooms, bathrooms, electrical sockets, water pipes and washer and dryer hookup. They were great for painting walls bright. She built a ping pong table also. She’d go up from underground during the day and if she saw anyone that looked like they needed help (such as a place to stay), she’d wait until nighttime and when she was certain others could not see, she’d sneak the person in need of help down to her homemade mini town.
They got their own room which came with a radio, lights, running water and peace of mind. And fresh flowers. Payment for room and board was to simply help. Whether the stay was short or long. Whether they brought food down, or fluffy blankets or beautiful plants or artwork for the walls. Some people brought ping-pong balls for the table and some people brought laundry soap. Some people brought laughter and positivity. Others helped keep things tidy. It made no difference to her how they contributed. As long as good ol’ help helped the mini town. She’d sit there and look around smiling happily at her great little hidden town, relaxed and with her arms stretched out since she couldn’t necessarily cross them.
PAPAYA DARLING 