One sister trudges the snow to reach the pipe u-clamped to the side of the house. Twists it until the aerial above spins slow like a chopped Ponderosa pine. Stops when Vida gives her the thumbs up through the window, letting her know the Cartwright boys are now riding in as best they can through the blizzard whipping about their TV screen. The sisters swoon over Little Joe’s hair and impetuous ways, and so does their brother, who shares his secret with Vida after she whispers that it’s Hoss, with his snow-drift belly, who’s the only one for her.

Louella Lester

is a writer/photographer in Winnipeg, Canada; author of Glass Bricks (At Bay Press, April 2021); a contributing editor at New Flash Fiction Review; and has a story selected for Best Microfiction 2024. Her writing appears or is forthcoming in Bright Flash, Cult.Magazine, The Dribble Drabble Review, The Ekphrastic Review, Gooseberry Pie, The Hooghly Review, The Odd Magazine, Paragraph Planet, South Florida Poetry Journal, Writing in a Woman’s Voice, and a variety of other journals and anthologies.

Author’s blog: Through Camera & Pen