This is a story about a boy who was born with blue hair. The midwife blanched. Momma pinked. Poppa purpled, stormed out to the pub. The next morning, still fuming, he upped and slung his bags over his shoulder and moved to the county to the north. Soon he fathered another child with blue hair and just as soon moved away.

And maybe this is really a story about a man who fathered boys with blue hair. He was not a quick study, but after three times caught on. From then on, he kept his trousers buttoned.

So now this can be a story about three bountiful women who birthed and raised beautiful bouncing boys with blue hair. All by themselves. They painted the walls a matching blue as soon as their purses permitted. They bought cobalt blue blankets and strollers, wore powder blue eyeshadow, favored flaxen blue frocks, dreamed about driving shiny sapphire automobiles under azure skies. They painted lapis lazuli pictures of what they loved, and what they loved was their sons with blue hair. They loved their boys so much their hearts blinked periwinkle. And they taught their boys to love blue, all manner of blue, from indigo to turquoise to aquamarine, which is to say, to love themselves. And that’s really what this story is about.

Publisher’s Note:

The painting by contemporary UK artist Natalie Chapman may be viewed at New Blood Art online:
https://newbloodart.com/artwork/i-want-it-back-what-i-had-what-i-lostwhat-i-miss-by-natalie-chapman

Learn more about Chapman in an article by Nicola Bryan in BBC News, “Artist inspired by council estate childhood wants to make art more inclusive” (13 October 2024):
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgryq54zd8po

Mikki Aronoff

writes tiny stories and advocates for animals. Her work has been long-listed for the Wigleaf Top 50 and nominated for Best American Short Stories, Best Microfiction, Best of the Net, Best Small Fictions, and the Pushcart Prize. She has stories in Best Microfiction 2024 and Best Small Fictions 2024, and forthcoming in Best Small Fictions 2025.

Her writing also appears in 100 word story, Atlas and Alice, Bending Genres, The Citron Review, The Disappointed Housewife, The Dribble Drabble Review, Flash Boulevard, Gone Lawn, New World Writing, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Midway Journal, Milk Candy Review, Mslexia, The Offing, Tiny Molecules, trampset, and elsewhere. She lives in New Mexico.