Build-a-Pet

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Hexagon, Issue 9, June 2022


“…she’d seen an older kid playing it earlier, and that kid had left with a brand new purple and green cuddle dragon nestled on her shoulder!”

Leslie yanked the toggle on the Build-a-Pet arcade machine with one hand and mashed the big round buttons with the other.  On the screen looming above her head, a colorful, twisted ladder bent and spun around, and large friendly letters spelled out words she couldn’t read yet.  Though she did recognize the letter L.  She knew that one from her own name. Continue reading “Build-a-Pet”

Cats Playing and TV Shows Resonating Strangely

I love how when my cats Piper and Julian play together, Julian makes these pretty, purring, “I’m so happy we’re playing!” sounds and Piper makes these growling, angry, “I wish you were dead!” sounds. The contrast is hilarious.


A Man on the Inside is a lovely little show, but it’s kind of surreal for me how much Ted Danson has aged into looking like my Grandpa Wes… who also lost his wife to Alzheimer’s after promising he’d never put her in a care facility. So that aspect was kinda intense.

 

Ginger Tea for the Dragon

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Hot Chocolate for the Unicorn and Other Flights of Fancy


“They keep walking beside the ocean, too far away to see through a darkened window. But I can hear them.”

Ever since my fortieth birthday, I’ve been thinking a lot about mortality.  What happens when we die?  Is there anything waiting for us on the other side of the veil, or is this life all we have?  The thoughts catch me when I’m alone; when it’s late at night; or even sometimes right in the middle of a chaotic day, rushing around with my kids on errands. Continue reading “Ginger Tea for the Dragon”

The Dragon in My Toe

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Hot Chocolate for the Unicorn and Other Flights of Fancy


“I can’t see the dragon, but I keep thinking about how pretty it looked in the X-ray in black and white.”

A tiny dragon burrowed into the big toe on my right foot, curled up around the joint, and lives in there now.  Well, sleeps there.  It seems to sleep all day long, like a cat in a sunbeam.  Except, a dragon.  In my toe.

Most of the time, I don’t notice it at all.  But sometimes, the dragon shifts in its sleep, writhing and rearranging, and I feel all the spines along its back and long, coiling tail scrape and screech against my bones, brightening my foot with pain like lightning forks across the sky. Continue reading “The Dragon in My Toe”

Sister Ghost

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Hot Chocolate for the Unicorn and Other Flights of Fancy, December 2024


“There’s a vagueness in her eyes like maybe the rest of the world looks as shimmery and translucent to her as she looks to me.”

They say that Hot Lake Hotel is haunted, but the shimmer of bluish light in the corner of my room wasn’t waiting for me when I arrived.  She came with me.  She’s been following me all of my life.  Almost all of my life.

I close the door to my room — lucky number 113 — behind me and gratefully pull off the face mask I still wear everywhere.  I know that most people have moved on from the pandemic, but between my rattly joints and asthmatic breathing, the last thing I need is to roll the dice on long Covid.  So, I still mask up when I go out. Continue reading “Sister Ghost”