By Michael C. Roberts

Granddaughters, up from the south, are fascinated by a patch of old snow on the hilly side of the house. They had discovered their absent father’s sled in the cluttered basement with broken slats and chipped runners. Grandma encased their tennis shoes in bread bags with large rubber bands around their ankles. For once, the girls took turns. Later, they shivered in the front hallway with wet legs and bottoms. Warmed by hot chocolate with marshmallows, they descended again to the basement and found in a chest their father’s wanted poster, yellowed and torn from the Post Office bulletin board. 

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Michael C. Roberts has placed numerous photographs in literary outlets and a few written pieces in The Human Touch, Invisible City Literary Journal, A Story in 100 Words, Story Quilt, and Silly Goose. Inspired by Edgar Lee Masters, he has written a “Spoon River Redux” that will likely never be published but writing it helped pass the time during the pandemic.