Forgotten Letter

The Friday 100-word Story (+ announcements)

“lost leaves” Photo by Reena Kapoor (c) 2023. Instagram @1stardusty

It’s Friday and it’s time for a new 100-word story!

Forgotten Letter

The movers wrapped and packed her life in deft, raucous motions. Zohra finished making lists, something Harish would’ve done, if he hadn’t passed. Right now he’d be counting how in their 42 years, they’d tended to three kids, twice as many dogs, the garden, innumerable travelers. Her hand passed absently over the armoire they’d fallen in love with in Shanghai. Her fingers slid behind the door to the secret compartment. The letter had lain there for over twenty years. Opening it, she read, Call me. Tomorrow, the day after, a hundred years hence. I’m waiting. Zohra reached for her phone. 

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Reena 8/18/23

A biggie!!

Thank you for reading Arrivals and Departures — your support allows me to keep doing this work. But last week, this newsletter gained its FIRST PAID subscriber!

As you know, all of my work is FREE, because I don’t paywall any of my writing. So the patronage of this very first subscriber has been extra sweet. Many thanks to MohitB for this generous support.

I appreciate all of you for the love, appreciation and sharing of my words with friends and family.

Other Announcements

• I’ve been invited to read my short, short story Prayer Beads and Samosas by the Flash Fiction Forum for their 10th anniversary celebration on August 23rd! You can watch this via Zoom, if you’re having trouble falling asleep that evening. No seriously, I’d be honored if you came (email me).

• A modified version of my story, Interstellar Sympathies — Who needs them!? that was created as the final chapter in the Great Substack Story Challenge 2, will be published in an anthology to be published later this year. Stay tuned!

And finally…

• A new play is in town!! A new play by yours truly will be stage read (full cast of actors under professional direction, sans a full production) and presented as part of the "When Ganesha Met Shakespeare" New Works Festival hosted by EnActe Arts on Sept 16th in San Jose. The play will be performed as a staged reading and after that there will then be a talk back with the audience to gather feedback on the play so it can be developed further. I would of course be honored and delighted if you came and saw my play and gave me your thoughts.

  NOTE: The festival is a whole festival with much more -- including art, food, theatre, etc. Here’s the link to the event -- https://www.eventbrite.com/e/when-ganesha-met-shakespeare-enactes-new-works-festival-tickets-631615929247 but do watch the video about the festival here: https://enacte.org/.

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