Stretch!

by Lydia Ondrusek

Meet Mr. Yee's niece Zoe – she swings a mean bo staff, but doesn't usually use it in the kind of battles she fights. Zoe's spent a lot of time on her own because of her parents' professions, and has gotten used to taking care of herself. Now that she's one of the Marshmallows, though, she also has friends to take care of – to help, to teach, and to defend. Even Tim comes to trust her, both as friend and teacher.


But is there any good way to help and teach someone your age who's not your friend; who may not be, may never be, anybody's friend? When you're used to making your own rules, how far will you (or can you) go for a good cause? Once you accept a responsibility, what do you do if it conflicts with other responsibilities? Coping with life can require you to make some big stretches.


But even when she stretches herself to find a solution, Zoe realizes, a lot of where you go depends on where you've been in the past, on who you are in the very heart of you, and on who you come from.


Sometimes where you get to is someplace you never thought you'd go.

12 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 6, 2012

About the author

Lydia Ondrusek is a long-married mother of two who describes herself as writing her way out of a paper bag. Her fiction (mostly flash) and poetry can be found various places, including Flash Fiction Online and Apex Magazine. Like everyone else in this and all other parallel universes, she is writing a novel. Okay, two. She tries and mostly fails to keep www.lydiaondrusek.com updated, and spends too much time on Twitter, where she is known as @littlefluffycat.