Playing Flashlight Tag

by Jay Lemming

Summer nights playing flashlight tag for a group of teenage boys turns into something else entirely when a girl joins their game. Hiding from each at night with a single beam of light to see by cannot hide a kind of illumination that touches them all.

ebook

First published April 29, 2015

About the author

Jay Lemming is a Maryland-based author of contemporary and literary fiction. His Maddox Men series includes Green Bay Outsiders (Volume 5), Billy and Darla (Volume 6, a free short story available on Amazon) and Billy Maddox Takes His Shot (Volume 7). He blogs regularly, interviews authors about their works of fiction and offers details about upcoming volumes from the Maddox Men series (Vol. 1-4) on his website. Sign up for free email updates at https://jaylemming-author.com.

He welcomes readers to connect with him on Twitter at @jay_lemming and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/jaylemming.a.... Email Jay at jay@jaylemming-author.com.

Jay will announce details about his next book in late September 2020.

Reviews

[Ronald Keeler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Playing Flashlight Tag by Jay Lemming is a very short story (19 pages) about developing relationships in a group of approximately thirteen-year-old boys. That is the way it started. There was a core group of boys from families that had lived in the neighborhood for several years. Billy, Andrew, and Joey formed this group. They eventually invited Tommy, a new arrival the previous year. They played Flashlight Tag in neighborhood yards every evening they could. One night a ghostly figure appeared to scare Billy but was only Sean, a class troublemaker, wearing a sheet. When the five boys were joined by a girl new to the neighborhood, Susan, this becomes a story of developing relationships and petty jealousies.

This is an interesting character study. Susan is stereotypically more mature than the boys and when she sees conflicts developing, she attempts to defend whichever boy is the current victim. She will have a favorite and when that becomes apparent, a new set of relationships develop.

There is an ending that surprised me a bit. This is a coffee break story, something you can read when you would rather read than gossip. It is a four Amazon star “comfort” read.

[Garth Mailman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a simple heartfelt tale of a thirteen-year-old out playing with the neighbourhood lads. The dynamic changes when a girl joins in the games.