This book is a collection of two flash fiction stories and a narrative poem. Please be advised that all of these works have something in them about children who die young; hence the title: Children Who Never Grow Old.
Read the first paragraph of each story in the descriptions below.
Little Mirrors is the first story. It’s about 450 words long and is the unusual account of twin sisters.
Sixteen-year-old Lia stared in the bathroom mirror and thought of her twin sister, Lupia. They were six years old when first they played their game. They stood in front of each other, then both made the same movements at the same time. Sometimes, Lupia tried to trick Lia. She moved abruptly in a different direction; raised her right hand instead of her left, turn her head sideways instead of up and down. But always Lia sensed what Lupia was going to do, and the two sisters burst into laughter when Lupia failed to trick Lia. Their mother called them: her little mirrors.
Protected is the second short story. It’s just over 800 words long. Protected centers on a little girl who wanders away from her family, straight into the path of danger.
The man and the little girl stood deep in an undeveloped area of the park heavily forested with trees. He’d spotted her going into the woods. She wasn’t his child, but it would be easy to make her so. For him, it was always easy. He simply watched and waited for his wandering gifts. He had adopted three girls and two boys in four states. He preferred them young, no more than five or six, though he really didn’t care for the boys. One of them had cried and peed his pants, a sight too reminiscent of—he didn’t like the boys, and he didn’t have to, because with the girls, it was all so different.
Tiffany’s Escapes is a narrative poem that is 488 words in length. It is the story of a young mother’s struggle to cope with the loss of her young daughter.
A four-year-old with light brown eyes
Peaks around the kitchen corner,
And maternal brows arch in mock surprise. “Is that my good little Tiffany, sneaking up on me?”
“No Momma, not sneaking, just checking to see if I can go outside.”
A tremor rolls through Jennifer’s voice striving to cajole. “But why not stay inside? We’ve got hot gingerbread men cooling on a tin.”
Tiffany’s head swivels from side to side. “No, gingers today, Momma or games with candy canes.”
And she spies the unlocked screen door.
Each of the short stories, though not the poem, has an element of the supernatural in it.