Flash Fiction 2nd Place: Runt by Tracie Renee

I’m eleven years, twenty-seven days old now but no one at the carnival cares. The workers at the good rides all tell me the same thing in different ways: you’re too small, kid. Not tall enough. Maybe next year.

There’s always the Merry-Go-Round, Ma says. But it doesn’t turn fast enough to make me dizzy.

There’s always the Big Slide, Ma says. But all my friends are in the Orbiter line.

There’s always home, Ma says. So we leave to check on Maggie.

It’s my job to feed Maggie, take her to potty, keep her from chewing things not meant to be chewed on but one time she ran off, gnawed a hole clean through the back-fence and Pa found her in the Ellerson’s yard with the Ellerson’s collie. That night Ma said no dessert until you pay more attention and become more responsible, and I crossed my arms and made sad eyes until Pa said heck and I got ice cream anyway. But also, I learned to pay attention. I learned to stop sneaking onto YouTube when I let Maggie out to pee. And I was the first one who noticed when she got big in the middle a few weeks after meeting the Ellerson’s collie. Puppies in July, Ma said.

July is now and when we get home, Maggie’s curled up in the whelping box I learned to make from a book, panting hard with tiny new things wiggling all around her. Wiggling thing number Five’s the smallest. The runt, Ma says. Five’s so small Maggie doesn’t seem to see it; she licks the other four all over but doesn’t pay Five any mind.

I’ll call the vet, Ma says.

I tell Ma I got this and pick Five up but Ma doesn’t hear me. Five barely fills my palm. And she’s too quiet. Too still.

Too small, Ma says. But so warm. Maggie’s rubbing her tongue over the other pups, so I rub my hands over Five.

Pip, Ma says. And just for a minute, my name sounds like don’t bother.

But then there’s a flicker, a flutter, a heartbeat like a butterfly wing. And somehow it’s just the right size.

I lean down and settle Five gently by Maggie’s side. This time Maggie sniffs and licks her. Ma ends the call and squeezes my shoulder.

I stand up, taller than I’ve ever been.