Even after a week of frying our startled nipples under the merciless sun, Madeleine was still going on about how important it was to protect yourself even on cloudy days, even when the wind is cool, and how we should all be slathering ourselves in Factor 30 the way she did, greasing every inch of herself until you could practically smell her coming along the beach without opening your eyes—so it was ironic really that when the waves pulled her down a third time and everyone reached for her pale, flailing limbs, she just slipped through our fingers.

— Previously published as a Highly Commended entry in the 100-Word Competition 2013 sponsored by National Flash Fiction Day; republished here by author’s permission

Clare Kirwan

is a quirky performance poet, flash fictioneer, playwright, and putative novelist based in Wirral (UK). She is the author of Tales from a Broken Biro: There Will Be Ink, 24 flash fictions (Kindle, June 2013), and The Silence Museum, 52 poems (Lulu, August 2013).

Her stories have appeared in 3:AM Magazine; The Binnacle; Dark Tales; Contrary; Flax; Short, Fast and Deadly; Little Fiction’s Listerature, Volume 2; Electric Spec; Vestal Review; and in the anthology Read by Dawn II (Beautiful Books, 2007).

Ms. Kirwan has performed her poetry widely (from Birkenhead to Bolton, London to Las Vegas), including Radio 4’s Ear Candy project and BBC Big Screen’s Nothing Rhymes with Poets. Her comedy material has been used on BBC radio’s Parsons and Naylor and she performed her stand-up comedy debut in 2007 at Liverpool’s Royal Court theatre.

More on the Web: By, About, and Beyond

⚡ National Flash Fiction Day, home of the annual 100-word flash competition, and publisher of the 2013 NFFD Anthology, Scraps, in which Clare Kirwan’s story “Slather” also appears