Two things were annoying Mrs. D’Souza. One, the fact that she was dead. And second, the line of dead folks waiting to meet their Maker was insufferably long and impossibly docile. Restless and teeming with questions, she decides to take matters in her own hands and sets out to find God. Not a big deal, really. Except for one small thing. How do you seek someone when you don’t even know what they look like?

Two things were annoying Mrs. D'Souza. One, the fact that she was dead. And second, the line of dead folks waiting to meet their Maker was insufferably long and impossibly docile. Restless and teeming with questions, she decides to take matters in her own hands and sets out to find God. Not a big deal, really. Except for one small thing. How do you seek someone when you don't even know what they look like?

Time! Ah, that slippery measure of our lives! Which parent would turn down a generous offer of a little more time in their day? Not Myra. Single mom. Immigrant. Hobbyist painter. Myra unexpectedly finds the gift of time in an ordinary-looking mirror that cost her ten bucks. She steps into it for a much needed mid-day snooze when her little boy, Arjun, is away at school. She steps out to find that no time has lapsed in the real world in the meantime. That additional time to rest and recover makes her a much better parent, she finds. And she is grateful for it. Until Arjun stumbles into the mirror one day, leaving Myra with no choice but to figure out with great urgency what price the mirror will extract from her for its gift of time. Because sometimes, in life and in magic, there is no such thing as a free gift.

Newly suburban mother, Sonia, yearns for the support of a community to raise her almost three-year-old son, Aarash. But she discovers, to her great disappointment, that her new neighbourhood is filled with far too many gestures of polite friendliness but no real friendship. Until one day a bike accident transports them into a parallel world that promises her the perfect community she has been longing for. But being part of a community means her child will no longer be only hers. Will she be willing to make such a sacrifice?

When the house across the street swallows up a visitor dressed for a party at 1 a.m., three-year-old Dorian is curious to know more. Excited at the prospect of an entertaining departure from the monotony of parenting, his sleep-deprived mother accompanies him out the door and across the street to the house where a party is indeed in full swing. Guests with painted faces and elaborate costumes heartily welcome the mother-son duo, luring them in with the promise of free babysitting and loads of tasty treats. But no one mentions the presence of a magician in their midst, a magician who knows how to make little children disappear.

Storytime is my realm. I am the expert at spinning bedtime stories for my four-year-old child. It’s a ritual both of us look forward to every evening, much to my husband’s consternation. Tonight, I intend to tell my little one a ghost story. Not to spook him, but as an exercise in imagination. A blurring of lines between fact and fiction. Little do I know that he too has a ghost story of his own to share with me. A tale that is truer than all the lies... erm, stories... I’ve been telling him all along.

Every child’s favourite game. One mother’s worst nightmare. In a seemingly endless game of hide-and-seek, a mother looks for her child in all his favourite hiding spots. But he has hidden himself so well she’s unable to find him. Then she comes up with the perfect bait to coax him out. His favourite toys! Will they entice him to reveal himself? Or has she been playing the wrong game all along? Hide-and-Seek secured an Honourable Mention in the Spring/Summer 2021 issue of Allegory Magazine, Volume 39/66.