On a Bench in Union Square Park

I finished a new short story, On a Bench in Union Square Park. It's a meditation on grief, loss, and regret. This is my second short story of 2026, and more are on the way! I've missed writing short pieces. I hope to have six solid shorts written by the end of the year.

Here's a snippet:

"I don’t remember whose idea it was to meet at the bench — mine, my mother’s, or my therapist Tonya’s. I suppose it does not matter whose idea it was, not really. It had been a good one, surely. Maybe that made it Tonya’s idea. She was full of good ideas. No, what mattered was that it happened: I had met my mother at the bench in the park, her favorite bench in her favorite park, on my lunch hour. It was early autumn, chilly but not yet cold. I did not think she would show. It had been some many days since we’d last exchanged words. So many days that I could no longer count them. No matter the number, I knew it was significantly smaller a number than that of my siblings. What I saw as starting a new chapter, they saw as abandonment. We all chose sides, and I chose hers. I cannot really say why I chose my mother on that rainy April afternoon in our old kitchen with the smoke-stained avocado colored wallpaper."

More to come!

May the road rise to meet you.

#shortstory #shortstories #rjclark #fiction #shortfiction