Widowmaker noun

(‘wi-dō-mā-kər)

that rotten limb hanging off the lofty, half-dead white oak in your backyard, creaking in the wind, detaching fiber by groaning fiber, perched directly above your mindless husband as he chuckles along to his favorite comedy podcast, toiling away in the wormy and fragrant sod, planting forget-me-nots.

Tim Boiteau is a Writers of the Future winner and lives in Michigan.