Before his hopeful outing with a visiting former love, the old man buys a new baseball cap. He shapes the bill with care. Looking in the mirror from under the just-so curve, he sees for a clear moment back to the first time he ever felt he looked truly cool.

Lynn Kozlowski’s writing has appeared in such places as 50-Word Stories, The Quarterly, The Malahat Review, Poetry Breakfast, and failbetter.com. He has a volume of short pieces, Historical Markers.