(After Timothy Donnelly)
Mike Tyson threw his first punch when a bully killed his pet pigeon. In 1918, a messenger pigeon saved an entire battalion when she flew through gunfire. She was shot in the chest, blinded in one eye, and had a leg hanging from a tendon. But she kept flying, 25 miles in 25 minutes, to deliver a message in time to stop friendly fire.
Her name was Cher Ami. In 1987, Cher won the Academy Award for Best Actor in the film Moonstruck. To be moonstruck means to be literally affected by the moon. The idea that wolves howl at the moon is a misconception. 832F was a female gray wolf who was well known in Yellowstone for her striking appearance, which included an owl-like mask across her face.
Baby owls are called owlets. Baby raccoons are called kits. Baby pigeons are called squabs. In the 1990s, my father raised pigeons. He used to drive them from San Bernardino to Las Vegas, and after gambling (of course), he would release them and race them home. The pigeons always won.
When one of his squabs fell ill, I asked my father to give her my Bambi blanket until she recovered. The film Bambi was released in 1942 and is sometimes cited as an early influence on environmental consciousness. Some hunters hated Bambi because it helped stir anti-hunting sentiments. I hated Bambi because after watching it I always worried about my mother.
My mother was the first person I told about my best friend’s death. Chase died eight years ago from a drug overdose. I found out from our friend Thelma after she posted the news on Facebook. I’ve never told anyone the way I found out.
I met my husband Jeff just two months after Chase’s death. (I often think Chase brought him to me because he always said, Ash, there’s plenty of fish in the sea.) My family was mad when I left on Christmas Eve to go on a first date with him. Since that night, eight years later, we’ve never parted. Well, we were apart when he had surgery, parted for three weeks (because it was 2020), and I admit I cried a lot.
I cried when Joel Miller was killed off The Last of Us. But I guess that’s what happens in the game. In the modern version of The Game of Life, marriage and kids are now optional instead of required. You can choose to skip marriage or choose not to have kids and still win the game. There’s a popular motivational quote that says, In the game of life, the only way to win is to keep playing.
Mini-interview with Ashley Neary Greenhouse
HFR: Can you share a moment that has shaped you as a writer (or continues to)?
ANG: I’m a lifelong reader who only started writing two years ago. I took a creative nonfiction class and received positive feedback. That encouraged me to take my writing seriously.
HFR: What are you reading?
ANG: The Rings of Saturn by W. G. Sebald. There are so many beautiful sentences. I discovered it after reading When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut, which was incredible. *Chef’s kiss.*
My TBR pile: 2666, Demon Copperhead, The Maniac, and The Count of Monte Cristo.
HFR: Can you tell us what prompted “The Game of Life”?
ANG: An assignment from my professor Taryn Birdsall at Boise State University, which was to emulate the associative style of Timothy Donnelly’s “Hymn to Life.” Thank you Taryn.
HFR: What’s next? What are you working on?
ANG: I’m still figuring out who I am as a writer. I have been writing a lot of flash fiction using the 5-word exercise. Two of those stories have been published which is exciting and encouraging. I’m working my way up to writing something much longer. And, as always, I continue to read.
HFR: Take the floor. Be political. Be fanatical. Be anything. What do you want to share?
ANG: “You see, there are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity.” —Wes Anderson
Ashley Neary Greenhouse studies creative writing at Boise State University. Her work has appeared in Maudlin House, Bright Flash Literary Review, Paper Plane Press, Jackdaw Press, The Sheepshead Review, and The Lindenwood Review. She is the winner of The Lindenwood Review’s 2025 undergrad flash fiction contest.
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