by Megan Cassidy

Filling out the date is easy. My pen falters before the blank requesting my name. At birth, Rosalynn and Charles blended their names and christened me Charlynn, physical evidence of their shared identity. His thorny olive branch grafted to her quaking aspen; I was the twine holding them together. After the divorce, my mother went by Rosie. At home I was Lynn, forced to become her other half. In my father’s household I was Charlie, the feminine yin balancing his masculine yang. Ink jittering across this page, I print Franco, the name I’ve chosen for myself, and leave both behind.

Megan Cassidy is an author and English professor from Lockport, NY. Megan’s first novel, Always, Jessie was recently published by Saguaro Books. Megan’s other work has been featured in Pilcrow & Dagger, Wordhaus, A Story in 100 Words, The Flash Fiction Press, Centum Press, and Gilded Serpent Magazine. Find her online at www.megancassidyauthor.com or follow her on Twitter @MeganEileenC