We recently published M.J. Iuppa’s brilliant “She Can’t Settle Down.”

Here, we ask her two questions about her 100-word micro:

1) The description in this piece is so strong — it really builds the story for me. But the mother is only “someone’s mother,” not someone specific. Why?

I was deliberate with the wording “someone’s mother” because I believe there is a point in the parent-child relationship, where the mother of the adult child doesn’t have the same responsibility as she once did; and, the child can choose to have or not have any responsibility for his aging mother.

2) Canned beans and fruit cocktail for a week sounds like an absolute nightmare to me! Is this the worst meal you can think of, or is there something more awful in this mother’s cupboard?

It’ s cheap, available, and filling. So many of these prepared foods are found in the variety of dollar stores that serve as grocery stores in rural locations. Everything is “fixed” in this story; yet, the mother can’t settle down.