Issue 6 | Refuge
Here, in 100 words or fewer, writers make quick work of compelling true stories, in the lead up to Multiplicity’s 2025 Spring/Summer issue, REFUGE.
Scarlet Box
by Dulce María Reyes Bonilla
A U.S. consular interview concludes Mami’s septennial wait. My mother is fifty-four and stern. I’m seventeen, there to assist, betting my hope for freedom on her migration dream.
The officer scans us. We resemble future FLOTUS Obama more than Barbara Bush.
“She is?”
“Daughter.”
She nods, stamping APPROVED thrice.
“And bring her in three weeks with everything listed here,” she instructs my gleeful and stunned mother.
Splatter from Mami’s luck shocks me with bittersweetness.
Unbeknownst to me, but not the consul, I’m still becoming. And here’s a scarlet box: fire extinguisher and axe included. Fire will emerge in due time.
About the Writer
Dulce María Reyes Bonilla, a Bay Path MFA candidate, wrote this piece in the Multiplicity Studio class during the 2025 spring semester.