The Whirlabout

The Whirlabout takes us back to America during the 1950s, when a quarter bought a movie ticket as well as a bag of popcorn, city neighbours gathered on front porches to listen to a ballgame on the radio while kids played in the street and, for an evening out, entire families climbed into their cars to go to the then-new drive-ins. Through innocent eyes, a young boy describes this time and place with precise detail and the memory of how he learned life’s lessons through the example of his own solid father. 

The Whirlabout is the second short story by J. Michael Fay to be ePublished as part of a series from IslandShorts.


Michael Fay studied creative writing with W. O. Mitchell, Alice Munro, and Richard Ford and was also the founder of the Alexandra Writers’ Centre Society in Calgary. Michael lives in Minden, Ontario, with his wife, Dr. Fay Martin.



With crisp details Fay vividly and movingly portrays the interplay between father and son. He quickly draws you into this quirky yet familiar world and builds to such a stunning heart-racing climax you won’t forget it or the people he so marvellously renders. 

~ Robert Hilles, author of Time Lapse, Partake and A Gradual Ruin