This semester, Flat Hat Magazine held its third short story contest open to all students at the College of William and Mary. Participants were asked to write a short story based on the song “Reflection” from Disney’s Mulan. Katie Kauppi ’23 and Mateus Dutra ’23 wrote stories incorporating literal and metaphorical reflections on the self. Kauppi evokes nostalgic simplicity in her story of a young adult reflecting on life through the lenses of a father’s sunglasses, while Dutra examines the experience of self-reflection at a pond. Congratulations to our winners, and thank you to everyone who submitted!

– Emma Saunders ’24

Flat Hat Magazine Short Story Contest Organizer

My Father’s Face and Mine 

By Katie Kauppi ’23 

Each year, as spring slips into summer, I am hit with memories of my family. The smell of sunscreen and the sting of cold water instantly transport me back to pool towels drying over the balcony and my mother tucking my ears into my ball cap with less-than-gentle hands.  

Distinctly, I remember the joy of seeing my face reflected in my father’s sunglasses. He always wore the same pair of sapphire blue aviators with polarized lenses. When I was close to him, I could see both of our smiling faces at the same time: mine full of childlike wonder, and his beaming with aged pride. Every summer of my youth was marked by another photo taken of us with our foreheads together, the passage of time documented as I matured and he wrinkled and grayed.

While I was going through his things last month, I found the aviators tucked away with his summer clothes. My reflection remained among the scratches in the old lenses, even without the familiar backdrop of my father’s yellowed grin. 

The Birth of Resolve

By Mateus Dutra ’23

I stood at the edge of the pond — the sky behind my head looked as blue as the water’s surface. I gazed at my unblemished skin and fine dark eyes for what felt like hours. A single plum blossom leaf floated earthward, creating a gentle ripple and softening my image all around. The straight edge of my jaw and the soft lines of my lips all swirled and melted into the rest of me. How jealous I am of my reflection! How easily it remakes itself, how quickly! I picked up the leaf that had drifted my way; maroon, almost purple. Autumn is coming.