PJ Town

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Feb, 2023

Stories (34)

34 Stories

766 karma pts

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“Persuasion (or The Art of Seduction)” by PJ Town

Submitted to Contest #248

(contains some sexual references)“Wowza! Will you just look at that!”“I’ll fight you for her.”“C’mon, man. You don’t have the balls.”“You’re right, but just to keep up appearances – you know, with the gang.”“Look, if I fought you, you’d lose the other ear.”“Pardon?”“I said–”“Just kidding! Crikey. When you get horny, your sense of humour goes right out the window.”“What can I say? It’s the chemicals.”“Yep, I remember those days. Before … you know.”“Don’t even mention it! It gives me the willies.”“At least they didn’t take that and all!”“Ha! I...

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“Splendid Isolation” by PJ Town

Submitted to Contest #247

There it is. At least I think that’s it, though it might be a cloud bank. Or land, shrouded in mist. Anyway, it's beautiful, and it’s my future.It’s only eighteen miles away, but at this very moment it might as well be eighteen thousand. I’ve heard that people used to swim there in the old days – cover themselves in goose fat against the cold, then breast-stroke the whole distance. They’d have a boat beside them for support, which seems a little senseless; why didn’t they simply get in the boat?I’m going by boat myself, not sure when. I’ve g...

15 comments 15
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“Rust” by PJ Town

Submitted to Contest #246

“C’mon,” Mick said, pulling at Billy’s arm.“I don’t think…” Billy began; he was panting from the effort.Mick ignored the protest and pulled harder, forcing Billy to follow him. They scrambled across the patch of waste ground on the edge of the woods, as far as a rusting chain-link fence that stretched into the distance, left and right.“You hold it up and I’ll crawl through,” Mick said. He showed Billy what he meant by grabbing the bottom of the fence, where it wasn’t pegged into the ground, and lifting. It made a gap big enough for a boy to ...

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“Marbles” by PJ Town

Submitted to Contest #245

The children formed a circle in the clearing, chattering and jostling to get as near as possible to Elder Jakintsu. His long white beard and hair spoke of ancient wisdom, but the youngsters were more interested in the stories he told, which were invariably fun. At a loud clap of his hands, all fell silent.“Little ones, you are no doubt wondering why we are gathered here on this rest day, when you might normally be playing,” Jakintsu said. He took a cloth bag from his lap and plonked it at his feet. It made a clinking sound.Sitting opposite h...

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“Pluck of the Irish” by PJ Town

Submitted to Contest #244

“It’s a good likeness, though,” Paddy says.Roberts throws the newspaper across the room. Or rather, he tries to; it flops down on the breakfast table, on top of the toast and jam that Paddy’s prepared. Roberts tries to extricate the paper from the stickiness and gets jam on his fingers. They stick to the paper, making it even harder to perform the operation.“That’s all I bloody need,” he says, several days of stress making the utterance strained, almost tearful.“Here, let me—” Paddy says, moving over to help Roberts.“Get away!” he snaps, sti...

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“Trouble Brewing” by PJ Town

Submitted to Contest #243

There’s trouble brewing, I reckon.It’s one of those quiet days, when there’s less traffic along the main road at the back. On these days, they normally leave the house early together, come back late. I polish off what they’ve put down for me almost as soon as they’re out of the door and then end up regretting it. I’d like to see them have to survive so long on a single bowl of food – they’d soon understand how I feel. Of course, they obviously don’t take into account that I’m a terrible greedy guts. When they’re at home, they ration out the ...

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“King of the World” by PJ Town

Submitted to Contest #242

(contains sexual themes and language)“It’s all right, darling,” his wife whispered.Richard lay staring at the ceiling, crestfallen at his most recent failure.“We can try again later,” his wife went on, stroking Richard's hair gently, with love.Richard grunted and flipped onto his side, with his back to his wife, leaving her hand and affection stranded in mid-air.*****“Why the long face, man?” Denis asked; Richard had been subdued all evening.“Ah, something at home.” Richard took a long draught of his beer, as if this would put an end to the ...

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“Fait Accompli” by PJ Town

Submitted to Contest #241

It was only a yoghourt. I mean, what’s a pot of curdled dairy product between work colleagues?! The ‘consume-by’ date on the lid was almost up anyway. And it wasn’t even very nice. But I was peckish, what can I say? When the hunger hits, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, right?There it was, at the back of the fridge in the break room, neglected, forgotten … I thought. No. It belonged to Beasley of all people – a stickler for the rules if ever there was one. Should a pen of his go missing – I say ‘his’, but they’re actually company-issu...

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“A Lesson Learned” by PJ Town

Submitted to Contest #240

Nancy laid aside her knitting and picked up her book, which was sitting beside her on the sofa. She’d been saving it for bed-time but couldn’t wait; her hero was about to meet the love interest of this particular novel. She knew it because at the end of the previous chapter, he’d caught sight of a woman, and… Nancy went back and read that part again.Mason looked up from his coffee. There, gliding across the piazza towards him, came a dream-like vision of loveliness, her diaphanous dress billowing seductively in the warm Tuscan breeze — the s...

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“The Right Road” by PJ Town

Submitted to Contest #239

And then I emerge, weary, into a soft, pale-yellow light. All I hear is the crunching of my footsteps on the sandy-dirt road, regular, reassuring.I push on.After a while, a new sound combines with my metronomic paces – a kind of gurgling close by. I lean over and part the grass by the side of the road. Nestling there is a tiny creature – soft, pink. I lift it out, bringing it up close to my face. It’s warm and smells of freshness.“Hello little fella,” I whisper, because whispering seems the appropriate register.

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“The Silent Treatment” by PJ Town

Submitted to Contest #238

(contains some sexual references and swearing)There he is, having a whale of a time, and me here, miserable as sin. Course, I can’t tell him anything; they’d be down on me like a ton of bricks if I as much as opened my mouth.The thing that really galls me, really gets my goat, really pisses me off – hmmm, my collection of ways to describe how totally hacked off I am is certainly coming along … and there’s another one! – is that this was all his idea.“Let’s get away for the weekend!” he said, and it was the ...

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“Beauty and a Beast” by PJ Town

Submitted to Contest #237

Once upon a time there were two kingdoms – or rather, a kingdom and a queendom – separated by a long river, called the Ibailuzea. Collectively, they despised each other with a vengeance and had been at war for centuries.For his part, King Zinikoa was quite happy that the war should continue indefinitely as it kept the peasant population down. There was nothing worse, in his mind, than to have to worry about the welfare of his subjects, so the fewer the better, as far as he was concerned … as long as enough remained to be called up to the arm...

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“Memories” by PJ Town

Submitted to Contest #236

“Remember that summer at Hayling Island?” the man says.“Yeah,” the red-headed woman replies. “In the caravan. All five of us. You couldn’t swing a cat!”I wonder why anyone would want to swing a cat. They’re nice creatures and don’t deserve that kind of treatment.Despite my distaste, I smile, because smiling seems to go down well with these people. The woman with blonde hair lays a hand on my shoulder and gives it a little squeeze.“But it was the most we could afford, wasn’t it? And we did have a lovely...

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“Finale” by PJ Town

Submitted to Contest #235

Ignoring the surrounding chaos as best he can, Ashley goes through his standard routine: lift one foot at a time onto the garden wall, leg parallel to the ground, push down gently, rub the hamstrings, swivel carefully to stretch the groin; move to the garage door, lean forward into it, arms outstretched, stick a leg out behind, back foot planted firmly on the ground, feel the hamstring, flex it slightly, repeat for the other leg; use the door for balance, lift each leg in turn, hold it by the instep of the foot, push out and back to stret...

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“Wishful Thinking” by PJ Town

Submitted to Contest #234

“I blame myself,” Martin murmured.They sat on the porch of the old cottage, the toads in the nearby pond providing background music for their conversation.“She wasn’t well though, was she?” John said by way of moral support. “There’s not much you could’ve done.”“I could’ve been with her.” Martin picked a stone out of a plant pot and threw it towards the pond; the toads stopped their croaking momentarily.“But you live in another country,” John insisted. “You have a job there. You couldn’t have just dropped every...

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Author bio

Writer of short stories, novels, screenplays, articles. Based in Lisbon and passionate about writing, film, music, Portugal, football, Portuguese football, life in general. Oh, and cats.

Shortlisted 1 story ⭐️

Contest #224
Early Bird – read story