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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about someone who has long since quit but decides to go another round for old time’s sake.

Posted in Adults on Oct 28, 2022

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✍️ 38 stories

“Back in the Saddle Again” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #166

           Like the old Gene Autry song says, “I’m back in the saddle again.” I have been thinking that I retired too young, just because I started my career at a relatively early age, so I had a full pension before regular retirement age.  I am aware that I have been driving my wife crazy by my continual presence in the house, getting in her way. I know that she has been too nice to say anything, but I can see it in her eyes. Teaching was pretty much my entire life, ...

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“Inadequate” by Nikki Potgieter

Submitted to Contest #166

I hate it when people ask me, “When are you going to start a family?” Even the word family brings up a complicated series of emotions for me. Growing up, there wasn’t much to look up to in the way of role models, so I always thought that that was how people treated one another. The stupid, angsty teenager that I was, often thought that I’d rather be alone than be part of something that I hated. Luckily, life has a good sense of humour – I met an amazing man with whom to spend my life. “When are you going to start a family?” This is family. I...

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“Finding the Will” by Rama Shaar

Submitted to Contest #166

“Come back, Will; we really need you!” I hesitated. My ear was pressed against the cool glass of the phone, now almost dripping with condensation. Why do my ears always do that? They get so hot and turn so red; you could practically see the steam hissing out of them. “Hello?” “I’m here.” “Will, please!” “You know I can’t.” “You can. It’s time to let it go! It’s not as bad as you think!” “I can’t.” I heard Linda heave the heaviest sigh, laden with desperation and disappointment. Then the call ended without a goodbye. I don’t blame her b...

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“Running in circles” by Ela Mikh

Submitted to Contest #166

My dad was famous. I don’t think I really understood what it meant when I was little. He was always surrounded by attention and frequently left for days at a time but so did many other dads in our community. People traveled for work, had meetings, and got home late but around the time I was turning five, I started to realize that my dad was different. When we went to the store, people would stop and talk to him, to shake his hand. It was probably good that it was all before selfies became a thing – he wasn’t big on picture-taking.  Now ...

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“Digging Up The Past” by Isobel Tynan

Submitted to Contest #166

Digging Up The PastSensitive content-Contains a reference to a missing personMISSING. That first September teaching, in my home-town university, the poster was everywhere. Plastered onto shopfronts, nail-gunned to weathered, wooden poles, pinned to each faculty’s bulletin-board.The subject of the poster was a grinning young man, in billowing graduation robes, his mortar board skew-ways. Clutching his hand, was a tiny blonde girl, wearing too-big fairy wings, laughing up at him.“His little sister,” Joan, the new Dean, told me.“...

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“Game On” by Olivia Pomin

Submitted to Contest #166

Football was my passion, perhaps the greatest passion of all. But alas, all passions come to an end at some point, don’t they? I hung up my cleats after my life almost came to an end, a tragic experience ending my thoughts of going pro. And I never looked back on it. But, when the chance arises, you have to take it….right?  I sat on the bleachers, Carolina blue and white hat on, and the number 87 painted in navy ink on my face. That used to be my number…but now it belonged to Grady, my best friend, and the new star quarterback. Now do...

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“The Weavers” by Haley Roeder

Submitted to Contest #166

Time is an illusion to most, but not to Vrijeme, and not in the usual sense. Vrijeme can touch the fabric of space-time between her fingers, a physical thing that can stretch and mold. She can pinch a piece of the cosmos and tug at it until it forms a long thin yarn and then she can weave it with other pieces until it forms a river, a building, a planet, a dog. Those are one of her favorites, dogs. Her sister Ruimte can then animate the fabric, rousing it to move and sway, breathe, and live. But after an eternity of this, Ruimte became ...

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“Freedom 95” by VJ Hamilton

Submitted to Contest #166

Elliott retired years ago and Maxmillion Pennyworth, his financial advisor, compliments him on his glowing health. Until today, when he frowns. “The challenge, Elliott, is longevity risk.” “Longevity?” Elliott chuckles. “That’s a nice problem to have.” “In these high-inflation times, you might outlive your assets. That’s not so nice.” Maxmillion says. “Of course, you could consider a ‘top up’… do you have a preference for right or left arm?” “Right, right…” Elliott has been nodding along as usual to Maxmillion’s polished phrases and is caugh...

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“Just Breathe.” by Frederic Aurelien

Submitted to Contest #166

“Jesus, if I knew the weather would be so bad, I wouldn’t have agreed to come out tonight,” Johnny murmured to himself as he grabbed his wet fedora hat from the passenger side of his Model T Ford. He walked toward the distant sound of laughter and jazz that hummed beneath the tattering rain until he saw rose pink lights that read, Big Easy Cuisine, shining against the blackened New Orleans sky. Women with fancy fur coats and short black dresses scuttled in, followed by men with dark blazers and matching scarf ties. As he walked toward the do...

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“Ball and Chain” by R. N. Jayne

Submitted to Contest #166

Warning: Strong language, non-explicit hebephilia. Reader discretion is advised.***Jasper’s phone’s fluty notification alert dinged. It was her. A jaunty grin split across his sun-chapped lips. He had been waiting for the go-ahead; this welcome development fortified his resolve to bear the heat. Satisfaction flooded his pleasure receptors like contrast fluid pumped through an IV.Though the evening soccer game was winding down, the sun displayed staying power. Jasper’s smoke-black Jetta hadn’t yet reached inferno status; however, judging by t...

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“Professional Courtesy” by Francis Dagmar

Submitted to Contest #166

Time is seldom generous; when it passes it tends to bequeath only regret and longing. For many, the sorrow of unfulfilled potential that plagues them at the end of their days is life’s final indignity. For artists, especially those whose lives are governed by a desperate desire for justice, leaving work undone brings the added burden of having left a hole in eternity.Dainne Folter had spent a lifetime perfecting her skills. Her first apprenticeship had begun when she was only eight seasons old, helping her father on his rounds. By the time t...

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“Hoping For a Blessing” by Michael Jefferson

Submitted to Contest #166

The silver armor of the approaching order of knights gleams with menace as they advance toward King Quentin Kaloric’s castle. Four knights detach themselves from the order, their metal shoes clanking loudly as they cross the drawbridge. Still standing at attention outside of the castle, their battle flags flying, the figures of the other hundred knights appear to fade into the moonlit night. Despite the warmth of his oversized robe, King Quentin shivers as he watches the four knights get closer, their metal shoes leaving a trail of blood...

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“Temptation” by Lan Taylor

Submitted to Contest #166

It’s hard to explain what drives temptation in human beings. Some say it’s a lack of self-control. Some say it’s selfishness. I say it’s a desire to be loved in a different way than you’re accustomed to, because consistency generates an itch for more. Routine is peaceful, until peaceful becomes boring. And no one deserves to live in a boring orbit of routine. So scientific. Maybe that’s how I justify walking down to my friend’s apartment lobby to meet him halfway. I see him just outside on his phone, in a worn out grey T-shirt, black jea...

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“For old time´s sake” by Eileen Nunez

Submitted to Contest #166

They all look nervous, they all check their phones every five seconds, they all close their eyes and mumble something they clearly memorized, some of them bite their nails and this girl in front of me is clearly praying the lord she gets the spot. It amuses me, it really does, because when I see them, I relive the emotions I felt every time I had a meeting to prove myself to someone.  I hope I could sit with every one of them and tell them that it is better to surrender to whatever life has planned for them, trust what they know and wha...

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“The Long Way Back ” by Carla Carvallo

Submitted to Contest #166

Summer in the cabin means a whole new set of opportunities. It means a vast supply of watermelons from the farmer's market. It means a clean slate, a chance to reinvent my washed-up self. The return to the cabin means its set of promises is renewed entirely for me. When Dad cuts the engine and our Volkswagen settles in the gravel, I know what awaits me as soon as I hop out. Without a hint of hesitation, I break into a sprint passing one, two, and three houses until I reach the red door with the peonies surrounding the doorstep. I pound on th...

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🌟 Similar prompts

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Contest #166

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Ended on 23:59 - Oct 07, 2022 EST

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Title: Letting go

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