A.Dot Ram

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jul, 2020

Stories (35)

35 Stories

4806 karma pts

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“Our House” by A.Dot Ram

Submitted to Contest #80

I watch the swarm of bodies on the television and all I can think about is Jeremy and the text he sent me this morning: “Going to DC, Mom. It’s the day of reckoning. The heroic struggle is on. Stay safe.” He was supposed to be on his way in to work—that’s what I thought when I put the neoprene with his lunch on the kitchen table. This, of all things, feels like the day’s betrayal. “This is a serious situation,” the news announcer says as the camera pans over a sea of angry faces. The U.S. capitol has been placed on lockdown as protesters...

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“A Work in Progress” by A.Dot Ram

Submitted to Contest #78

My guest room closet is where ambition goes to die. Take, for instance, the green plastic tub of fabric. There’s the two yards of flannel meant to be the backing for my homemade face wipes. The internet said it was one of the best things you could do for the environment—ditch those cotton pads you get at the drug store in favor of reusable ones. It only took one link for me to find step-by-step instructions for making my own. A quick YouTube video taught me the recommended blanket stitch (poke the needle in from the back, move a stitch width...

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“You Can Call Me Bob” by A.Dot Ram

Submitted to Contest #76

“I normally don’t kill spiders. They’re so...big. Substantial. Plus, Charlotte’s Web. But this morning I lifted up a paper towel that I'd left on the kitchen floor overnight to try to melt some dried-on royal icing that I finally decided had been there a few weeks too long, and there was this spider wrapped up in it. It was brown and dime-sized with a thick, round abdomen. Only, when I shook it free from the wrinkled paper towel, it just shriveled up, pulling its legs in tight to its body. Then I noticed one of its legs on the floor nearby, ...

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“Page 121” by A.Dot Ram

Submitted to Contest #75

Whoever erased my memory has done a damn good job. Ninety-nine point nine percent of the time, I don't miss it at all. “My name is Tansy Thatcher and I have a good life,” I whisper to myself. I am thirty-seven. I’m head of marketing at an architecture consultancy. I have a cordial but distant relationship with my co-workers—the kind that leads to just enough collaboration to get things done, but not enough to get lost in aimless oversharing. I'm okay with this. I live with my husband Josh and cat Sprüngly in a cozy two-bedroom house in ...

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“Things My Mother Collected” by A.Dot Ram

Submitted to Contest #74

Things My Mother CollectedA list by Dr. Alex Caldwell1. PerfumeSome women have their signature scent. I thought my mom did, but it turns out that maybe her signature was her variety. There they were, three glass bottles, three little jewels sparkling on a polished silver tray on her worn white dresser. I thought I knew my mom. I thought the perfume in the short, fluted bottle, golden flowers and Swarovski crystals adorning the dome of its lid, was her scent—an ephemeral, flowery sillage, light and inoffensive. Whispers of Truth. I sprayed it...

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“The Craving” by A.Dot Ram

🏆 Winner of Contest #71

cw: miscarriage This could not wait till morning. The craving came on so sudden and intense that resisting never even crossed her mind. For some reason Claudia needed fudge. Maybe it was hormones. Maybe it was the fact that she finally had an appetite. But she needed fudge. Not the kind she usually made this time of year, melting chocolate chips in the microwave. Claudia needed the heavy, silky fudge her grandma used to make—the kind you made in a saucepan with a candy thermometer. Did you need a double broiler? Claudia wasn’t sure any...

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“The Heart Beneath the Bib” by A.Dot Ram

Submitted to Contest #69

He’s wearing a sweater vest, red and green knit argyle hugging the slight curve of his belly. I try not to stare. Mom never bought anything like this for Dad, which means that Rick must have bought this for himself. I picture him browsing a rack of sweater vests at Macy’s, muzak wafting lightly as he runs his soft, manicured fingers over the acrylic (this one’s too heavy, this one’s too itchy…) and evaluates the merits of different patterns (too loud, trapezoids aren’t really me…). This, to me, is the essence of Rick.Not that I know much abo...

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“Pants on Fire ” by A.Dot Ram

Submitted to Contest #68

It was during our wedding scene that Logan slipped me the note. I felt the crumpled paper between us as our fingers interlaced, Hermia and Lysander. I held it, willing my hand not to sweat through the message, not to sweat into his hand.I usually liked this scene, my lines all said and nothing to do but hold hands and dance and make googly eyes in the background as Pyramus and Thisbe made asses of themselves. The looks we would give, Logan Hansen and I silently vying to out-lovey-dovey each other! Tonight I raised my eyebrow in a wordless qu...

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“Talk-To-Me Xeno” by A.Dot Ram

Submitted to Contest #67

Talk-To-Me-Xeno was sold out on Earth—had been for weeks. Every galaxy-class parent in the Andromeda wanted this lovable plushy, pre-programmed with 10,000 Togrol phrases, under their Christmas tree. It wasn’t just the creature’s imploring black eyes (backlit with the intricate characters of the Togrol alphabet—brilliant, Lena thought), or its smooth brown tentacles that undulated gently when they detected a voice. Really, Lena reasoned, it was about the opportunity to immerse one’s child in the native language of the newest beings to have m...

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“Thirty Years of Writer's Block” by A.Dot Ram

Submitted to Contest #66

“It’s daylight savings this week,” I remind Cyrano. “So really 11pm feels like midnight, and somehow I’m still waking up before the sun.” “There’s always coffee,” Cyrano says. “Yes, true,” I sigh. “And there’s always HoloBack.” I wave my hand and watch the images swirl on my white living room wall. “Yes, I see you’ve been refreshing the interface on average once every ten minutes. Would you like me to block out the app to eliminate the distraction? I could report any major developments.” “No,” I say. “Knowing is not the same as con...

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“One More Rose Gold Sunset” by A.Dot Ram

Submitted to Contest #64

It was cold. Arthur’s stiff fingers fumbled through the slick, glossy pages of House Beautiful Magazine, rumpling cozy verandas and pristine pantries. This would do for kindling, he thought. He pulled the pages out and crumpled them into little balls. He would need to work faster. It would be dark soon, and Corbin would be back from his hike, and he would want s’mores, of course. First the kindling, then Arthur would put on the bigger log, watch the fire twist toward the stars and burp with a loud pop of sparks. They would sit in their fol...

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“The Wind Whispered Back” by A.Dot Ram

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #63

“Aria?” Mrs. Moore called out in her friendliest sing-song voice. “Aria, can you unmute yourself and tell us what you’re thankful for today?”Aria hid in the corner of her screen so that one eye disappeared out the side of her box on the computer screen. Twenty-four popsicle sticks. There were twenty four sticks in Mrs. Moore’s jar that she used to call on students. Usually Aria could hide inside that jar. Aria had become an expert at hiding. Not today. “Come on, honey,” the teacher coaxed. “We want to see what your leaf says.”Aria held ...

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“No Hard Feelings” by A.Dot Ram

🏆 Winner of Contest #62

Dear Winston,By the time you’re reading this, I will already be a human popsicle. I know you don't support my decision to freeze myself. Still, I want to make you understand it... Winston Solis held the letter in trembling hands. Hazia’s exuberant penmanship swarmed over several handwritten pages like ants on a mission. There she was, having the last word again. But something about the cursive made Winston’s ribs ache and his breath catch. It seemed more a piece of her than the sweaters she’d left behind in their townhouse, or the ...

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“Dating Surprises” by A.Dot Ram

Submitted to Contest #61

“Hello, Bitches and Players, and welcome to Dating Surprises!” The director stands opposite the cameraman, against a blank white wall in Crescent Moon Dojo—our first shooting location—speaking with exaggerated enthusiasm. “Our contestants for tonight are Laura and TJ. Laura is an accountant from Westwood. Her turn-ons are chocolate-covered strawberries and trashy romance novels. Her turn-offs are big ears and cheaters.” I wince to hear him say aloud the lines my co-workers typed into my profile. This is such a bad idea.“T.J. is a bartender f...

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“The Librarian and the Barbarian” by A.Dot Ram

Submitted to Contest #60

The first time he visited the library he brought a fresh candlestick and, though I was glad for the prospect of some light to warm my evening, I didn’t like him. He had this way of riffling through the books—a careless curiosity—that set me on edge. I met him on the cool slate tile of the foyer when I heard the double glass doors groan and part. “You must be Bolt?” I tipped my head in greeting, a gesture he curtly returned before walking on past me. “Well, let’s see what you’ve got in here…” His heavy, booted foot rang across the t...

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Author bio

My name is Anne. I'm a part-time writer and editor, plus a full-time mom. I've loved words all of my life and have worked with them in many capacities: as a journalist and newspaper editor, an author and freelance writer, a business communications writer, a musical theater performer, and now as a short story writer and book editor. I love telling stories that are approachable, authentic, and a little unexpected. You can learn more about me and how to get in touch at www.editsbyanne.com Shortlisted Stories: #102: God Bless the Child #92: Bigger Than the Light #90: The Kissing Tree #88: Even Princesses Need Haircuts #63: The Wind Whispered Back #54: The Little World You can listen to an audio recordings of several of my stories: "No Hard Feelings" co-narrated and produced by Magnetar_YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AjkPbLoVqE&t=5s "Moira's Day Off" narrated and produced by Katie Kanning on Unpublished Not Unknown https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GbimlEWbxM&list=PLI_SckcU5eORB9URpPCnauRKb1ip87UYp&index=3 "Talk-To-Me Xeno" narrated by Anne Ramallo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eqjj6ZWZHkI&list=PLI_SckcU5eORB9URpPCnauRKb1ip87UYp Some Inspiration: "Tell the truth through whichever veil comes to hand – but tell it." - Zadie Smith "What are the words you do not yet have? What do you need to say? What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own, until you will sicken and die of them, still in silence?" -Audre Lorde “We tell ourselves stories in order to live...We look for the sermon in the suicide... We live entirely, especially if we are writers, by the imposition of a narrative line upon disparate images, by the ‘ideas’ with which we have learned to freeze the shifting phantasmagoria which is our actual experience.” - Joan Didion "A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us." -Franz Kafka

Winning 4 stories 🏆

Contest #106

I Was Always Good at Taboo – read story

Contest #95

Moira's Day Off – read story

Contest #71

The Craving – read story

Contest #62

No Hard Feelings – read story

Shortlisted 6 stories ⭐️

Contest #102

God Bless the Child – read story

Contest #92

Bigger Than The Light – read story

Contest #90

The Kissing Tree – read story

Contest #88

Even Princesses Need Haircuts – read story

Contest #63

The Wind Whispered Back – read story