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Althea Leadbetter

Author on Reedsy Prompts since May, 2025

Stories (8)

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6 Followers

9 Following

8 Stories

4 karma pts

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Dust Bowl Boys

Althea Leadbetter

For Joanie Wilson and Floyd DeMarco, The Great Depression wasn’t depressing at all. Sure, they were starving, all ribs and collarbones. Floyd held on to jutting hip bones instead of love handles and felt ribs where there should have been breasts. But there, in the back of the rumbling freight train, two friends shared their first time together, and that was all that mattered. Floyd noticed nothing out of the ordinary. He had only a basic, animal knowledge of sex, supplemented by tales of outrageous escapades from his older brother, who, in ...

1 like

Gasoline

Althea Leadbetter

Trigger warning for briefly mentioned SW, physical abuse, described nudity GASOLINE I went thirty two years, eight months, and sixteen days without knowing I was gay. Until that evening, with the prostitute in the passenger seat of my Ford Ranger. Our conversation had lapsed. Cordelia (but just call me Cory) told me about her pimp, Ronnie, that she was running away from, explained the bruises and spared no gory detail. I was trying to keep my eyes on the road in front of me- Seward Highway. The setting sun peeked through the driver side win...

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The Silver Star

Althea Leadbetter

“Living with my grandpa is the best thing ever,” Danny announced to his sixth grade class. It was the last show and tell before summer break, so he’d saved the best for last. “He’s kind of old, so he doesn’t cook a lot, which is a good thing because he’s not very good at cooking and it means I can eat cereal instead.”“Danny!” Grandpa feigned offense. But it was true.The kids laughed. Maybe at Danny, maybe at his joke- he wasn’t so sure, but he liked laughing, so he smiled anyways. He surveyed the classroom and saw the only person that really...

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The Many Wives of Bulls-Eye Get-it-Guy

Althea Leadbetter

WARNING FOR: Mentions of domestic abuse, drugs, unsavory relationships, and unbridled hatred of Jack Kerouac. I stand by what I said. THE MANY WIVES OF BULLS-EYE GET-IT-GUY “For most, there comes a day where you are no longer young. You look in the mirror and say, fuck, who’s that old guy, and then you go out and buy a convertible and have sex with a prostitute and then the next day your back hurts and you sell the car because you’re not a young man anymore. You settle down and forget what it is to be alive. But I’m proud to have never had...

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Suburbia (Book Clubs and Meth)

Althea Leadbetter

Trigger warning for book clubs and meth.This was a weird one and a really short one. I couldn't think of much for this week's prompts! But I'm proud to have made something at least. Suburbia (Book Clubs and Meth)I stared at the women in our parlor and told them the biggest lie of my life.“That’s not my son, that’s not my son, that isn’t my son.”I repeated it over and over. I thought that if I said it enough, it might come true. If I just kept saying it until I died I wouldn’t have to hear anything else ever again. But really, it just made m...

3 likes

Into the Den

Althea Leadbetter

WARNING FOR: Domestic abuse, violence, suicide, drug abuse My emo vampire debut. Anyways, here it is. INTO THE DEN The Hustler girl was in my studio apartment, fixing me coffee in nothing but black lace panties. I wished she would go away. A girl like Stevie looks better in a dark club or centerfold in a magazine where you can’t smell the heavy stink of coffee beans and hunger on her breath, where you can’t see the dark circles under her desperate eyes and the little folds of skin at the corners of her mouth. She’s out of place in the grey...

1 like

BLESSED BE

Althea Leadbetter

TRIGGER WARNING: Religious abuse of a child, physical violence, mentions of substance use BLESSED BE My dearest Moses, The time has come to tell you the truth, for lying was my only sin. But it was a sin consecrated in love, a sin committed to protect you. To protect us. God is an understanding master, and I die peacefully, knowing that He will absolve me of my wrongdoing, and accept me into his kingdom of heaven. In a little Virginia town, far east from here, there is a lone headstone with no body beneath it. A carved lamb rests atop ...

2 likes

The Loneliest Man in the World (Dines with our Primitivologist in Yukon, 1961)

Althea Leadbetter

The Loneliest Man in the World (Dines with our Primitivologist in Yukon, 1961) Émile Marceau Renarde appeared in the sky at 17:30. The rumbling engine of the tandem ski-plane awoke the huskies outside, who promptly abandoned their sleep for howling. Bain, the lead dog, only stirred from his post-meal slumber when Roy stood up from his armchair. His groan, the cursing under his breath, the cracking of bones, it was all louder than the approaching aircraft. He zipped up his coat and staggered towards the porch, Bain in tow, to watch the plane ...

2 likes