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Anna Frederiksen-Washington

Author on Reedsy Prompts since May, 2022

Stories (31)
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31 Stories

452 karma pts

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Dances by She Lake

Submitted to Contest #292

The honey-coloured light trickled through the plantation shutters and over the windowpane. A half glass of shiraz and inches away a slightly dried paintbrush laid on the bench illuminated by the new day. The candle had burned down to find its inevitable end.- Let’s go walking, maybe we can spot a dolphin or two, he said.- Did you sleep? Leyla asked.- Ah, who knows, what is sleep? A dark well full of runaway dreams.He smiled to himself.-But I think I did something rather interesting.She laughed.- It’s too early to get philosophical.There were...

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Alicia

Submitted to Contest #289

It was Sunday afternoon at the wine bar. People had lined up outside the door to get a good seat at one of the tables or barrels near the stage and the place was quickly filling up. This was a popular spot at the trendy suburb on the edge of town and it was not only the locals that liked getting together for a glass of wine while listening to a live band. People came from everywhere, even interstate. Kirsten had helped her husband to set up the equipment on the small stage and was now taking a break in the little courtyard out the back. She ...

5 likes 3 comments 3
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1982, Road of dreams

Submitted to Contest #285

The phone box smelled of cigarettes, dirt, and metal. Besides, it was terribly hot in there. I tried to keep the door open with one foot as I inserted the coins in the coin slot, but the traffic was loud, and I had to close it. I stared at the green phone trying to imagine the scene at the other end where my dad would be sitting in his black leather chair with a cup of coffee and the pipe resting in the ashtray. I heard the signals go through and eventually the coins dropped into the coin box as his voice answered.- Hello.- Hi, it is just me...

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The big bad wolf

Submitted to Contest #277

It is the end of November and the darkest time of the year in the Northern part of Sweden. The snow has fallen, and the trees are dressed in their white coats for the long winter. People are getting ready to celebrate Christmas and the village is alight with a pageant of pretty lights. There is a scent of gingerbread and mulled wine in the air, where people gather at the market to buy those little trinkets that end up as a gift under the tree. Towns people have been busy handcrafting wooden toys, knitting jumpers and hats, making candles and...

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O'l Luther

Submitted to Contest #275

The road between Quorn and Hawker seemed to go on forever and the persistent rain on the windscreen did not help to break the monotony of the scenery outside. There was nothing out there except dried-up saltbush and dead trees standing as a reminder of how harsh this landscape could be and how hard it was to survive out here in this bleak and barren land. George and Elsa had passed the ruins of an old homestead closer to town and wondered how anybody could make a living out here. It was not for nothing they called this area the Outback and t...

6 likes 2 comments 2
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The driftwood chandelier

Submitted to Contest #271

Alicia loved beachcombing whether it was on the local beach near where she lived or on one of the more remote tropical beaches she visited while on holiday. The windowsill in her living room was filled with unusual objects and when the light captured them in the late afternoon the colors flickered and danced across the room. There were colored glass bottles, broken pieces of crockery, well washed by time, rounded into interesting soft shapes. A dried seahorse hung from a nylon string in the window and sea urchins and shells filled the bench ...

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Stories from the Emporium

Submitted to Contest #251

The good thing about leaving the mainland and settling on an island is that it is all up to you to make it happen.Anita sat on the porch looking through the branches of the old pepper tree towards the bay where the water was an intense blue now in the late afternoon. She took another sip of the chilled wine and thought that she should walk down to the foreshore and watch the seabirds even though she felt tired from painting and cleaning. American River was known for its birdlife, and it was not unusual to see pelicans and black swans swimmin...

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Eyes of the beholder

Submitted to Contest #242

The bell rang as the door opened and the moment she heard the thump, thump, thump from feet shaking off the snow on the mat, she knew it was him. None of the other customers brought the snow inside. They cleaned their shoes on the doormat outside. But not him. Susan could not work out why he did it, if it were to annoy her as he knew she was the one that would mop up the water once the slush melted on the wooden floor. She turned just as he brushed the snow off his hat and hung it together with the coat on the stand. He rubbed his hands toge...

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Mona Lisas eyes

Submitted to Contest #242

It is Sunday morning, and the streets are almost empty. Some early risers are gathering around the coffee wagon in the city square, or perhaps they are the late-night party goers on the way home after a night out. This is a city that never sleeps, not even on an early Sunday morning. Well, some places are dimmed down allowing the night staff to carry on with their work in privacy. The Art Gallery is one of them. It is the time when the cleaners are busy wiping the shiny parquetted floors and dusting the leather furniture making the rooms loo...

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A secret in the shed

Submitted to Contest #242

Tom had not been long in the small town but had already established a name for himself as a skillful gardener. The skills he had learned on the mainland as a horticulturist came in handy here in the remote part of Tasmania and the customers appreciated innovative ideas for a more sustainable garden. A few of the old residents needed a hand, especially with the heavier tasks, and Tom was always happy to oblige. What his customers did not know was that he would take a photo of them which he kept on his computer in the shed, using them as a mod...

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The Northerly

Submitted to Contest #240

The last step creaked as Tom walked down the staircase. It was there to remind him that it had to be fixed before somebody stepped through the old wood. But not today. It was far too hot already although the sun had only just come up over the saltbush horizon. He did not get much sleep; it was almost impossible to fall asleep on these hot nights and it was the fourth day now in a row with temperatures around 40 degrees. You would think you would get used to it out here where there was little shade from the scorching sun, but the heat always ...

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Miranda and the blueberry bush

Submitted to Contest #239

Miranda did not have a good day at school. She knew already in the morning when she put on her new shoes that the other girls would tease her. They always did when she wore something new. The black shoes were comfortable, and she liked the zip as opposed to shoelaces. It was so much easier. She knew they were expensive; her parents usually bought good quality clothing. Mum said to ignore the girls when they teased her and said it would get better when she started her second year. But this was grade two and it had not got better.- Look at you...

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Life in a small town

I leaned the powder blue vintage bicycle against the old shed. For a moment I was taken back through the years to when I was a young girl, around about thirteen years old riding my bicycle through the cobbled streets of Amsterdam. I smiled to myself. That was a long time ago. Now after all those years ago in another land and another time the smell of the rosemary that I was cutting brought me back to the present. I was trimming the rosemary plants in the garden section of the nursery and the beautiful scent was strong and intoxicating. I lik...

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A Lucia to remember

Submitted to Contest #232

A Lucia to rememberWith the passing of time, you have the luxury of perspective, and those moments you shared with others long ago take on a different meaning. Usually, it is the nice things we remember pushing the more unpleasant moments behind. I was born in a small rural town in the heart of Sweden. Warm, long summer days and cold, dark, snowy winters. Frozen lakes, skiing and skating, building snow men and watching the snowflakes fall outside my window, imagining the world outside. Traditions were something we held close to us, especiall...

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The First Snow

Submitted to Contest #227

November is a very dark month in Stockholm. This year it had seemed longer and more depressing than in previous times. Peter would drag himself out of bed in the mornings and found it hard to get motivated to start a new day. It was dark when he went to work, and it was dark when he finished at the end of the day. It was not welcoming to come home to an empty, dark cold house and he found himself longing for the change of season. This Sunday morning was different. The first snow had fallen during the night and now as he stood in the verandah...

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