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Barb Brown

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Dec, 2021

Stories (9)

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3 Followers

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9 Stories

167 karma pts

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The Information Highway Has No Speed Limit

Barb Brown

Submitted to Contest #285

I glance in my rear-view mirror, immediately recognizing the flashing red and blue lights coming for me since I'm the only vehicle in sight at this particular time of day. "Fuck", I mutter to myself and start looking for a safe spot to pull over. Anxiously, I stuffed my cell phone into my purse so it wasn't obvious I'd been using it while driving, which is the reason I didn't notice I was going 40 over the speed limit. Reluctantly I ease my car onto the gravel shoulder of the highway and the red and blues close in right behind...

2 likes

Happy Thanksgiving Darling

Barb Brown

Submitted to Contest #270

Thanksgiving again already, I'm thinking to myself, wondering what the dinner table will look like this year, in a melancholy kind of mood. I know it will be mostly empty chairs around the table this Thanksgiving dinner - no visitors or friends, no family either, except perhaps my son. I always find this time of year sad and depressing, but this year even more so. Summer is over and it feels like someone yanked the carpet out from under me, yet when I look around outside, there is no need to be sad and depressed. The view...

5 likes

Home Sweet Home

Barb Brown

Submitted to Contest #221

The old red brick building still beset the ambiance of the institution it once was 99 years ago. Over the years, the Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center located close to New York State Route 22, in Dover, New York, had practiced numerous experimental methods for treating patients who were classified as mentally insane; methods such as insulin shock therapy and electro-shock therapy. It was the place where neuropsychiatrist Walter Freeman created a technique for treating a widely divergent group of psychological conditions. This newly ...

3 likes

Bye-bye Birdie

Barb Brown

Submitted to Contest #184

Warning: This story does not have a happy ending, beginning, or middle Her eyes were blank, staring aimlessly through me, instead of at me. "It's called TIS", I heard someone say behind me. "It stands for Total Indifference Syndrome. It's far more common than we realize, unfortunately," the voice kept droning on and on feeding useless information into my apathetic ears. I was hearing about as much as she was while she was laying there in her hospital bed zoned out. I was born into an era preceding the digital age. ...

12 likes

Trick or Treat

Barb Brown

Submitted to Contest #169

Gazing out my kitchen window while I'm warming my hands around a steaming cup of Earl Grey tea, the reality of the change of season is here. The vibrant coloured leaves on the trees, some of them whipping around in circles in the sky from chilly wind, autumn is upon us; brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows, all the colours of fall. The date on the calendar too tells me it's here; it's the final season before the tentacles of Old Man Winter grip us.It's my favourite time of year but once my teen years approached and I reluctantly ha...

6 likes

The Final Derby

Barb Brown

Submitted to Contest #129

They finally found him, but not until he had broken surface with his arm, sticking up at a weird angle, frozen in place like a landmark, or a single goal post, something very lonely. It looked ghastly and sad at the same time. The reclusive Inn was a well-kept secret amongst the regulars and they held their clandestine fortress close to their chest. It was a members' only kind of environment, although there were no memberships held by anybody who came there. Just kindred, kindred's friends and extended family would be there ...

9 likes

Holy Crap

Barb Brown

Submitted to Contest #128

He was subdued now, sitting in a hard wooden armchair, alone in the room, his foot methodically kicking at the door in front of him making a dull thud as it hit the door, then a soft scraping noise as the sole of his runner slid down to the floor, over and over. Nobody could hear him anyway. How long had he been in this room now? It was four, maybe five hours, paying his penance, but he snickered, "It was worth it" he thought. "Next one will be even better Father", he promised himself. The stink of incense stored in...

11 likes

For the Love of Maps

Barb Brown

Submitted to Contest #124

Marjorie hadn't been there that long, but long enough that she had somewhat settled in and had developed her own new daily routine. She was sitting in her comfy chair at the table, a cozy blanket wrapped around her legs, studying the map with a hatpin poised in her hand, her expression locked in total concentration. Maps fascinated her and often occupied a good part of her daily studies; she loved a good map. She preferred her old-fashioned fold-up road map, like the ones on the racks at the local convenience store, and ...

7 likes

Mask Free

Barb Brown

Submitted to Contest #123

There was a time when wearing a mask on your face when entering a bank or financial institution would raise eyebrows and get a person immediately detained by security, and almost assuredly arrested by police. Customers in the vicinity would react in fear for their own safety, likely scrambling and racing to get away from imminent danger. Someone behind a bank teller's booth would probably be pressing on a hidden panic button but panic and chaos would permeate rapidly all through the immediate area anyway. People would be cryin...

8 likes