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Bob Faszczewski

Author on Reedsy Prompts since May, 2021

Stories (151)
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151 Stories

3019 karma pts

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Up from the Underbrush

Submitted to Contest #203

          Tom Potenski had crawled through the underbrush of his high school career like a fugitive trapped in a never-ending forest. He faced an uncertain future with limited prospects and no plan on how to move forward.         He had managed to bluff his way to decent grades at St. Jerome’s High School, particularly in English and history. He couldn’t see how this had prepared him for anything except standing in front of a classroom trying to jam som...

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Friendship Renewed

Submitted to Contest #202

                “Our mission, should we choose to accept it. . .”          The words blast from the speakers of my time machine. I had assembled it in my Maryland beachside backyard with the help of a few friends from the Wallops Island Flight Facility recruited for weekend duty on my fantasy project.        My friend Harry and myself hop onboard the high tech sedan as I set the contr...

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Loose Lips Sink More Than Ships

Submitted to Contest #200

       After operating one of the most successful and popular taverns in Annapolis for 30 years Johnny Spertulla was happy to hang it up in a move to the quiet Eastern Shore resort town of Snow Hill, Maryland. Little did he know that a group of his new neighbors would attempt to dash his hopes for a new life filled with weekend mornings of fishing the Atlantic and whiling away his afternoons in minimal stakes poker games.      On his first day in town, Johnny stopped by the local gr...

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A Real Page Turner

Submitted to Contest #199

          As John Jordan turned over the first shovelful of soil at the groundbreaking ceremony for his new insurance office in the Rehobeth Beach Coastal Mall he struck an unusually hard object. He reached down to retrieve what felt like hardened cardboard.        He had found some type of book, like a journal or diary.         John wanted to begin a new chapter in his life with his new business, so he hesitated to op...

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Writing His Own Happy Ending

Submitted to Contest #198

          Tom Potenski felt his future closing in on him like the gates of a medieval castle slamming shut on invading armies. He faced the uncertainty of very limited prospects without a clue or a plan.         He had managed to claw his way to decent grades at St. Anselm’s High School, particularly in English and history, but the idea of standing in front of a classroom trying to jam some knowledge into the brains of ungrateful, pimply-faced teenagers...

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Man in the Mirror

Submitted to Contest #197

       A December-like chill overtook me soon after I began to feel my way along the darkened and, I thought, deserted, area of the Pokomoke State Forest. The sudden burst of arctic cold almost knocked me off my feet into the darkened abyss.  I regained my balance just in time to avoid falling head first into the abandoned well.  The frigid air blew up from the hole, not in the middle of winter, but in mid-June.        Until I came in contact with the well sweat ...

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Balancing the Ledger

Submitted to Contest #196

    As John Jordan turned over the first shovelful of soil at the groundbreaking ceremony for his new insurance office in the Rehobeth Beach Coastal Mall he struck an unusually hard object. Although it seemed like a rock, when John reached down to retrieve it, it felt like hardened  cardboard.        He had found some type of book, like a journal or diary. Badly-smeared  ink scrawls revealed the entries on pages stuck together by what looked like dried blood.   &...

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Recycling Young Lives

Submitted to Contest #195

           As trash collection truck driver Tommy Robinson sat down for his second cup of coffee in the break room of Atlas Disposal Services he tried to again rid himself of the stench of packing other people’s discards into his truck.                “Thought I had gotten used to this rotten job,” he said, “but this week tops them all. Today, while tooling my way through the overprivileged Watchung Mountain subur...

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Tempest at the Seawall

Submitted to Contest #194

                                            Tempest at the Seawall                “Ms. Josephson your husband died after drinking a cocktail laced with curare, one of the deadliest poisons known to man. The fact that you kept your honeymoon cruise a se...

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Chicken Little's Revenge

Submitted to Contest #193

                          Chicken Little’s Revenge         As dusk quickly enveloped the abandoned farm, Sam Jones struggled to get his heavy package into the grain elevator. Making sure that the rotting grain covered the package completely, he securely locked the elevator’s lid in place.  Then he climbed down from his perch and sped back to his farm. Apparently, no one...

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One Man's Booty

Submitted to Contest #192

                                              One Man’s Booty         On a sunny spring day on Maryland’s Eastern Shore cousins Jon and Megan hiked from their parents’ West Ocean City condo to a deserted section of the Assateague Island National Park.     &...

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Goalline Turnover

Submitted to Contest #191

      Wanted high school football coach to lead championship-caliber team.        The ad immediately caught the eye of the former high school football star as he paged through the local Bonn Bugel newspaper in the rundown kitchen of the fleabag motel five miles outside of the Maryland suburb he had called home since completing rehab in the Shoreline Health Recovery Unit six months ago.       Contrary to the beliefs of many of the tongue-wagging upp...

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Turnover at the Buzzer

Submitted to Contest #190

          After spending my high school gridiron career on the sidelines watching spoiled rich kids hog the spotlight I made up my mind to run across the goal line for the score that would earn me the recognition I so richly deserved.                   I didn’t realize that running in for that touchdown would put me in the last quarter of my game of life.         &...

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House Flipping Into Eternity

Submitted to Contest #188

Sure, the glorified shanty had all the rustic charm of a Little House on the Prairie episode. But its price tag of $120,000 probably made it the bargain basement buy of the decade. Curb appeal didn’t exist for the rundown cabin, but a few steps from the entrance you stepped into one of the most beautiful lakefront stretches of forest he had ever laid eyes on. Then, after gingerly ascending the crooked front steps, Tom Cupiskin peeled back several layers of cobwebs on the porch and turned the ancient doorknob with his gloved hands. The kn...

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Defeat of the Mountain Curse

Submitted to Contest #186

      Alpine darkness descended on the medieval Durkulin Castle like a death shroud wrapping a corpse.    Attorney John Stimpson tried his best to close his eyes in sleep, but his subconscious thoughts and his recurring nightmares kept him from getting the rest he so desperately needed.       John’s life recently had gone off the rails with no apparent explanation until he began digging deeper into his troubled ancestry. That investigation had led him to the eerie room whe...

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