Bob Faszczewski

“Sounds from the Silence” by Bob Faszczewski

         Wind howled through the trees along Route 611 with a vengeance so strong you would swear its main mission this November was to rip the entire Ocean City area off the map and hurl it as a package into the Atlantic that surrounded it.     The time--around midnight on a Saturday night--the screeching of the breeze stood alone as the solitary sound inhabiting this stretch of Delmarva adjacent to the Maryland section of Assateague Island.     &...

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“You Don't Necessarily Reap What You Sow” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #118

“Can’t wait to get back into the fields and get my hands dirty in God’s green earth,” farmer Frank Albertson said.            Every year for the past 15 he had carefully arranged his corn plants in perfectly constructed rows--and carefully irrigated each of his three fields so they would bring him the greatest yield to produce the most profit--and the ideal climate of Caroline County had never failed to work its magic on his crops.          &n...

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“Unmasked at Last” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #117

                                       Unmasked at Last    For many years the rundown farmhouse had stood abandoned at the end of the country road in one of the dark forests of the northern Delmarva Peninsula.    The farmhouse appeared to have no useful value to anyone and, as far as anyone knew, no one had liv...

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“Off the Track--of Common Sense” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #116

     A misplaced boyhood adventure could have meant not only the final Summer of elementary school for myself and my best friend. It could, theoretically,  have resulted in the last summer on this earth for both of us.       Sure, we had bent the rules many times in the past--like the time we stole Old Man Pinto’s grapes and escaped serious injuries after scaling his fence just ahead of the guard dogs in his backyard vineyard. Seldom, however, had we actually put our lives on the li...

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“Adrift in a Sea of Nothing” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #115

     Following World War I, veterans newly released from military service looked for ways to feed their families, “work the land” and enjoy an honest day’s work in the fresh air of the Midwest.      Among many agricultural areas throughout the Midwest, they gravitated to central Iowa and soon mapped out a new small town in which to plant their family roots as well as their crops. They came together in 1930 to establish a completely new community they named Winding Mountain Pass along the bank...

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“Programmed into the Netherworld” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #113

                        Programmed into the Netherworld      Tom Jepson worked hard as a project manager for Apex Computer Consulting. In fact, every one of his many clients would rely solely on Tom’s expertise. If he had taken one of the extremely infrequent vacations he took during his two-decade tenure at Apex, his clients would endanger the success of important projects rather than entrust ope...

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“Much More Than Floods” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #112

                                             Much More Than Floods      The cold, dark dreariness of the skies above Dover matched Devon Johnston’s mood this day. In fact, it had reflected his mood and the daily routines of both he and most of his neighbors throughout Devon’s life, but his mood...

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“Road Trip From Hell” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #110

            As I drove cautiously along a deserted road in the Virginia-North Carolina countryside, the passing scenery reminded me of the forest scene from "Deliverance." To add to the negative atmosphere, my least favorite Realtor office colleague sat next to me. The stillness on this Saturday night made me feel like a solo mortician closing up shop after the last mourner following the wake of the least popular crotchety old man in the neighborhood.  My fellow Realtor, Jill M...

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“Workday Nightmare--Lifetime Dream” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #109

           During John Wilkenski’s youth in Elizabeth, New Jersey he had played out his Fountain of Youth act well--so well, in fact, that none of his neighbors ever guessed that the age he portrayed in his daily life quite skillfully disguised his actual, and much older, chronological self. What they also didn’t realize was his “staged act”  would come in handy in the future in a way neither he nor they had ever imagined.           ...

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“Home Renovation TV on Steroids” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #108

                         Home Renovation TV on Steroids1          I stood apprehensively, yet assuredly, tightly gripping the can of gasoline in my garage. Then I struck a match, ready to destroy the dwelling that, of late, had brought so much mental--and potentially, fiscal--destruction to the lives of myself and my wife.         ...

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“Eulogy for a Mystery Man” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #107

Fred Harris lit up the world of everyone whose lives he touched, including mine and all the members of my family. His many readers and fans religiously read his Daily Post columns on local government and finance, and considered them as kind of unofficial operations manuals for the conduct of most municipal governments in suburban Northern and Central New Jersey and enabled reporters, including me, to help area residents turn back years of gross overtaxation or lack of sufficient services and infrastructure. Fred also co-founded the East Some...

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“Dopplegangers at the OK Corral” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #106

     A good half-dozen years before the famous Shootout at the OK Corral between the Earp Brothers, Doc Holliday and the Claiborne-Clanton Gang in Tombstone, Az., a tale about a far more unusual gunfight in the  nearby small town of Tumble Creek took root in local legend.         As the story made its way around the Arizona territory, Tumble Creek and its surrounding towns had become “depositories” for the riches accumulated by many who had found ways to profit handsomely ...

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“Not Seeing Is Believing” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #105

                              Not Seeing Is Believing      Jarod had struggled academically his entire life. Now, finally, he saw himself on the verge of a real future. High school graduation in his rearview mirror and a promising career in IT only awaited his completion of the three-month course--starting the following week.      He had scour...

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“Resetting the Clock” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #104

                                               Resetting the Clock                                          &nbs...

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“Not So Special Blue Plate Special” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #103

NOT SO SPECIAL BLUE PLATE SPECIAL “Crash!!” The sound of all the plates on the breakfast table tumbling to the floor followed by a bloodcurdling scream. The scream emanating more from shock than fear, came from Carey Stupolski, a guest in the home of her uncle, Stan Fizurski, and his family because she had recently witnessed a few potentially dangerous confrontations between her parents in her own home. “The craziest thing,” Carol said, “I sat eating a plate of Uncle Stan’s delicious pancakes and reached for a glass of o...

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