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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jun, 2020
Submitted to Contest #57
“My grandma’s grandpa lived in Danville, Illinois. He was a farmer. Grandpa Jeptha was a good friend of President Abraham Lincoln. President Lincoln lived in Springfield, Illinois. He was a lawyer. When President Lincoln had trials in Danville, he stayed in the home of Grandpa Jeptha. They played games and talked. They were great friends. Grandpa Jeptha was very sad when President Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth.” -- Timothy Colfax, Mrs. Slater’s Class, Grade 3 May 14, 1852 County Courthouse, Vermilion County, Illinois Th...
Submitted to Contest #56
(In 1946 nearly half of the world was either a colony or occupied territory of another country. The Soviet Union actively participated in most of the world’s liberation movements. By 1975 few colonies remained.) Moscow, Oct. 1945 Alexi Dzerzhinsky fidgeted in his padded chair. He couldn’t decide if he was nervous or if his back just hurt again. He wondered if his old bones might just collapse into his desk chair. When he felt this way, he tended to throw the seat cushion against the farthest wall of his office until his back pain demande...
Submitted to Contest #55
“Does Sylvia know?” “I’m not sure.” “No. Seriously. Does she know?” asked Gwen’s grandmother, leaning forward from her rocker and putting her face closer to Gwen’s mom Kathy. “Mother, it’s so hard to tell.” “I worry so much about all this. It’s terrible!” sighed Grandma Mary tugging on the bottom button of the beige cardigan she always wore. “I know.” “I thought about Rose and Harold last night, and poor little Sylvia, and I couldn’t go to sleep until well past midnight.” Gwen and I were finishing lunch at a little table in the...
Submitted to Contest #54
“Miguel, I get that you can’t teach, but try, man! We’re running out of time!” “I’m Megl. That’s the name on both my plaques at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.” “Yeah, but your birth certificate says Miguel, right?” “My legal name is Megl.” “Whatever. Look we don’t have time to argue about your name. I’m gonna be on The Ellen Show in two weeks and my spot has to be perfect. It’s got to be p-e-r-f-e-c-t. Do you understand?!” Megl Sanchez looked at the frustrated half-done man-child bellowing at him with the softest eyes that he coul...
Submitted to Contest #53
Ginger Cottage was billed as the Villa Palmieri for our summer pandemic Decameron. The photographs on the website must have been taken the second renovations were completed 15 years ago. If you compared the photos to what the cottage actually looked like, you could, with a bit of imagination, conclude that the presentation was not an outright lie … but it was about as close to an outright lie as one could get without lying outright. What awful thing from my past compares to these present circumstances? This is a game I play with myself so...
Submitted to Contest #52
Tomorrow is market day in Kibworth. Hudde Cook said he was taking five Kibworth crosses to the market. “Jack, I thought we sold all that goose’s eggs years ago. Imagine how surprised I was when I found five crosses,” said Hudde, twisting his head on his now crooked shoulders to look up at me. I laughed and patted my friend on the shoulder. That’s what we did with the golden eggs. No one around here could afford a whole golden egg. After we turned them into golden crosses, we could sell every egg that goose could lay. Hudde, Jack Pawley...
Submitted to Contest #51
Take nothing for granted. Ever. At my age, you come to know that anything important must be done today, as there will be few tomorrows. Something had been left undone, and it troubled me. Blunderbore should be buried. Finally. After all these years. It wasn’t right to just leave him there. He wasn’t a person, but he was like a person. He could talk. He had thoughts. He might have even had a soul. I was so young – when it happened – Jack, as they called me then, was just a boy. Blunderbore nearly killed me. I was scared. But it’s been y...
Submitted to Contest #50
Sit down, son. I want you to learn something about your family and your father. I had hoped I wouldn’t have to tell you this story. I kind of wanted to keep it a secret. But I watched you today going about your business, and frankly, I didn’t like what I saw. Now, now. Yes, I know. But. Here’s the key: You’re not a “de Wystan,” but I am your father. You’re not a “de Wystan” because I’m not one either. I wasn’t born Jean de Wystan. I was born simple Jack Nash. I grew up in a shack. We had nothing, and we were hungry most days. Until I got som...
Submitted to Contest #49
“So, you waited 28 years for your wife to die. Did I understand you correctly?” June Maxwell had stared at her notes so long without making sense of them that she wondered if she was ill. She read the words over and over, but no meaning formed from them. As her words echoed back to her ears, they sounded more accusatory than she intended. “Well. Not exactly. I was trapped in a marriage, and I waited 28 years for it to end.” “With her death?” “Yes, from cancer. Cervical cancer. Actually, it had metastasized everywhere by the end.” ...
Submitted to Contest #48
You’d think they’d promote me like Beyoncé. But they’d rather I be dead ‘n’ gone. No, man. Don’t go! Please stay. I don’t get much company and never anyone my age. Nah. I won’t hurtcha. That’s for sure. Look at these little arms. Li’l chicken wings. That’s what my brother calls ‘em. I know you think you know why I’m here - but do you really know why I’m here? I mean really? A WITCH? You’ve seriously got to be kidding me. Good lord! That’s really what they say? Dang! That’s cold! Well, when they’re talking to me, they say I have a g...
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