Charles Stucker

“Iago's Choice” by Charles Stucker

Submitted to Contest #67

The television shows a car's flaming wreckage. On screen, the anchorman announces, "This was one of two similar scenes, thirty minutes ago. Both the candidate for president and their running mate were killed by coordinated rocket attacks. The assailants remained unseen. Police are asking anyone..."You tune out the rest. You know what happened- she did. Your boss took you under her wing seventeen years ago. You know her like you know your own family. Nothing is too low for her. Vipers disown her for being too low a snake. There she comes, int...

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“ Standing Room” by Charles Stucker

Submitted to Contest #64

"Hey kid, want to earn some money?" The man asking looks like a wealthy foreigner; nice clothes, shoes, well fed and groomed. I'm short and thin, barefoot and wearing ragged discards. At seventeen, I am often mistaken for twelve, because I have never had a day when I ate enough to keep my stomach from feeling empty."What work and how much?""Ten taka to carry a message. No peeking at it.""How far?" Sometimes they want you to take things across the border. I won't go there for less than two thousand. It's twelve days on foot. Each way."Coffee ...

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“Burning Desire” by Charles Stucker

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. Life in Texas has changed me from the woman I once was. Clearing brush involves eliminating leaves, so Mike burns them late every spring, when seasonal rain means the fire won't spread. This year he's off chasing someone on ranger business, so our nine-years-old son, Cecil, must take the part of a man."You're doing wonderfully, Cece." He grins at the complement. With school out for the summer, we are both at loose ends, though I am still weeping for a daughter, little Gloria, who died i...

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“Best Served Cold” by Charles Stucker

Submitted to Contest #62

"Your Grace, I regret to inform you that the constant provocation of lawless elements from your duchy have forced my lord, His Majesty, the Emperor of Barundia, to declare war upon you." The popinjay ambassador from the power-mad tyrant bows as he speaks. "Do you wish to respond?""I would like a week's time to arrange my abdication," I answer. "If I can manage affairs with my subordinates, my people will not suffer.""We know your coffers are full. Should they be plundered ere the week is done, no place shall hide you from our lord's wrath.""...

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“ Luck of the Draw” by Charles Stucker

Submitted to Contest #62

Henry McCall sauntered down the street, calm, confident, ready for anything. People looked away, unwilling to meet his gaze. He rested his right hand on the hilt of his revolver, a Webley. In his gambler's clothes, dark pinstripe trousers and vest offset by a teal cravat, with a bowler hat on his head and a walking stick in his left hand, he presented the epitome of a British gentleman. Even his dark-blonde mustache, curled with wax, seemed elegant and refined.The main street of Gholson, Texas, with businesses and homes lining it, blew with ...

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“ With a Little Help” by Charles Stucker

Submitted to Contest #61

Trigger warning- strong language. Never wanted to go to my damned reunion, but my parole officer said it would help me socialize. Whatever the fuck that shit means. Ten years out of high school and I've spent eight in stir, just for running a chop shop. Now, I got five more on parole before I'm a free man. So, I put on my best fucking clothes, not much on the shit wages I make while banned from my only trade. And I come here to make nice with all the shits I knew before I got busted by a rigged system. Typical stupid crap. Weak punch and sug...

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“ Cold Comfort” by Charles Stucker

Submitted to Contest #59

A wendigo howls outside the igloo, its relentless fury wearing on the young, pregnant widow whose husband died in my arms just before the long dark began. A full turning of the moon will occur before we see the sun again, and the beast outside will prowl for days, before its fury sates. In the dim light of an oil dish, I measure the food which the elders left for us."Bear-Slayer," she invokes my name. "What will we do?""Joyous Seal, stay here." I tuck my namesake's skin, a thick white fur, snug about her. "I will hunt for more food."The bear...

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“ A Cutting Remarque” by Charles Stucker

Submitted to Contest #58

First the phone lines, then the power cable. I repeat the mantra as I slip over the back fence onto his property. It's not as easy as the video made it look. And I practiced. But this fence is a lot taller, over five feet, and I end up having to pry a couple of boards loose to squeeze through. It's OK because he doesn't have a clue I'm coming. The three bags of equipment are waiting for me where I shoved them over, though one is caught on a nail. Who leaves rusty things like that in a fence where somebody could get hurt?My God, his back yard...

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“The Bath...” by Charles Stucker

Submitted to Contest #57

 I wake feeling refreshed as I did not for years. Benedictus Figulus's combination of Leonardo's machine and Paracelsus's formula stands proven. My hands are those of a maid, not a matron nearing old age. The catacomb in which I hid the pseudo-sarcophagus while the alchemical principles worked their physic upon my decrepit body stands laden with dust, a thick sediment over an inch deep. Had the long vents which allow shafts of sunlight to enter failed, I should be in darkness. Sitting up, my hair tangles with my body, long as a damsel's...

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“ Blood Brothers” by Charles Stucker

After three days ridin hell bent for leather, I catch up on the Army of Mississippi on the morning they are set to fight the Yankees at some place called Pittsburgh Landing. And I'm the fellah as nobody knows nor wants to ride with. "Colonel Wharton must be a gettin' low scrapings to let a boy ride with us," a grizzled man of around forty says. "I turned fourteen back in March. Took the trains and all to git here." I hitch the Colt Navy holstered at my hip. "I've fought Comanche since I was six. Used to raid for young'uns to take as their ow...

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“ On the Stage” by Charles Stucker

Submitted to Contest #54

Although the sun shines as brightly as ever, the dark cloud in my heart leaves my world awash in gray. As typical for August, oppressive heat beats down with as little mercy as a vigilante crowd. I have just retrieved a parcel from the post when I hear his voice, an echo from the past nearly forgotten over the years, but the memories it brings up... I stood in line with the other young ladies, each in a fancy dress purchased for the occasion. Across the room, young gentlemen, clad in suits befitting their station, formed a row. One in par...

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“School's Out” by Charles Stucker

Submitted to Contest #53

 "Dang it Pa, I don't want to go off to college and all." I got to stand firm on account of my Pa is Mike Carson. The man who chased down the Lane Gang by himself. Ranger, town marshal, legend. And ma expects me to live up to it by studying books, of all things. Don't get me wrong. I like Ivanhoe and never met a yarn by Mark Twain as couldn't hold my eyes a spell. But college ain't like that."Two weeks," Pa says. "Then you git on the train and take it to college station"I'm set to tell him no when Ma chimes in. "Cecil, if you agree to g...

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“Cold Storage” by Charles Stucker

Submitted to Contest #52

Wasn't a sunny day, but being new to Missoula I didn't reckon on snow in September nor all the queer goings-on which happened next. The menfolk rode out early that day- everybody was still spooked by the killing of Mister Custer last June. A few ladies stopped by earlier, but since about two, nobody wanted to go out with the all dark clouds. I have all the groceries, the early apples and late cabbages, set to go back in the cellar, when a terrible howl commences outside and snowflakes, fat as the end of your thumb, start falling everywhere...

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“Physician Heal Thyself” by Charles Stucker

Submitted to Contest #51

Author's note- this is written around a novel about Red Ronin. I have posted five, one for each prompt, as an ambitious attempt to support the big anniversary of Reedsy. They all follow separate characters, but I recommend reading "Devil Take the Hindmost" last because it has the largest cast, several of whom are introduced earlier. Physician Heal Thyself The stars at night, are big and bright, but I am no longer in Texas. I'm in Charleston, and I'm adrift in the sea of my own limitations. Kentaro, Red Ronin, the newest superhero on our c...

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“Cut to the Quick ” by Charles Stucker

Submitted to Contest #51

Author's note- this is written around a novel about Red Ronin. I have posted five, one for each prompt, as an ambitious attempt to support the big anniversary of Reedsy. They all follow separate characters, but I recommend reading "Devil Take the Hindmost" last because it has the largest cast, several of whom are introduced earlier. Cut to the Quick When Kentaro, the beautiful Red Ronin, told me we would train together, I was ecstatic. He is majestic, skilled in battle and so stoic. I know many would say a Chinese woman has no business i...

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