Claire Tennant

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jun, 2020

Stories (61)

61 Stories

1237 karma pts

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“LOVE ME HATE ME PLEASE DON'T IGNORE ME” by Claire Tennant

Submitted to Contest #56

The clock chimed ten; I was preparing for bed. No sooner was the chime count in my conscious mind the telephone rang: a call I was half expecting. It was brief, perfunctory, and stated what I thought would happen. Instead of bed I put the kettle on, took out the whisky, intending to add a little to the tea. With tears rolling down my cheeks, I realised the chapter so briefly reopened, was closing. I was surprised at my reaction. It was a bright spring morning and I was on my daily constitutional. I stopped at the busy c...

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“THE CLASSIC HIT” by Claire Tennant

Submitted to Contest #56

Judy had just finished lunch, and her thoughts were far away. It was good to relax, and have time out, in fact, she was looking forward to a good book, soft music and an easy eats dinner. Suddenly, her phone erupted in that wailing sound indicating a message had been sent, or rather, upon examination, that two had been sent. They were both from her cousin, the cousin who invited drama, who never seemed to relax, who always found herself in hot water be in temperature or trouble, and always managed to want something. She r...

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“TOO HARD” by Claire Tennant

Submitted to Contest #55

“Look, Grandma, I have found something wrapped in brown paper.” Ruby was fascinated with the chest and its contents, pointing to her discovery. Grace put her glasses on and rummaged in the chest until she saw what her granddaughter was referring to. As she feared it was the old family Bible: fragile, the spine broken, the pages yellowed with age, the stories both Old and New Testaments, well-read yet misquoted, and the memories this book evoked. Long summer evenings outside listening to her Father reading the Psalms, Mother le...

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“THE GRANNY OF THE TEAM” by Claire Tennant

Submitted to Contest #54

  The phone was ringing, interrupting the news broadcast, ‘Oh well’ I thought ‘it is probably history now, rather than news.’ “Barbara?” the person on the other end of my phone spoke quietly but I knew the voice, that of my friend Hans. As he did not call regularly, I wondered the reason but did what one does. “Hello Hans, how are you?”  I said turning the TV off. “I’m fine, busy as, and all that.  Are you still practising?” he asked, with the blunt no-nonsense approach of his. Were all Dutchmen the same?  no, the Scots w...

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“OF BLACKBOARDS AND CHALK DUST” by Claire Tennant

Submitted to Contest #54

Val Trent awoke, to the sound of the neighbour’s dog yapping probably at a stray leaf. The sun was streaming into the bedroom, which did not help the situation, thus though she did not need to be, she was wide awake. She had been dreaming; one of those dreams where you are with a group of people, supposedly known to you but in fact, in real life, (your only comparison), are strangers. All except one. He stood giraffe-like at the other side of the room, his blue-grey eyes focussed on the antics of the group. He looked strangely...

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“FOREVER FRIENDS” by Claire Tennant

Submitted to Contest #53

“Ooh isn’t it pretty!” Tina expected that Frank would hear her, even though she was getting out of the car and he was still inside the cabin.  She stood in the postage stamp front garden of the rented beach cottage wondering how it could be maintained so well. Ferns, at the side fence bulrushes or something of that ilk alongside, pink and purple hydrangeas, at the front fence, the Norfolk pine standing sentinel in front of the house, and a couple of standard iceberg roses on either side of the front veranda.  The grass wa...

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“THE DECISION IS MADE” by Claire Tennant

Submitted to Contest #53

He stood surveying the damage, with no idea of the time. The blackened earth was still hot, and Dan was exhausted. Behind him, Phil stood, his face was streaked with tears his normally pale skin blackened by the ash. The devastation still evident, there were enough embers and sparks against the darkness to show the reason for the exhaustion. “Phil?” it was Dan in a hushed tone “Yeah, mate!” “I can’t believe this.” Phil touched Dan’s shoulder lightly. “It might be too early Dan, we don’t know the damage, wait for the call” Dan knew ...

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“"WHERE'S MUMMY?"” by Claire Tennant

Submitted to Contest #52

You know that feeling you get at times; an inexplicable sense of foreboding? You shake it off, telling yourself to grow up and to be quick about it. A few deep breaths and again, you tell yourself 'you can do this' and walk out head held high, trying to look confident. Yeah?  You have been there too?  Well, I felt like that on a day when it was not going to go smoothly, in fact, I never want a repeat performance. That morning, the weather forecast girl on TV said “be prepared for storms” and being a woman of indepen...

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“WHILE YOUR HEARTS ARE YEARNING” by Claire Tennant

Submitted to Contest #52

It was one of those lazy autumn days with a chill to the air.  Though I had every intention of doing something different for dinner, in an attempt to help Mum, I sat in front of a blazing fire instead, with the newspaper. Finding nothing but same old news, I became disinterested, and nodded off to sleep, dreaming of Jim. He had been away a long time, fighting as did many men of his age did, for his country, our country. Suddenly I was disturbed by the persistent knocking on the front door. Reluctantly, I rose fr...

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“A TRIP TO THE THEATRE” by Claire Tennant

Submitted to Contest #51

It was a long slow journey, but I was determined to revisit the place of horror. The place that was locked away in my memory, all through my childhood, my teenage years and beyond.   It was meant to be a place of healing and nurture but, although there were staff who were clearly “cut out” to be in the medical field, there was something sinister within those walls. A frightened child of six far from home with separation anxiety could feel it, even though it is the adult now who speaks of it. The place had not changed, but I had.&nb...

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“THOSE WIDE ARID PLAINS” by Claire Tennant

Submitted to Contest #50

I stood on the veranda surveying the scene before me. I confess my emotions were mixed, but grief has that effect on you sometimes, even when practical solutions to what could be conundrums appear. It seemed very practical to sell the home I had known for most of my life, certainly, a widow did not need an enormous place to live, but my mind had to adjust to the options. I was not ready. Forty years of living in what Harry and I called an idyllic area, not quite country, but not city living either, would be hard to leave. Dotted ...

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“DON'T GO THERE” by Claire Tennant

Submitted to Contest #50

I had heard a whisper he might be there though why I could not understand. It had been long over between us, but I was still curious to see if his new life had changed him, the way my new life had altered me. There I was, sitting with my gin and tonic, listening to the last-minute suggestions from Darren my team partner, as we went over the subject again. The great debate for the evening: that a woman should accept the chivalry of a man, with our team to the affirmative. Instantly my mind went back to Rick, whose presence was exp...

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“THE PRESCRIPTION” by Claire Tennant

Submitted to Contest #49

Patience was never one of Susan’s strong points. She recalled with a smirk that one of her friends in response to her asking where she herself, was when patience was handed round, had replied: “Standing behind a locked door.” his voice was smooth “in fact a locked wooden door.” he laughed, she was miffed. Many years had passed since she heard the comment but it had not lost its sting because, after all, Drew knew her too well which was probably one of the reasons the romance like most embers died out, to be replaced later on by a much...

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“AT THE BUS STOP” by Claire Tennant

Submitted to Contest #49

AT THE BUS STOP Mavis O’Hara liked to go out occasionally, just take off for the day. Sometimes for shopping, sometimes out to lunch, sometimes just sitting in the local park with a good book, depending of course on the weather. This day was no exception. She was reaching the age where arthritis was her constant companion but was still independent enough to do what she liked, when she felt like it. True, today she did have an errand in mind, for it was her son’s birthday soon, as she liked to get Patrick a reasonable gift...

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“The Unlikely Hero” by Claire Tennant

Submitted to Contest #48

THE UNLIKELY HERO Caspar Wylie was proud of his achievements. He had always wanted to be a school teacher and had remained at the same school for nearly thirty years, five of them as a senior master. He did not have time for idle chit chat, small talk was in his opinion a waste of time. He liked to see his students stand to attention, though his conscience did prick him when he saw a student cower in fear, it meant that the child would never come to him when he, as a teacher, was needed. Having said that he had many students ...

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Author bio

Hello, I'm Claire and I am fairly new to this game I was born in Glasgow Scotland, but with my parents and brother emigrated to Melbourne Australia in 1967. A little girl of seven whose imagination was very much alive then, is now able to let that same imagination coupled with life experience, fly now that she is semi-retired My husband Tom does not share the interest but knows the sounds of a mad writer at work.