Craig Stokes

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Mar, 2021

Stories (5)

5 Stories

95 karma pts

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“Uncle Bob's Pantry” by Craig Stokes

Submitted to Contest #98

Every Thursday for the past 15 years, my sister and I have made our weekly grocery run in Salem. Starting in 1977, the routine has been the same. That first summer, the kids had finished the school year, so Thursday logistics became increasingly complicated. Thanks to the availability of my sister’s unpaneled, dark brown 1972 Ford station wagon, we could squeeze in the four children along with the groceries as we made our way to Uncle Bob’s house. ...

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“Open for Opportunity” by Craig Stokes

Submitted to Contest #97

The soothing swoosh of the low tide was his only tranquilizer as his pudgy body awakened from the requisite slumber after a night fueled by Fanta Limón and bottom-shelf vodka. It was 9:12 a.m. according to his analog wristwatch and the cloudless blue sky and the brilliant yellow fireball that had risen over the Mediterranean would no longer allow him to sleep. He rubbed his right hand through his unkempt, curly brown hair, understanding that no matter how much grooming he might do, complete sand removal would be impossible. ...

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“A Cup of Joe with Sam and the Hand” by Craig Stokes

Submitted to Contest #96

A Cup of Joe with Sam and the Hand The sleepy bedroom community in northeastern Ohio, just across the border from Pennsylvania, resembles a ghost town without the tumbleweed strolling down an uninhabited Main Street on any nondescript Saturday at noon. The coke ovens have fallen into disrepair, the blast furnaces disappeared at the beginning of the Great Depression, and the Italian Club is the only reminder of the boomtown that it once was in the first decades of the twentieth...

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“The Truth Behind Those Doors” by Craig Stokes

Submitted to Contest #95

The Truth Behind Those Doors As I contemplated the plural of rhombus, I couldn’t remove my eyes from the burnt orange rhombi that spelled out the indecipherable message that my brain needed. Someone or some geometrical shape would aid in my dilemma—which door to open. Not receiving a sign from above or below, I lifted my vision to stare at the adjacent doors on the fourth floor of that Barcelona hotel. Fortunately, the gold numbers were even, since I had always derived a certa...

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“Going Native” by Craig Stokes

Submitted to Contest #94

Going Native Although it was the first week of September, the official college classes had not begun for the 38 study abroad students from the Buckeye State. Alcalá de Henares was but a train ride from the medieval city of Toledo, but 4,000 long, heartbreaking miles from its sister city in Ohio. Although the experienced program director Jimena could attempt to cover her grays, her years of leading the program allo...

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Author bio

I've been writing forever. I've found that the reedsy prompts bring out the creativity in me. I have just published my first novel. You can find it on Amazon. It's called Star of Madrid. Here's my website: https://sites.google.com/view/craigstokesauthor/home