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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Sep, 2020
Submitted to Contest #304
She only comes at night, now. There’s too much traffic in the daylight, when it's bumper to bumper inside my head.A cavalcade of excuses and concessions, horns blaring, drowning thought. It wasn’t always like this. There was a time when the morning brought such promise. Each new day was filled with ideas and inspiration. The words flowed so easily. The pages filled on their own. Contentment met me at day’s end, congratulating me on a job well done. Now the heat of day stifles creativity. It radiates off the ground, distorting the horizon an...
Submitted to Contest #278
"Anthony! My favorite hospice chaplain! Come in." "Sarah, I'm your only hospice chaplain." "Nevertheless. Where have you been?" "I do have other patients." "But none you love more than me." "None that I love more than you." "Good boy. Sit down." "Yes, ma'am." "Anthony, hold my hand." "Okay." "How long have you been coming to see me?" "I think about six months now." "That's a long time." "It's really not, Sarah." "It is when the doctor says you only have six months to live." "Fair enough." "My six months are up." "It wasn't a hard deadline, I...
Submitted to Contest #235
Danny dribbles the ball in the glow of the afternoon sun, the concrete driveway still radiating the summer heat at 5:30 pm. “Fellas,” Danny says to the two boys, “I hate to do this to you at such young ages, but a father’s job is to teach his sons life lessons. And the lesson here is this: you two are too short to stop this game winner.” He elevates, releases the jumper, and yells, “Steph Curry!” as the ball arcs across the painted sky. And clanks off the rim, rolling out of bounds into the grass. The two boys fall to the ground, r...
Submitted to Contest #234
Reggie listened to the sound of his own breathing inside the blast suit as he walked down the steps to the arena floor. He looked around at the empty seats, remembering the conference championship he attended here just three weeks ago. The roar of the crowd, the blare of the band, all exchanged for the echo of his heavy boots. The blast suit was heavy, weighing in at over 125 pounds. “I’m gonna dread climbing these stairs to get out of here.” Reggie was running the bleachers in his high school gym, ankle weights just over his Nikes. He h...
Submitted to Contest #211
Every day at three pm throughout the month of June, the sprawling oak cast the perfect shadow over the bench at the far end of Winslow Park. Both men knew this, and it was always a race to see who could first lay claim to it. Arrive too soon, and you had to sit under a judging sun, punishing you for your greed. Arrive too late, and you had to endure the ridicule of your rival. It was a slow race, both men now in their mid-eighties; a walker-aided, creaking conquest of prime bird-feeding space. And though the contest lacked the athletic pro...
Submitted to Contest #180
Ezra sat at the table with his co-workers on a Friday night, and the conversation had turned, as they sometimes do when it is too late in the evening, philosophical. “All I’m saying is that there is a reason for everything.” Ezra scoffed, as he peeled the label off his beer bottle. “That’s ridiculous.” “Why is that ridiculous?” “Just take a look around! This world is a random pile of messes, stacking one on top of the other.” “Well, I just believe in purpose and destiny.” Ezra set his bottle to the side. “Okay. Let’s put th...
Shortlisted for Contest #158 ⭐️
It was a quarter after 9pm when Sandra walked out the front door of Legacy Nursing Home. Her eyes adjusted as she walked across the parking lot to the park bench in the lawn ahead. She collapsed on the bench with a sigh, and began rummaging in her purse. Finding her reward, she pulled her hand from the bag and shook the lighter out of the cigarette pack. One more shake, and the last of the cigarettes fell into her trembling fingers. Lighting it and taking the first drag, she slumped a little more on the bench and relaxed for the first time i...
Submitted to Contest #140
Will pulled into the parking space and put the car in park. He reached to turn off the ignition, but paused, closing his eyes and letting the air from the vents wash over him for just a second longer. He exhaled slowly, settling himself. He made this visit three times a week, but it had never gotten any easier. The hard, unspoken truth of having a parent with dementia is that you have already lost them, but you can’t begin to grieve the loss because they are still here. Having gathered himself, Will grabbed the plastic grocery bag from the...
Submitted to Contest #136
Arnie was up before his alarm, before sunrise. Today was the day.He rehearsed his speech in the mirror as he shaved. He answered all of her potential objections as he carefully tied his bow tie. He pressed down his fear as he buffed and polished his wing-tip shoes. He gave himself a final pep talk as he put on his suit jacket and straightened his pocket square. Today was Arnie’s 64 birthday, and his present to himself was proposing to Stella.One more time.Arnie proposed to Stella the first time he laid eyes on her, 32 years ago.&nb...
Submitted to Contest #119
“Listen,” August said. Etta sighed, put down the shot glass she was drying, and stared at August from across the bar. August had been working on the song all morning; Etta had heard it a dozen times already. August played the tune again, the jangling of the saloon piano echoing through the empty room. “What do you think? Will the men like it?” “As much as they’ll pay attention to it, August, sure.” It was not the response August was looking for. August had arrived in Independence, Missouri in the spring of 1835, planning on...
Shortlisted for Contest #116 ⭐️
Hannah opened another cardboard box and began unpacking dishes in her new kitchen. The boxes seemed to multiply in the moving van, and Hannah was starting to lose motivation. She poured herself a cup of coffee, wandered out of the kitchen, down the hall, and opened her front door. Hannah stepped out onto the stoop and, cradling her coffee mug in both hands, watched Philadelphia parade down her street. An elderly couple holding hands and walking their golden retriever made her smile. Give Max and her another fifty years, and that would be t...
Submitted to Contest #113
“You’re listening to Z-102, and that was Dream Weaver, by Gary Wright. It’s 10pm, and that means you got the Dream Doctor in studio. Just like that dream weaver, I’m gonna get you through the night. The Ronnie Watkins Ford Studio Line is open, and you dreamers know how this works. You call in, tell me your dream, and I’ll tell you what it means. Lines are lighting up now, so we’ll get right to you, after The Eurythmics tell us what sweet dreams are made of. “ Danny Traylor cut the mic as Annie Lennox took over, and he pulled his coffee mug...
Shortlisted for Contest #68 ⭐️
Jed and Tanner took turns rolling the barrel down the road as the sun rose on the Tennessee hollow. Tanner’s turn usually lasted longer because Jed was talking. Tanner’s father said that Jed talked like he was being paid by the word. But Tanner didn’t mind too much; if Jed was talking, then he didn’t have to. And Jed was always talking. “I’m tellin’ ya, Tanner. This is gonna be the biggest thing you and me have ever done. They will be tellin’ our story to their grandbabies one day. You just wait and se...
Shortlisted for Contest #61 ⭐️
Daniel pulled the house key he had carried since he was 12 from his pocket, and jiggled it into the defiant doorknob. Why hadn’t Dad just replaced this old knob years ago? “Doorknob is fine! Helps keep burglars out.” Burglars aren’t using keys, Dad. The lock lost the battle, and Daniel stepped into the foyer. Motes of dust floated in the afternoon sun streaming through the half closed blinds, tiny apparitions in a house that had always haunted Daniel. He threw his keys instinctively on the buffet, scratched in the one area from years of ...
Submitted to Contest #60
Ricky and Angie walk down the West 57th Street. Together, but not really. Friends still living can’t remember a time before they were a couple. Ricky and Angie were high school sweethearts. Ricky, the star quarterback, and Angie, the head cheerleader. He was the guy all the girls had a crush on, she was the girl all the guys dreamed of. Ricky and Angie. Angie followed Ricky to college, where Ricky played football on scholarship. When Ricky blew his knee out, Angie nursed him back to health. Everyone was blown away by Ri...
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