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David Campbell

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Mar, 2025

Stories (20)

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20 Stories

274 karma pts

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Pops

Submitted to Contest #321

It was my weekend to visit my grandfather. I exaggerate a bit, because it's just me and him now. Both my parents died in a car accident when I was 10, and “Pops”, took me in. We grieved my parents together, since he lost a son and daughter in law, I lost both parents. I learned a lot from Pops. He taught me how to behave in many situations, helped me with schoolwork, had me help him around the farm, taught me many practical tasks like woodworking, house maintenance, plus hunting and fishing. He kept me busy enough it kept my mind of the lo...

2 likes

Killing time

Submitted to Contest #318

One day, one of my regular laundromat customers, Pete, and I got to talking. He owned a bar- Domingo’s, just down the street and wondered if I would be interested in bartending a few days a week for him. He spoke of how he always saw me at the laundromat-he often brought tablecloths and napkins to wash and dry- and was impressed by my work ethic. We talked about job hours, responsibilities, and any fancy drinks to learn. He said they served nothing fancier than beer and straight liquor. If someone had the nerve to order a martini, or Pink La...

6 likes

Work birthday

Submitted to Contest #315

The weather forecast was for 8-10 inches of snow. The supervisor, Joe, told our crew to be ready to be at work for a few days, including staying overnight the next day or two if needed. We were being sent home at noon, and told to return at ten that night, with extra clothes, food and drink. We had already made sure all snow equipment was hooked up and ready to go. One of the foremen, Dave, was not happy. If we stayed overnight, he would be celebrating his birthday at work, instead of at home. But, when we got to work the next day, Dave was...

2 likes

Heat solutions

Submitted to Contest #314

The group of us arrived at the beach in the second week of what was turning out to be an extended heat wave. The house we rented had 4 bedrooms, a huge living room. The kitchen was separated from the living room by a breakfast bar. There was even a canal behind the house that led to a bay. Huge widows walk the length of the house, on the roof, great for sunset watching. It had to be one of the hottest weeks of the year, in what turned out to be at least 10 weeks of temps 15 degrees hotter than normal for the area. For the last two w...

2 likes

Revenge, or Pranks?

Submitted to Contest #313

People die in this story My name is Charlie. I’m living at a motel, really a homeless shelter, with my mom. I started working there a few years ago as a volunteer, cutting grass, and helping the regular maintenance man, Clark, by doing odd jobs and mowing the grass. Clark showed me how to start and use the mower. There is no working pool, one of my jobs is to keep the gate locked, and the pool covered with a tarp, and check it daily. The volunteer bit was court ordered, after some trials I was involved in. I have been working here f...

2 likes

Problem Solved

Submitted to Contest #311

CW: Contains themes and/or references to includes references to drug use, domestic abuse, and violence. It started with a package sent to my address. I'm not certain why it wasn't in the mailbox, since it would have fit. It was left on the covered front porch. Unfortunately, it didn't have my name, Mary Johnson on it, just my address, so I put it aside on a chair to give to the mail lady when I saw her. Later, I wondered when that might be, since I have never seen her outside of the right-side driving mailvan. In fact, there have been numero...

3 likes

Beach Time

Submitted to Contest #309

“Who is ready for a drink?” I asked? We have beer, water, a few sodas, and a couple of 2 liter coke bottles spiked with rum, along with cups to drink from. Plenty of ice. I took and filled orders for the group of 9, then got something for myself, and sat down. The ten of us had been at the beach for over an hour, and at 10 am, it was already 85 deg. That phrase “Who wants a drink” started most every day we were at the beach, and more than a few nights in the house we rented every year in Ocean City. The house was four long blocks to t...

3 likes

What happens with too much time on your hands

Submitted to Contest #308

It's been raining for over two weeks. Sometimes hard, all day, the kind of heavy rain that makes you , “is it light enough so I can get out of the car, go inside without getting soaked, because I really have to pee”? Sometimes just misty, but definitely no sun. No golf for that time. My usual group of four tried an indoor golf facility, All Day Golf. It was boring, and had no life. Didn't even have a 19th hole for beer afterwards. There is something about golf, being outside in all types of weather, that makes golfing wonderful, most of the...

1 like

I had a plan

There is some personal physical violence involved, and people die Journal entry 40. It is three years from when I started the original journal, at the request of the Judge in my trials. The trials were for kicking and beating a bully named Ricky, and eventually, my being involved in his death. I didn't plan to kill him, it was a reaction to him holding a knife to me, while we walked up steps to a bank, where he planned to steal the money in my bank account. All $75.00 of it. He was behind me, holding me tight, and at the top step,...

0 likes

Mary's Dream

Submitted to Contest #304

It didn't take more than the first week I went to school, before people called me defiant. After being at school for a few days, a few of the older boys started calling me raggedy. No other name, just raggedy. I am not sure why they called me that, because I was wearing my favorite dress, a nice, light blue, checked knee length dress fit for church, one Mama made for me that I was extra proud of. I took exception to being called that name, which I won't repeat, for although some of my clothes were old and worn, they were always clean and men...

8 likes

Enemies in life

Submitted to Contest #303

My name is Hiram Fisher. I live with my family on 500 acres in the area called Red Springs, Virginia, on the banks of Willow Creek in Monroe County. Our family consists of my father, Samuel Fisher, his wife Sarah, my grandfather, George Fisher, and his wife, Margaret, along with assorted brothers, sisters, and two slaves, Josiah, and Henry. We own 500 acres of good land. There were 6 horses, 20 cattle, plus chickens, pigs, and goats. We farm tobacco, some hay, and work the trees for lumber to sell or use. I have been going to the town...

3 likes

Concrete Problems

Submitted to Contest #302

In 1975, I was working at Springdale Gardens, one of the largest apartment complexes on the east coast of America. There were close to 3000 garden apartments, meaning three floors, and townhouses spread over 100 acres. The site was one of 12 or so apartment complexes the Johnson family owned around the Philadelphia-Washington area. My job was Assistant Grounds Supervisor. Aside from the Grounds Supervisor and myself, we had 17 laborers to get all the grounds work done, plus evictions. We did the evictions because we had the labor for them, ...

5 likes

Declan

Submitted to Contest #301

Me life hasn't been a walk in the park by any reckoning. Abandoned by me da, after me mum died when I was 10. Lived in the workhouse til I turned 16, when I was kicked out onto the street. Started a fire in the meal room, I did. Had to get some revenge, Father Mulroy had locked me in a closet for three days, the usual punishment for any act they considered against the rules, written or not. They was forever bothering me to work for my stay, but the work was beneath me. I have lived on the street ever since, surviving by me wits, if you will...

3 likes

Accomac

Submitted to Contest #300

Our family, well, the wife and I, decided to bypass Ocean View beach this year for Accomac Island, an hour south. Ocean View just got too crowded. Most streets have been changed to one way, and blocked by a median, it was like going thru a maze to get anywhere. Getting a meal could be an hour-long journey, just to go ten blocks. The first trip to Accomac was when my eleven year old daughter spoke up as we missed the turn for Ocean View. “Daddy”, she said “that turn is the way to the beach”. We had tried to prepare our two girls that w...

4 likes

Bus seat views

Submitted to Contest #299

I'm Charlie, and I'm in fourth grade. I write in a diary, my doctor says it will help me sort my feelings out. My mom says I am “on the spectrum” but I am not sure what she means by that. She says I have to be aware of what goes on around me, all the time, even on the bus, where we are supposed to behave like we would in school. There is even a sign with directions like “Keep hands, words, and belongings to yourself”. Some of the kids don't behave all the time, but Nick, our driver, usually doesn't let them get away with much. So I watch, an...

5 likes