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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Feb, 2021
Homework, winds, kites and a disaster.I stood in front of my class. Before me were sixteen young children between the ages of 8 -12. Their faces showed attention and a desire to listen and learn. I believe they enjoyed my geography lessons, I always tried to make them interesting.“Good morning everyone. First I will read the roll call.”There were slightly more young girls than boys. The school was a private international institution that lived by high student fees and the occasional donations. “ Excellent everybody present. Now I want to wr...
My heart and time stood still.I was born in India and remained there until I was ten. At that age me and my brother, two years younger, were bundled up and found ourselves on a boat for England. If I remember correctly only our mother and her personal maid traveled with us. We were told father would join us in a month's time after concluding some business deals. My father had created a large import/ export company in Delhi. He was Indian by birth. A member of a large wealthy family with a collection of brothers and sisters , aunties and uncl...
The lonely clownOn an early spring evening it was a good crowd for Thursday. I had positioned myself outside the station. It was late afternoon. I was entertaining the people coming from work. They needed a few minutes of amusement to decompress themselves before opening their front doors and being faced with all the emotional baggage of family life. Through my face mask I could see the people were enjoying the show. I saw numerous people throwing notes and coins into my bowler hat. My act today was the result of three years of working the s...
Submitted to Contest #296
I found out who I am.I was born into a working class family. My father worked as a machine tool operator in an industrial town in the North of England. My mother had married below her station in the town’s social world as she was a teacher. In marrying my father she stepped down to his level of a working class member. All this at birth and for several years after meant nothing to me. It was in my early teams that I started to understand the complex undercurrents of living in a structured and closed community. Father was a good looking man. H...
Submitted to Contest #295
From churches, graveyards to funerals I was fourteen when I had the pleasure to start accompanying my father on his various road trips. In my mothers mind school was always a priority whereas father thought missing the occasional term time day to travel with him on his sales rounds was an educational lesson in the real world. Also it had a geographical aspect to commend it. My father was the senior salesman in a company making hoovers that sold their product range through home demonstrations. It was a young company with limited production fa...
Submitted to Contest #294
Dying with peace of mind Daniel Summerfield to Harold Ffinch……14 june 2024 My dear Harold, I am writing this letter from a small isolated village a few miles from the Salange National park in the Republic of Congo. You find me on my deathbed with a severe attack of yellow fever. Although before leaving Engl...
Submitted to Contest #290
Bewitched and bewildered He lay on the floor in a semiconscious state. He had fainted, but why? It had all begun three weeks ago. It was Monday morning he sat at his usual place 426 in the New York Public library on 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue, a daily habit he enjoyed. He recalled he was studying the life and works of Theodore Roosevelt. For a minute his mind focused on place 426. He remembered the first time he started going to the New York Public Library. He was immediately struck by the magnificence of the building, an...
Submitted to Contest #288
Content Warning: This story contains themes of stalking and marital conflict When you are handed a losing handI gently pulled back the curtain so that I could look down at the street without being noticed. There he was standing near the lamp post on the other side of the street. It was raining quite hard but that didn’t seem to disturb him. He wore a heavy macintosh with a large hat that covered any chance ...
Submitted to Contest #287
It was no ordinary cafe The two brother’s sat there discussing politics over a glass of whiskey. I was half listening while thinking about my pending marriage. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, the conversation changed to detailing their plans for a visit to Cairo in ten days time. They turned to me and my father said. “Come with us, it’s probably the last ch...
Submitted to Contest #285
Desperate measures Hi, Joe it’s Richard. Can I call you on your secured line? I want to discuss something with you. Sure, just give me ten minutes. Richard, go ahead. The line is fully secured. Thanks, Joe. I want to discuss a problem I have at my law firm. You sound very stressed out. I am to the extent that I am preparing myself to take a dramatic decision. Let me give you a quick overview of...
Submitted to Contest #284
Extraordinary happenings when travelling alone. I sat there at the head of the table. I was about to say grace and quickly realized in our family this touching act was a thing of the past. In fact even in my childhood my parents relegated grace saying to past traditions. At that moment it did cross my mind that many commendable and worthy traditions were being shelved in the world’s leap forward to explore and i...
Submitted to Contest #283
One year of tragedy, one month, one week, one day, one hour, one minute, one second. I was born into a military household. My father was a well known and respected General. My mother was the chief administrative officer for pensions concerning officers above the grade of Major. I was their only child. The household was run like a well oiled Swiss watch. Attention to discipline, high standard of moral and ethical behavior with a sense of duty and respect for your parents and the common good. After a first class education at West Point I was d...
Submitted to Contest #281
The tortoise and the badger I am beginning to feel old. At my age I suffer from the inevitable morning pains in certain muscles. I cannot tell you how old I am. I once heard somebody calculate my age by looking at the rings on my carapace. So without being able to see the top of my carapace I will never kn...
Submitted to Contest #280
Talk….just talk Excuse me. Can you please tell me the way to the pet shop? A hundred yards down the road to your left. You're a handsome bird. I know, but thank you. Can you talk? Yes, I can talk, but be quiet. The shop staff don’t know. &nbs...
Submitted to Contest #279
Search and you might find I am an independent journalist living in a world of news spilling out at an unprecedented rate in the history of mankind. Much of it was false without any factual evidence, lies and untruths seem to be the norm. Each morning when I opened my computer or picked up the mail it took a good hour ...
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