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David Nutt

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Feb, 2021

Stories (66)

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14 Followers

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66 Stories

989 karma pts

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I found out who I am

David Nutt

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...

7 likes

From churches, graveyards to funerals

David Nutt

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...

4 likes

Dying with peace of mind

David Nutt

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...

4 likes

Bewitched and bewildered

David Nutt

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...

4 likes

When you are handed a losing hand

David Nutt

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 ...

6 likes

It was no ordinary Cafe

David Nutt

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...

4 likes

Desperate measures

David Nutt

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...

8 likes

Extraordinary happening when traveling alone

David Nutt

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...

5 likes

One year, one month, one week, one day, one hour, one minute, one second

David Nutt

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...

4 likes

The Tortoise and the Badger

David Nutt

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...

3 likes

Talk...just talk

David Nutt

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...

3 likes

Search and you might find

David Nutt

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 ...

5 likes

A shameful death

David Nutt

Submitted to Contest #278

                                         A shameful death We lived in a large house with a big garden next to the vicarage.The house was situated in a charming village in the south of England. My father was the local doctor and my mother ran a small business selling her imaginative and unusual sculptures. Our home was always a hive of activ...

7 likes

Friendship is but fragile

David Nutt

Submitted to Contest #277

 Friendship is but fragile The opening scene is a Wednesday afternoon in the British house of commons. Sir Richard Ffinch was about to speak for the conservative party on defending the British hunting laws. I sat opposite him on the labor benches as the agriculture minister of the opposition party. As Sir Richard stood up to talk, all the memories of our friendship came flowing back to me like the tides cressing the beaches.That friendship formed years ago when we were in our college years, never lasted more than a year. Today I saw him...

6 likes

How did it happen?

David Nutt

Submitted to Contest #276

                                   How did it happen? It was one of those bright spring mornings. You could almost hear the resin rising in the trunks of the trees overhanging the streets. I was on my way to shop at the local market. I had just turned down a narrow street when I noticed a young woman standing in a doorway. She appeared to be waiting for a taxi. I did no...

6 likes