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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Feb, 2021
Submitted to Contest #228
Cheese I had been invited to dinner to celebrate thanksgiving. I learnt many years ago that Americans aboard insist on celebrating this festival with the traditional dinner. I had no desire to go. Thanksgiving dinners of yesteryears were long buried in the past due to my advancing years. Nevertheless I had the annoying feeling that by refusing I would not only be upsetting my host but also it would be a slight to America that had been so welcoming to my family. The evening arrived. A taxi drove me to the address. There was much cheek kissing...
Submitted to Contest #216
Fascinating, but odd….you decide. The first Friday of the month heralded my monthly dinner at my club with my great friend Henri. This little ritual had been going on for the last twenty years, always enjoyable. We were both Judges on Her Majesty’s Court. Our conversation and discussions tended to be about what had happened in the courts over the preceding month. I had a feeling tonight my story would integrity and fascinated Henri. The dinner menu was excellent and during its consumption we spoke about the previous month's mundane court c...
Submitted to Contest #215
A deal with the devil Boredom. Have you ever had a serious attack of this human failing? It’s like feeling all emotional and sensual sensations in your body have been poured out of you like water being flushed down the toilet. You feel empty without any interest or feelings in your surroundings. Enthusiasm and curiosity were emotions that belong to the past. Everyday is just an acceptance of your existence. I am 65 years old. I had recently sold my very successful pharmaceutical business for a handsome sum. One of the conditions of the sale ...
Submitted to Contest #214
School…..I have serious reservations School, school I even dislike the word. As for the meaning, it was for me the nearest thing to a prison, full of rules and regulations. Endless lectures spouted out by boring teachers. Lunches that I am sure have a life long effect on your health. Now my parents were sending me to a boarding school. All the glorious, free summer days were in the past. Today was my last before being shipped out to boarding school. The day was full of dark angry clouds. I use the words shipped out with the saddening thoug...
Submitted to Contest #208
Dolls to London Monday, with the sun playing hide and seek amongst the white billowing clouds. The phone rang as I picked it up and I looked towards the harbor. “Chef officer Paul Summers speaking.” “Ah! how are you?” “Fine Joe, but busy, we are expecting a large cargo ship arriving from China with a dubious cargo.” “It’s expected when? “ “I think in about four days it was delayed in Gibraltar.” “Good.” “What do you mean good?” “Well I have a favor to ask you. Could you go to London tomorrow for two days. The British have a serious customs...
Submitted to Contest #205
Breaking free from only rolling cheeses Ladies and Gentlemen I declare the opening of the 197 edition of Gloucester Cheese rolling competition and afterwards I invite you to the European cheese fair. The duchess of Windsor has kindly agreed to open the proceedings. Let the competition begin. The duchess stepped forward and cut the ribbon holding back the competitor before they rushed down the hill. The cheeses were hurdled down the hill chased by their owners. The crowd roared, the chase had begun. There were many falls and many bruises. I...
Submitted to Contest #204
Revenge with a capital R. Revenge is one of those strong words that carries an enormous bag of emotional suffering. The dictionary describes it: As carrying out a bitter desire to injure another for the wrong done to oneself or to those who seem a part of oneself. I sat there on the park bench shaded from the hot summer sun by an elegant straw hat I had just purchased. In that moment of time revenge precisely described my emotional feelings. I felt my blood flowing rapidly through my veins as though I had been in a hot steam bath. I looked...
Submitted to Contest #198
The unconventional teacher I pushed myself through the door into the classroom. At this time of the morning there was always a scramble through the door as most of us students always timed our entrance at the last minute before being late….punishable. I immediately went to my designated desk at the rear of the class next to my best friend Daniel. He was there gazing out of the large windows that dominated one of the classroom walls. It was a large airy room with a distinctive feeling of allowing a teacher to express himself. “Hi Daniel, wh...
Submitted to Contest #192
Something valuable The Ritz Paris Ingor I lost my watch, you must go and try and find it, its a matter of live and death...hat’s an order. First go the police and retraces our steps of where we went today. Paris 9th district earlier that day On our stroll back home from a restaurant luncheon I was leading the way in front of my son and his girlfriend. We were walking through the interesting passages in the 9th district. I stopped for a minute to glance at a very elegant wrist watch that somebody had let fall from her wrist;it was definitely ...
Submitted to Contest #175
The urn Sometimes life gives you a devastating blow.. It is so sudden, so unexpected that it sends you reeling as if you had been ejected from a merry-go- round. My wife died early one morning from a massive heart attack quite unexpectedly. Over the next few days I walked through a cloud of misery numbed by the tragedy of her death. It was a period of gathering the family, rendering my wife to ashes. I respected her wishes. The local priest and the church's congregation were well represented at the cremation ceremony. My wife was well re...
Submitted to Contest #140
A lesson for life I remember. Somewhere deep inside my being I had condemned myself to always remembering the following event. I was shamed, humiliated and marked for life by the sight of a family's eyes glaring at me with such anger like the red hot coals of the blacksmith’s fire. As one gets older the memory tends to fade, it also becomes very selective, but an event that deeply touched your feelings always seems constantly to be present like a drip of water you cannot turn off. Several years ago I worked for a team of photographers that h...
Broken window, broken dream. The moment I switched on the kitchen light I saw the broken window. Just my luck, a robbery to end an evening of re-joying. I had just come in from an office get together to celebrate my company signing a very large order for our internet application. It had been a hard struggle to reach this point. I had created the company one year after receiving my engineering degree from Boston university. Back to my immediate concern. Before I call the police I should spend a few minutes inspecting the apartment to f...
Submitted to Contest #96
Strangers, finally an unsuspected friend. In London the weather was depressing, it made me depressed. What I needed was a holiday on the sun drenched coast of the Costa Brava. After trolling the internet for an hour I found a room in a hotel in my price range. Advantage a sea view, disadvantage two separate beds. A late evening flight completed the dream holiday. Being a late flight I was obliged to take a taxi. I was welcomed by a surly, sleepy receptionist who, once I had given my name, he told me in a strident voice. “We have been waiting...
Submitted to Contest #95
Discussing facing a dilemma This is a story about a direct question that led to a most interesting revelation. It happened a few years ago one cold winter’s night. I was in our country house sitting in front of the fire in the company of my oldest friend and neighbour, Henri, enjoying a superb calvados. I asked Henri the following question. “Have you ever been faced with a dilemma that might have had serious repercussions on your life?” “Why do you ask?” “Henri, old boy, do you remember I emailed me a story from the local newspaper, aro...
Submitted to Contest #94
The dare. It was one of those hot, stifling days in Paris. All the windows in the upper room at the brasserie were open and the background noise of the Paris traffic had a soporific effect on the group listening with difficulty to the lecturer talking about a book that was the flavour of the month in the intellectual circles. The group, numbering sixteen, mostly women, had been gathered under an international book club of a distinguished reputation. Frankly, the book was boring, the group not particularly interesting, and the animator ha...
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