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Debbie Curtin

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jan, 2021

Stories (76)

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40 Followers

0 Following

76 Stories

1366 karma pts

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WANTED

Submitted to Contest #224

The notice stated: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over eighteen. Must be expert riders willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred. Wages $25 per week. Apply: Pony Express Stables, St. Joseph, Missouri These were the midnight words that kept me from getting a blink of some shut eye. I was 16 years old, new to the task and it was sometimes not easy to gather my wits to realize that I said 'Yes' . But the challenge was ahead of me as I signed the loyalty oath and pledged to do my part as a mail delivery rider for the Pony Express. I only h...

7 likes

The Light That Guides Us

Submitted to Contest #222

The problem is the problem. So now here's the catch, how do I go from a general a + b = c to finding the right answer? The only one that I am looking for to get out of this life of hell shoved at me and brought to me by bad karma. That's the problem.  Jawn's life stayed pretty neutral after high school graduation. He wasn't off to see New York City or take any other joy ride to a swank venue. With what, his tip money? Working as a busboy, evenings and weekends in a dreamland job at a burger place was his gig. Everyone in the senior...

12 likes

FULLY BAKED

It was a moment in time that had me step up to the plate. I was only a teenager finishing my senior year and trying to get through the rest of the week with last minute details for my science project. My crazy mind was in overdrive for this challenge but I got it together and finished in time. It was a type of balloon invented by yours truly that had the capability to inflate or deflate, change speed and skirt through a very dense sky or heavy forest cluster. It was a drone but way different. It could climb a tree if needed or find a hollow ...

2 likes

THE STREET SIDE

Submitted to Contest #210

Dale Street was the name. Taking down lowlifes was his game. Today was no different. Dale was always aware of the back alley ways and who came and went. What was moved, what stayed. Faces were the symbols of the neighborhood. It was part of the bigger picture and the real reason he was a trash man. He had kept a low profile when this assignment had him move into a small neighborhood near to the questionable area on the radar. No one knew any more about him other than what he presented when he would, say, step outside and venture over to...

3 likes

SHAKE, RATTLE AND ROLL

Submitted to Contest #204

It was just about noon when I heard an unfamiliar sound as the tavern's front door loudly creaked open. The welcome bell that hung on the door slammed strongly against it and then a loud bang followed as the door shut breaking the 'welcome' sign . You don't EVER come in here and do what this guy just did. Everyone in the town of Newport has the ultimate respect for this place. History is the number one calling card and always has been since this place became The White Horse Tavern, a comfortable eatery, serving libations since 1673. We were ...

6 likes

LIVESTOCK

Submitted to Contest #201

Trying to get out of this muck nightmare was like stepping through the sludge of destiny. Except this was the dregs of current day society. Food slop, plastic cups filled with cigarette butts and confetti topped the so-called carpet we walked on, aka mud, grass and hay scraps. There was so much stuff everywhere. Castoffs of everything from dirty clothes, filthy blankets, baskets of rotted food and more. But this is what we signed up for and that was as extras in this movie. It was a remake of a classic time in history. I mean who wouldn't wa...

8 likes

THE EYES HAVE IT

Submitted to Contest #199

The conference event, due to a slight operational fiasco in the manufacturing department, needed to change the date. Now it was to happen on the last day of this month. The plans that I made with my better half were now on the back burner. Not where we chose to be and that was to wait even longer for change in our lives together and forever to happen. The relationship we had built to finally reach a solid foundation was a destination near to achievement. My life, before that, made me not an enjoyable person to be with or to be around in anyo...

5 likes

BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED

Submitted to Contest #198

It was the final art project of the semester and our senior year. Graduation, hopefully, would happen with a positive finale for me. What we were challenged to do was to pick our choice of a unique project to sum up every nuance of what we learned and blend it all together. This would consolidate and put into perspective everything we took in over the past two years. This two year college was the way I chose to follow my art. Short and sweet. How it would play out in the long run was an open road. Who knew where it would lead? The variety of...

8 likes

STICKS AND STONES

Submitted to Contest #194

Whatever happened to being the nicer one in the room and not the one pointing fingers? It was a good thing the meeting was now over as everyone left the room not knowing who was in or out. The ones calling the shots must have forgotten what it meant to be a team leader. "Lead by example and be the one person looked up to." How did this change for the worse and it was happening way too often. I felt it more than most as I was fairly new to the team. Over and over in the past few months brought the gavel down to any and most of my input to new...

8 likes

FLOWER POWER

Submitted to Contest #191

How appropriate that it was the one song I needed to hear to brighten my day. After a morning from hell, and to make things better in my head, I had to get away from it all and go somewhere, anywhere. With determination and purpose, I strode down the sidewalk on my way to the café only to be stopped in my tracks when this song caught me by surprise coming from a kiosk in the marketplace. "You are my sunshine, My only sunshine, You make me happy, When skies are gray." Stepping into the marketplace, I gathered a fresh, floral bundle of as...

5 likes

YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN?

Submitted to Contest #186

This is so old, it's got mold. Here we were on the way to clean out the remains of a house trailer that had been stuck in the same location for over eighty years. It's buried like a grave site imbedded in the ground but there was still access to get inside to hopefully find the answers to the questions that have surfaced at family get-togethers over the years. It was an unforeseen moment in time when a hurricane lifted the house trailer only to neatly set it down about a hundred yards away. That was the craziest moment highlighted years ago ...

10 likes

THE GAME

Submitted to Contest #184

This was not going good. I got the call to come ASAP to meet up with the gang or better known as the tokens of monopoly. And by that, I mean the game MONOPOLY. It seems that someone had taken the keys to the grid and put them in the PURSE. The city built inside the city had gone dark. We were now on the move as we recently became financially solvent players. The time was here to force our hand on the ones who were throwing the dice on their terms and not playing by the rules. It began a few years ago when everyone in the city saw a rise in q...

7 likes

FOLLOW THAT CAR

Submitted to Contest #182

I knew it. It was that guy on the same flight. He was barreling his way once again through the crowd of passengers headed for the exit. Was that a gun strapped on his waist? I had to do this. No excuses. If not me, then who? What I heard onboard was enough to put any questions into action. Following him out into the dark I watched as he got into an unmarked black Tahoe. My gut was telling me 'GO' so I flagged a taxi, opened the door, fell in sideways gashing my leg. Seriously? The driver was concerned and paused a moment, but I just waved it...

10 likes

HEADS WIN, YOU LOSE

Submitted to Contest #180

I can't believe I'm standing here. Right here. In the middle of Times Square. This was not how I pictured myself at this time last year. And now it's come down to this?  It feels like I'm on a game show waiting for the final toss to win the grand prize or at the start of a football game where the winner begins the count to the first touchdown. I made a deal with the devil, and it looks like this will be the final call. Will the devil win? I hope luck is my favorite tune right now more than ever. Never in my life did I have to make a cho...

9 likes

I NEED TO CHANGE MY TUNE

Submitted to Contest #179

I want to do it, I have to do it, I must do it. OR ELSE! Listening to this same tune on the same album has been like riding a thoroughbred on the longest racetrack EVER! In my head, it just went around and around like loopy loops all day long. And here we are, same page different year. It's the last train to Nashville or whatever that song is, which is now stuck on autopilot. Change is not only that loose stuff in your pocket, but a purpose you set as your goal to achieve a major milestone. It's one that I certainly have put off for a few ye...

12 likes