Delbert Griffith

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Apr, 2021

Stories (76)

76 Stories

4460 karma pts

?

“The Einstein Proof” by Delbert Griffith

My wife made it so easy to plan her murder. She drank heavily, she occasionally used a cane to walk, and our live-in housekeeper had a boyfriend. That was all I needed to commit the perfect capital crime. Other factors played into it, factors that would deflect suspicion from me. Whoever investigated the “accident” would see it as a true accident. I had science on my side. I am very good with science....

21 comments 21
Read story

“A Monstrous Regiment of Dunces” by Delbert Griffith

“I quit!” Peter (Pedro) O’Tule announced. He tossed down his company apron and his company hat, but was taking his sweet time leaving. The manager looked at him resignedly. “I actually fired you, but yes, you may say you quit. It is all the same to me, Pedro.” The manager went back to filling orders and doing whatever managers of fast-food restaurants do. “My decision cannot be brooked, my good man. ...

30 comments 30
Read story

“Gods, Whores, and Cannibals” by Delbert Griffith

The gods of Hollywood are often cunning and occasionally clever, but they are rarely wise. And the gods will love as long as you make them money. Geneva Sancere and Cable Stetson had been in the gods’ favor for almost a decade. Cable could play a hardened cowboy, a suave spy, or a powerful businessman with equal ease. Geneva Sancere was equally adept, and God had favored her with some sort of geometric magic that...

2 comments 2
Read story

“It's Murder, Sir” by Delbert Griffith

A scream. The sharp clatter of a dropped tea service. The sound of soft sobs. A rush of footsteps up the stairs. The sight of a dead body. And then, silence. ______________ “It’s murder, sir,” PC Connors spoke. DCI Whitcomb eyed the constable wearily, sighing inwardly. He was tired already, and they had just arrived at...

33 comments 33 SHORTLIST ⭐️
Read story

“Deep Ellum Blues” by Delbert Griffith

It was the most innocent of incidences, one that could happen to anyone who had eaten a bad oyster or two a few hours earlier. Lando felt sick. Suddenly, he felt terribly sick and ran into the bar’s restroom to relieve himself of whatever was roiling inside his stomach. He made it inside the restroom, but he didn’t make it to a sink. He didn’t make it to a toilet. He had no control over the raw, gushing vomit t...

2 comments 2
Read story

“The Instant American” by Delbert Griffith

THE INSTANT AMERICANPablo Rendez woke up early on an August morning in 1947, and at that moment he decided firmly that he would become an American. The fact that he had lived his entire life in Texas, as had his parents, didn’t seem to detract from his belief that he wasn’t an American. He wanted to be an American like the white kids.Pablo reached under his bed and pulled out an old cigar box that his tía Tina had thrown away, and he had retrieved from the trash pit at the ...

0 comments 0
Read story

“The Peppermint Kaleidoscope” by Delbert Griffith

Arthur - December 11, 2018 I’m back at the hotel. Yes, I’m bone tired and exhausted beyond all measure, but it’s a fulfilling fatigue. I don’t feel like writing in my journal tonight, but it’s so ingrained in me to do so (on a nightly basis, no less) that I don’t believe I could function otherwise. When I tell audiences or interviewers about my journals, they laugh and nod, ...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Duel ex Machina” by Delbert Griffith

Harrison saw the crash before it happened, but he knew it was going to happen. The small commuter plane descended lower than the trees, and at an angle that spoke of trouble. Then he heard the sound of rending metal and soul-wincing impacts; no one could survive that, he thought. He didn’t want to go to the crash site, but he felt that it was his duty, despite not being a big fan of humanity. He had walked, climbe...

1 comment 1
Read story

“The Half-Life of the Party” by Delbert Griffith

Devon left for the party with a twelve-pack of beer and a mind full of reservations and misgivings about the whole thing. He returned home with ten beers, two awards, and a Dalmatian of indeterminant behavior. The only thing missing was the girl who wanted to sleep with him tonight. Thankfully. ___________________________ The guests were an odd assortment of university professors, ...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Model Americans Spotted in the Wild” by Delbert Griffith

Americans, unhappily, have the most remarkable ability to alchemize all bitter truths into an innocuous but piquant confection and to transform their moral contradictions, or public discussion of such contradictions, into a proud decoration, such as are given for heroism on the field of battle. James Baldwin     ...

0 comments 0
Read story

“A Fire of Unknown Origin” by Delbert Griffith

There may be a great fire in our soul, yet no one ever comes to warm himself at it, and the passers-by see only a wisp of smoke. Vincent van Gogh            Melissa wondered about herself; any other woman seeing what she was seeing would su...

0 comments 0
Read story

“The Snows of Eden” by Delbert Griffith

Devon tossed down the carton of cigarettes on the table in front of him, plopped a bag full of unhealthy fast food beside it, and lowered himself onto a chair against the near wall. He sighed as he wiped his glasses. These visits were getting more and more difficult. “The cigarettes and burger you wanted. You know, for your healthy lifestyle,” he quipped. A small figure looked up from her bed. She gave Devon a n...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Light from a Different Land” by Delbert Griffith

It was all my fault. I know it, my man knows it, daddy knows it (of course.) And the weird guy – I never got his name – knows it too. I can talk about it now, after all these years, without breaking down and crying. Let me tell you about this incident, and please, don’t hate me for it. I’m just a woman with curiosity. That’s my real sin. Wanting to know stuff.      In the beginning, it was just me and my man and...

0 comments 0
Read story

“The Lightness of Heavy Objects” by Delbert Griffith

Evelyn looked at the dirty creature huddled against a bookshelf, shivering with cold and possibly fear. Daddy always told her to expect the unexpected in life, but a wild animal in her library was a different kind of unexpected. She could handle divorce and loneliness but a dirty little street urchin was a little more than she was equipped to accept. And she never would have known had she not forgotten her “People” magaz...

0 comments 0
Read story

“I Feel Fine” by Delbert Griffith

It's the end of the world as we know it It's the end of the world as we know it It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” R.E.M. <...

2 comments 2
Read story

Author bio

Will be away for a bit, doing NaNoWriMo. Like Arnold, I'll be back. Cheers!

Winning 1 story 🏆

Contest #196
The Bullet that Esther Stopped – read story

Shortlisted 5 stories ⭐️

Contest #208
Raise High the Roofbeams, Carpenters – read story
Contest #204
Gordita – read story
Contest #191
The Girl Who Played the Giuoco Pianissimo – read story
Contest #171
The Rules of Arithmetic – read story
Contest #165
It's Murder, Sir – read story