Delphine Hintz

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Mar, 2021

Stories (16)

16 Stories

319 karma pts

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“Poisoned Cucumbers” by Delphine Hintz

Submitted to Contest #101

The tomatoes cut themselves. At least, that’s what it seemed like to her. With a final snap and practiced twist of the wrist, her mother diced the last of them and picked up the scarred wooden board with her free hand. The knife scraped loudly upon the cutting board. The runny, red mess slid into the bowl. Her nose wrinkled. “You know-” her mother rolled a cucumber towards herself, cut one end, twisted it and cut the other- “you could help by cutting the carrots. You’re really the best carrot-cutter I’ve-“ “You just want help.” She rolled...

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“Sometimes, a No is Better” by Delphine Hintz

Submitted to Contest #97

Oliver took a moment to appreciate all those before him. Those who hadn’t had a computer, who read green words off a black screen, who never had a holograph option. Then he activated the virus. Technically, he completed the first step of the activation process, but the rest would be done – albeit, unknowingly – by those working at Tomorrow Today. He leaned back and sipped his drink, eyes running blindly over the code with even greater appreciation. The coffee shop’s door tinkled. The strawberry blonde with the vintage Paw Patrol purse ...

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“Once You Move out, Brother Gets the Room” by Delphine Hintz

Submitted to Contest #96

She took a breath. It stopped in her throat, stalling as if waiting for her to taste it. She exhaled. Sunlight flooded the room through the curtain-less windows. Empty windows. Empty walls. Full boxes played hide and seek under the blankets and in the closet. A distant shout and running feet. Laughter. She took a breath. She exhaled. The door banged open, shuddering against the abused spring. She jumped, and her sister grinned. “You coming out for dinner?” She rubbed her finger along the ridge of her suitcase. She mustered a glare. “G...

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“Take the Door Behind You” by Delphine Hintz

Submitted to Contest #95

The peeling numbers 1-37 made her doubt. Hadn’t it been a 38? Maybe a 39? She fidgeted as another gust chilled her, goosebumps growing in prominence. The sky blue umbrella, held upside down, bumped against her side as she brought out her phone. The white chipped doors and crumbling brick all looked the same. Grime gathered in the bottom corner edges of the wall. She took a step back, eyeing it and gnawing her lip as she scrolled. The text appeared and . . . apartment 504. Well then. Stomach clenching, she ducked out from under the eave, squi...

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“A Rose in Any Century is Still a Rose (Though Possibly Plastic)” by Delphine Hintz

Submitted to Contest #91

  She couldn’t be sure if it was the laughter that slowed her down or the stumble. The boy appeared as if sliding out of the wall. His eyes flashed. The roaring of the peace-keepers’ motorcycles lurched upward. He smiled. “Don’t let them catch you now.” She gave a breathless grin. She never had time for any other kind, but they were off already, and he was leading her, and she was almost positive that the city labyrinth hadn’t looked quite this way this morning, but she wasn’t going to complain as they skidded around corners, rats darti...

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“If You Believe, It Will” by Delphine Hintz

Submitted to Contest #91

The librarian hushed the girls, who just giggled again. The young man closed his eyes and tried to breathe. The bills stuck together from his sweat as he fingered the edges of it again. His breathing echoed and rebounded and filled his head and surely, surely . . . Thud! Then more of the same as other books fell. A hulk of a man with a rose tattoo pulled another shelf down. He thrust his hands to the back of the wooden shelving, searching for the secret compartment. “Sir!” The librarian steadied herself on her desk, edging around it til...

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“I Was Once a Tree” by Delphine Hintz

Submitted to Contest #90

“I was once a young man not too much unlike yourself, and I thought the world open to me if only I could live long enough. I covered deserts and scaled mountains, trying to find the one thing that would extend my years.” “Did you find it?” The old man grinned. “What do you think? “At last, only a few miles from the village from whence I came, I found an old spiritist who told me that she could make my life last for centuries if only I wished it and would give her all the knowledge I had gained in my travels. I agreed, of course, and after ye...

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“We Bet on the Geringabobber and Lost” by Delphine Hintz

Submitted to Contest #90

“Please don’t tell me you listened to Hailey.” “She apologised. And it was a good plan.” Rena winced as she said the words. She gripped her hands together tighter behind her back. “Her plans in the past have included shooting you. Twice!” “Three times now, actually, but that’s besides the point! She admitted that they were poor decisions!” Their mother rubbed the bridge of her nose like she was trying to carve stone. “And what about that third time?” “It was an even worse decision?” “Tell me what happened.” * “We need to save the what now?”...

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“Karaoke Illegally, Dance Silently” by Delphine Hintz

Submitted to Contest #89

“May. May got covid.”“That’s what I said.”“Her kids won’t let her go anywhere. How’d she get covid?”Lucille pursed her lips smugly, lifting her tea cup as if to take a drink. “Little Bull Falls Supper Club was running karaoke on the side. Without covid restrictions.”Betty let out a shriek of laughter. “And sweet Mary May was sneaking out, weren’t she!”Lucille grinned. “Yep. When she fessed up, she told ‘em she had a thrilling Jackson impersonation.” She patted down her short white curls.Ilene smiled at that. She could see May doing it, belti...

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“I Am Selfish” by Delphine Hintz

Submitted to Contest #88

“My son was born on the day the mayflowers bloomed. The medicine woman heralded it as a good sign, that he would bring life wherever he went. That winter, his mother died. It was only him and I, my lord, and . . . and we did all we could. It was my first time being a father, yet here I had to be a mother, too, so that following spring whilst he finished his first year, I promised I would give him a love like no other, to make up for the love he had lost. “I talked to him, every night, and I told him I loved him more than the stars in the sk...

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“The Cost of Their Respect” by Delphine Hintz

Submitted to Contest #88

Prince Jevon grew up on scrolls, ink, and library dust. The older Prince Gerome built forts. Crown Prince Thames read and reenacted sword maneuvers. Jevon secluded himself in a deep corner with a stash of candles and would be interrupted only for dinner. He was the third and youngest, though Annabelle was even younger, but she was also a girl. Her only contribution to the family would be a well-placed marriage and heirs to spare should war take her older brothers. Jevon would be given to a political marriage as well, but this would be in add...

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“Because Some Fool Wanted a Blind Date on April 1st” by Delphine Hintz

Submitted to Contest #87

Kathy hates April Fools. First of all, there are plenty of fools out there anyway, so there really isn’t a reason to spend an entire day celebrating idiocy. Second of all, the people who actually ‘celebrate’ April Fools’ Day almost never enjoy being the fools themselves, and although the Golden Rule is tarnished, Kathy argues that it’s still gold. Third of all . . . . well . . . Kathy doesn’t actually have a third reason, just a whole bunch of examples, but everything is more powerful in groups of three, and Kathy’s a writer and believes thi...

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“How to Feel Alive” by Delphine Hintz

Submitted to Contest #86

tw: abuse, suicide “You know, a cycle of rebirth implies a cycle of death, too.” Lyla forced a smile. “I’m sure people back then knew that. That was winter, right?” “Eternal death,” Derek’s head fell back. Shouts and laughter of those at the festival below rose up to them, echoing and filling the empty air. “Except winter ends.” “So . . . Alaska would be eternal death then.” She swung her legs out, perking her body up with the words. Derek’s attention did not sway. “Alaska has summers. More like the inside of an iceberg. Frozen. Unmoving.” L...

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“Men, to Arms! (or Women, to Spray Bottles)” by Delphine Hintz

Submitted to Contest #85

“Is that what I think it is?” “. . . No?” A sigh. “That’s not supposed to be a question.” “It wasn’t?” The woman’s heels clacked upon the stark linoleum as she approached. The rumble of tracks behind them grew louder before hissing to a stop. Her jaw clenched as she refused to breathe in the smell of mundanity and piss. Urban development developed into this. Any further west and she’d need the two-dollar neon snorkel. “Don’t play dumb.” “I’m not playing.” “Clearly.” The near empty spray bottle clattered. It settled, rolling back an...

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“You'll Forget My Stories” by Delphine Hintz

Submitted to Contest #85

“No one else remembers her anymore.” “Oh, I’m sure somebody does, Papa,” Rosalinda flicked on her blinker, looking much too little both ways before turning. “Yah? Who?” Frank grunted, staring over the Sternberg’s old fields. Great-grandmother Sternberg used to grow the largest pumpkins and win the fair every year. Him and Joey would get to carve them afterwards. Ginseng in row after shaded row, planted by Jung Co., grew there now. Rosalinda shrugged. “Oh, maybe an old friend that you forgot about, or somebody who just passed her on the ...

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Author bio

"Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth." - Albert Camus