Diane Elliott

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2024

Stories (3)

3 Stories

49 karma pts

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“Good Enough” by Diane Elliott

Submitted to Contest #284

It was a good night. One of those places that doesn’t try too hard because the regulars show up regardless, and they like it just fine like it is. We sat at a table in the back corner and Jimmy got us a couple of beers from the bar.A mismatched couple—middle-aged woman dressed and groomed and older man in a ZZ Top t-shirt—were singing “Two Tickets to Paradise,” and they really meant it. When they finished, people clapped and cheered them by name. The emcee asked, “How many years you been singing together now?” “Three, in March,” said the wom...

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“Stray Thoughts” by Diane Elliott

Submitted to Contest #278

Lisa had always avoided being alone with him. Something about him…. And now here she was, the only other person in the room. She refused to look at the bed, at him. His jagged breath shredded the air, her lungs working in sympathy, against her will. Her mom took in strays—cats and dogs Lisa and Jimmy loved, men they didn’t. Stu was the last of those. The first who didn’t leave.He trailed around after mother like the cats and dogs, grateful and jittery. It took a full year for him to stand up straight, that’s how it felt to Lisa. She kep...

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“Golden Spiral” by Diane Elliott

Submitted to Contest #271

This is the first and now the fourth place she’s left things. Campus—students trooping between classes, clamped to their phones. So, reward the ones who look around. A stained-glass bird near the fountain. A glass-shell-bead fish hanging from a statue. Sun catchers near the library, the Student Union, the cafeteria. This time, abstract human figures—glass-wire-whatever. In the plaza near the physics building, she sees a bench overhung by a promising branch. Sitting, she opens the box of mixed-media people. The cords and cards are tangled. As...

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Author bio

Recovering bookseller and current science copyeditor. I write stories, essays, plays, and screenplays to learn how they work.