Douglas W. Carr

“Crackling Bacon” by Douglas W. Carr

Submitted to Contest #184

Please Note: This story contains light-hearted profanity and disparaging remarks.Also Note: The sound of radio static is represented by the term “<crackling bacon>” in the content of the story.“Ho…<crackling bacon>…ave…<crackling bacon>…roble…<crackling bacon>,” came a voice across the two-way radio.“Please repeat your transmission,” returned another voice.“<crackling bacon><crackling bacon>…hear…<crackling bacon>…me?”“There’s a lot of static. We’re not able to decipher.”“Dit…<crackling bacon>&...

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“Hoax - No Hoax” by Douglas W. Carr

*** Please note: this story is a continuation of No One’s Going to Believe This. ***January 27, 2023, at 11:59:59 PM Eastern Time – It had been seven days since the transmission was received by the Green Bank Telescope located in Green Bank, West Virginia located in the Allegheny Mountain Range.---On the Friday prior, Bobbie Sagan had been led away by General Hensfield after he had encouraged her to ‘go for a walk.’ There had been some debate about a message received from space and eventually led to the involvement of General Hensfield and t...

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“No One’s Going to Believe This” by Douglas W. Carr

Submitted to Contest #181

January 20, 2023, at 11:59:59 PM Eastern Time – A communication was received by the Green Bank Radio Telescope located in Green Bank, West Virginia located in the Allegheny Mountain Range.---The round-the-clock surveillance team was working and sifting through normal noise picked up by the radio telescope when intern Bobbie Sagan noticed something unusual. The data coming through was in English. She thought she was dreaming so she called her colleague over. Dr. Phillips sauntered over thinking something was wrong with their equipment.“What’s...

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“Dr. Feelgood” by Douglas W. Carr

Submitted to Contest #180

“Bad luck? There’s no such thing as bad luck,” Penny’s father blurted out. “You make your own luck. You remember that.” Those words haunted Penny as she headed off to college. She had a difficult time with the idea of bad and good luck. She always felt she had bad luck and others had good luck, no matter the amount of work she invested.She drove herself crazy with the whole idea. She’d even convinced herself that, given her amount of bad luck, she must have lived a previous life having nothing but good luck. It had to have been karma.Fo...

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“The Tolling Bell” by Douglas W. Carr

Submitted to Contest #179

Daryl was on the phone with his wife’s brother, and they were discussing the value of a particular handgun. He jotted down some notes and agreed to do a little research. Then his brother-in-law abruptly changed the subject and asked, “You guys want to come over here tomorrow for New Year’s Eve?” Caught off guard, Daryl stumbled his words not knowing if his wife had already made plans. “Um, I’m not sure. I’d have to see what your sister has planned if anything.” “How about we let our wives figure it out?” replied his brother-in-law. “Bette...

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“Fart” by Douglas W. Carr

Submitted to Contest #178

There’s really nothing unconventional about our family holiday celebrations—on either side. Over the years we’ve run the gamut of games and experimented with different foods, but nothing I would consider unconventional. Do you remember Trivial Pursuit? Yes? We actually played that several years in the different variations. I have no further comment. We played a game called ‘spoons’ where there’s one less spoon on the table than players. It’s a game of elimination where everyone is grabbing for a spoon at the same time. It was brutal. My un...

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“Stomp, Stomp, Clap” by Douglas W. Carr

Submitted to Contest #177

It’s estimated that ‘humans’ didn’t gain the ability to speak or form any type of language until about seventy thousand years ago, and it’s also estimated that ‘humans’ have existed for more than two million years and the ‘human’ ancestor dates back another five million years. It’s enough to attempt to comprehend what that all means let alone comprehend how ‘humans’ must’ve communicated, during anytime leading up to seventy thousand years ago. Some theories indicate that the migration of ‘humans’ across the continents occurred over tens of...

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“Aww-ooh-wooh-wooh” by Douglas W. Carr

Submitted to Contest #176

I must’ve been around eight weeks old when the commotion began. There were a lot of strangers visiting and our caretakers were having plenty of conversations with them. All my brothers and sisters, including me, were allowed outside to run and play freely in the yard when someone visited. There were eight of us with all sorts of colors. My mom was black with curly hair and my dad was reddish gold with wavy hair. In time, I learned that my mom was a Labradoodle, that’s half Labrador Retriever and half Poodle. It seemed like an odd mix, but ...

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“Decision of a Cause” by Douglas W. Carr

Submitted to Contest #175

Joe lived in a rural community and had turned his backyard into a massive garden with many vegetables, trees, flowers, cactus, and other miscellaneous plants. Because he lived in the north where winters could be harsh and lengthy, he made it an annual chore to collect fallen leaves to insulate all his plants—so they had a chance to survive the winter. As such, Joe would seek out neighbors or anyone in the community trying to get rid of their leaves. Most people raked or blew their leaves into a pile, and he would show up and bag them, but ...

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“A Boon and a Bane” by Douglas W. Carr

Submitted to Contest #174

My high school friend and I had a great relationship with similar interests in biology. Because we lived on opposite ends of the school district, we didn’t hang out much outside of school, but we did spend the occasional summer weekend at each other’s house—given we could convince a parent to make the drive. We botched many an experiment during that time together. We graduated with honors and were co-valedictorians of our class. We were both influenced by our parents to pursue a medical degree with the goal of becoming surgeons. As you may...

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“Holiday at the Winery” by Douglas W. Carr

Submitted to Contest #173

Like a lot of folks around the holidays, Mary loved to watch the classic holiday movies from It’s a Wonderful Life to Miracle on 34th Street to Home Alone and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. She always related to the well-known scene in Christmas Vacation and the exchange between Clark Griswold and Mary—the department store sales assistant/cashier. She found humor in the scene because she also worked as a cashier and sales assistant in a small village holiday store albeit they didn’t sell lingerie. Mary was on the later side of her ...

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“You Looking for Trouble?” by Douglas W. Carr

Submitted to Contest #172

*** Warning: This story contains profanity. ***I picked up the phone to call my brother and realized that I hadn’t spoken to him in many months. I’d been calling him more regularly, for the past twenty-five years, but this time was different. The last six months for me had been extraordinarily…complicated. Complicated enough for me to call him. I had the propensity to fight and had a handful of them in the last months. One encounter, about a month ago, happened to be the worst decision of my life. I messed with the wrong guy. He threatened t...

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“Leap of Faith” by Douglas W. Carr

Submitted to Contest #171

Kurt remembered the first time he’d made the journey to the quarry. It wasn’t far from his family’s property, but it also wasn’t accessible unless you knew how to get there. His discovery seemed surreal, and it was as if it was his discovery alone. Standing at the precipice of the cliff one day and gazing into the quarry, he felt a wave of fear overcome him. At the same time, he couldn’t help noticing that the view was something like he’d never seen. The water was clear and still – and the leaves on the surrounding trees were in full fall co...

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“The Real Tournament” by Douglas W. Carr

Submitted to Contest #170

*** Warning: This story depicts bullying and physical violence – and contains profanity. *** “I’ve got a plan,” Tommy shouted as he walked past his father and down the steps toward the basement. “Hey,” his father yelled. “What?” “What happened to you?” “Same thing as always.” “You, okay?” “I’m fine, just leave me alone.” “Don’t go doing anything stupid,” his father encouraged. “There are only a few weeks of school remaining and then you’re off for the summer. Next year will be better.” “Yeah yeah, whatever.” Tommy’s ninth-grade ye...

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“Murdering Mary” by Douglas W. Carr

Submitted to Contest #169

*** Warning: This story depicts gruesome details of murder. *** The judge read aloud, “The jury finds the defendant not guilty.” A loud groan rose from the crowd. The judge slammed his gavel and demanded order as chaos began to break out. The guards escorted several people from the courtroom, as other guards rushed in to help bring order. Mary was swiftly escorted out the back entrance of the courtroom and down the hall to a holding room – and the judge followed. Three guards stood surrounding the jury with weapons at the ready while the ...

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