Francis Daisy

“Keeper of the Memories” by Francis Daisy

Submitted to Contest #108

I forgot how to write the number six today. I was in a meeting with my boss and I couldn’t write the number six. Ironically, there were six people seated at the conference table in the air conditioned room. My chair swiveled on the carpeted floor as I tried to concentrate on moving my pen on sheet of paper in front of me. I knew I should be making eye contact with the person seated at the head of the table, but if only I could get this written down first. I needed to just make the lines or curves or squiggles in my notes. What the hell! What...

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“She missed the boat” by Francis Daisy

“It’ll be easy, ‘e says. I'll go ahead to set oehp ooehr 'ahme, den you can meet me dere,” Thomas is holding on to his bride's hands. They are setting at a plain wooden table with ladderback chairs drawn up around it. They are alone in the room, for once the parents and multiple siblings have made themselves scarce. A log in the hearth snaps loudly while the black pot over the fire simmers gently. Shadows dance on the log walls from the lantern on the table, the stone flag floor was swept clean. Mary had recently swept all of the dirt from t...

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“Walter” by Francis Daisy

Submitted to Contest #107

“He pissed in his cup!” Emma says to me as she is tying off the kayak on the trailer. “I just got that line! It’s not Piston Cup! When Mater and Lightning McQueen discover all of Doc Hudson’s championship trophies, Mater says that Doc did “What in his cup?”"Pass me that rope. We need to tie the kayaks to the rack. Not to each other like we did the last time...when they fell off on our first turn," I am on the other side of the trailer tying knots. Already the sun is high in the sky and my shirt is soaked with sweat. “That’s why we always lau...

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“Homemade” by Francis Daisy

Submitted to Contest #106

 Chlorine hangs heavy in the humid evening air. Bare footed children yell “red light! green light!” in an age-old game of you can’t get to the other side before someone yells “red light!” again at the other person. Moms chase children with towels trying to herd them towards cars. Grandmas helpfully shout out, “I’ll order the pizza!” It is another closing day at the city pool and the families are being sent out into the parking lot. The life guards can be glimpsed through the doors as they sweep, mop, empty garbage cans, and tidy up...

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“Therapy” by Francis Daisy

Submitted to Contest #105

Warning: language! I can edit out if needed!“Can you get me a peach pill? And you might as well get me the white one too. Grab the nitro paste while you’re in there, I’m gonna need it,” Callum says, “Don’t know what this therapy is supposed to be about anyway.” He can already feel his blood pressure rising. Maybe he should also take an extra orange pill too, just in case? Why not, he’s already taken a whole rainbow this morning.Blythe walks back into the kitchen with the pills, nitro paste and patches, and blood pressure cuff. “We tried...

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“Dear Sadie” by Francis Daisy

Submitted to Contest #104

Dear Sadie, Since we aren’t able to speak, I guess I’ll resort to emails. I feel a little foolish, but, if this is the only way we get to talk, then I’ll type. I know you won’t write back, but that’s okay. Returning phone calls or text messages has never been your strong suit. You would be much more likely to show up on my doorstep than to answer a text message from me asking if I should wear my blue shoes or my white sneakers. Speaking of, I’m wondering what I should wear this weekend. What do you think? Should I go with the business suit a...

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“Time to Fly ” by Francis Daisy

Submitted to Contest #97

Ping. Ping. Ping, ping. Ping, ping, ping. My phone is typically silent at work. It should be silent at work. I’m not sure why it wasn’t silenced that day. Mother’s intuition maybe? Ping. Another text. It was my oldest daughter’s distinct tone. Each child had her own tone designated, so I knew the messages were all coming from Victoria. Was there an emergency at home? I glanced across my classroom and debated whether I should check the texts or finish the lesson. My students looked at me expectantly as if they were thinking the same thing...

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“Stranger” by Francis Daisy

Submitted to Contest #96

“I’m not sure. Do you think we really need someone to come in to help?” Chad asks, not for the first time. His injury rendered him completely paralyzed. He was totally dependent on Ann for even the simplest of tasks. Scratching his cheek, blowing his nose, brushing his teeth. Every little detail of his life now depended on having someone by his side. He was alive and well, but trapped inside his own body, unable to move. It was a living nightmare. Ann’s heart broke every time she looked at him. “If I am going to continue to work full time,...

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“when did i?” by Francis Daisy

Submitted to Contest #95

“Ba-da-ba-ba-baaa…I’m lovin’ it”. I’m glad someone’s loving it. But at our house,  no one’s loving it. We are alone in the living room. The TV drowns out any opportunity to talk about the weather, the recent spike in flu, what to have for dinner, or any words at all. It is commercials for erectile dysfunction or allergy season or cell phone plans with unlimited data that carry on in the background of our lives. The TV successfully places yet another wedge in the great divide. He sits in his chair. I sit on the sofa. Never the two shal...

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“Dare you” by Francis Daisy

Submitted to Contest #94

“I dare you to dance with me,” he extended one shaky hand out in the dark gymnasium to the girl seated on the bleacher.  His friends all said she wouldn’t agree. He was crazy to think she would say yes. He had seen her staring at him all night. But he had heard the rumors that she maybe thought he was all right. He had tried to talk to her when she wasn’t surrounded by so many girl friends. He tried to weave his way into their circle on the floor but it was such a tight circle, he wasn’t able to break in. He had seen her. This was the...

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“Black and Blue” by Francis Daisy

This story was written in collaboration with Kaleigh Montague - my partner in crime! Thank you for the late night writing sessions, email exchanges, and rewrite after rewrite. It was a wild and crazy week! A quieted house stood idly looming over the rest of the neighborhood. The lively crowd that once inhabited this house came and left, leaving the couple to clean the house by themselves. The front door opened and closed as they entered the house. The sight before them was enough to make them sigh in utter laziness at the thought of cleani...

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“Look Again” by Francis Daisy

May 2005 With two hands she set the stone cookie sheet on the kitchen island. She then used her pointer finger to run down the list of ingredients on the crusty index card. It had grease marks and crumbs and tattered corners, but the recipe was in her mother’s handwriting and had never failed when her mom used it. She had no doubt that by following the directions, she could replicate the warm, soft goodness that when paired  with a glass of cold milk on a Saturday afternoon would make everything inside also warm and good. How is it ...

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“I cannot go outside to play today” by Francis Daisy

Submitted to Contest #92

I cannot go outside and play today It is much too bright and it hurts my eyes I will not go outside and play hopscotch or jump rope today Ask me when it is dark and grey like an elephant’s ear I will not go outside to play today The sun is much too yellow and it burns my eyes I will not leave my house today I will not go outside to play today I will not go outside and play today  It is much too bright and it hurts my eyes I will not go outside and play today Ask me when it is bleak and dreary like Monday mornings I will not go out...

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“Untitled” by Francis Daisy

Submitted to Contest #91

“He’s upstairs. In the library. You’ll have to wait,” she tells her and motions for the girl to sit on the hard chair. The girl wonders if she can hear her swallow in the silence. She swipes her sweaty palms on her jeans and wonders if she should have changed into a skirt or a dress or a different person altogether before presenting herself here. What was she thinking? The woman stares at the door, also waiting. Neither of them make eye contact. She was to sit here and wait for her grandfather to finish reading his latest book about Hit...

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“Seasons” by Francis Daisy

Submitted to Contest #90

Seriously, the largest trees we have ever seen are the Redwoods. Hundreds of feet tall; the tallest 380 feet tall. And, these trees are so big around, our family of five couldn’t even come close to reaching all the way around them even if we held hands and stretched our arms as wide as we could. We would only make it about a third of the way. We could park our car inside one of these trees. When we returned to New York after this trip, our trees looked like toothpicks compared to those trees we had seen in California. There is no sight like ...

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