Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Contests
Magazine
FAQ

Howard Halsall

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2020

Stories (134)
Comments
Library
1114 Followers
79 Following

134 Stories

6831 karma pts

?

To Have and To Hold

Submitted to Contest #254

Madam Pearl De Vere wanted me to look eye-catching on the night of the ball and provided a new gown for the occasion. Its hand-embroidered satin and plunging neckline flattered my slim waist and hips, without drawing excessive attention to my cleavage. I had no reason to advertise my wares.   “Tighter, Eliza!” I said, as she strained behind me. “Pull with all your might!”   “That’s as tight as tight can be, Miss Teresa.” By the time Eliza had secured all the laces and buttons, and powdered my tresses, it wa...

31 likes 42 comments 42
Read story

Rest for the Wicked

Submitted to Contest #253

It’s taken me fifty years to appreciate being alone, but it doesn’t do to mention it in public. I was always a social drinker and never enjoyed imbibing by myself. The doctor suggested, Naltrexone, but said, ‘The best remedy is to stop drinking. Period’. ‘That’s not easy, Doc’. ‘Enjoy some quality time,’ he said. ‘Go on holiday or get a hobby.’    Alas, my hobby was the problem. They prescribed Naltrexone at the clinic, but after I got the all-clear, I ditched the last tablets. The side effects were fairly unpredicta...

34 likes 47 comments 47
Read story

Nightingale Court

Submitted to Contest #252

Mrs Cockroach, my neighbour from 507 Nightingale Court, had a distinctive door-knock. It was like the first four notes of Beethoven’s fifth; three quick taps and one solid rap.    I’m coming! I said, closing my laptop. Hold on, Cally! Her dishevelled straw mop and skimpy summer dress made her look like a knock-kneed scarecrow after an autumnal storm.    What’s up, neighbour? I asked.    There’s a taxi on its way, she said, scratching her blotchy elbow. I need help to move out o...

48 likes 70 comments 70
Read story

Talking Books

Sidney Proctor had a lifelong affinity with books; a connection that entertained, amused, and even scared him at times. They were like old friends whom he consulted most days for words of wisdom and worldly advice. However, two weeks ago, while Sidney was reading chapter three of ‘1984’, the narrator’s gravelly voice diverged from the text to forecast a winner at the Epsom Derby. In furtive tones, it said to put money on Winston Smith riding Comrade Ogilvy at 30 to 1. Now, I’m no gambler, but with those long odds, who’d resist a fl...

28 likes 44 comments 44
Read story

Paradise Lost

Submitted to Contest #248

The familiar green outside the Pathfinder gives way and we’re in the fire zone, struggling to get our bearings in an alien landscape. I catch my breath and slow down to a crawl, staring wide-eyed at the devastation. Blackened tree trunks stand rigid, stripped of their outer appendages. They’re like limbless sentries in a macabre guard of honour along the side of the road. Landmarks and road signs have disappeared, and the ones that remain are off-kilter and charred; their paint has bubbled and flaked. A fine white ash has collected in drifts...

57 likes 32 comments 32
Read story

Mars: A Pioneer’s log

Submitted to Contest #247

After surviving on Mars for five years, we were unrecognisable to the Agency’s search and rescue mission. It’s obvious from reading my diary, we were too busy to notice the incremental changes as they occurred. We’d cultivated the land, adapted to the harsh environment, but then to our cost discovered, ‘You are what you eat’.* * *   The day we arrived on Mars, the Space Agency’s cumbersome vessel landed with remarkable precision, despite the fierce wind that greeted us. We herded our livestock and stowed our possessions on the...

51 likes 47 comments 47
Read story

The Stickler

Submitted to Contest #246

“Damn it! That’s all we need.” I braced my arms and swerved over to the side of the road, pulling up with a sharp tyre squeal.   “Ooh, oooh.” Sam groaned, cradling her distended belly. “Jesus! Roddy.”   “Sorry, love.” I said, turning to face her. “Are you all right?”   “Uh huh,” Sam said, closing her eyelids.Sam’s face was clammy with perspiration as she clenched her jaw and inhaled through gritted teeth. I reached out to stroke her pale cheek, steadying my trembling hand as I did so. She winced i...

45 likes 60 comments 60
Read story

Creatures of Habit

Submitted to Contest #244

For over ten years, we hosted the Sorell, Hogg and Hartley Christmas Eve party at our house in Arkley Village. Tom organised the guest list, and I received and entertained his work colleagues and their spouses. It was a wonderful opportunity to socialise, put faces to names and impress the firm’s influential partners.    “Susan makes it all look so effortless, Tom.”    “She always insists on doing the catering.”   “Really? Then you’re a lucky fellow.”   “There’s nothing le...

49 likes 54 comments 54
Read story

The Joyriders Club

Submitted to Contest #243

Chewing Juicy Fruit during a Border Enforcement interrogation isn’t a great idea.   “Lose the gum, kiddo!” Officer McNally said, reaching for his waste basket.    “Who says so?”   “You’re on the Moon now,” he said, proffering the bin. “That’s our rule here.”    I had one last chomp on the gum, plucked it from my mouth in a pincer movement and flicked it into the hovering receptacle.   “Thank you, Erika,” McNally said, passing the bin to his fellow officer, w...

43 likes 40 comments 40
Read story

Back to the Garden

Submitted to Contest #242

The Earth Museum had been devoid of visitors for weeks before its overhead tubes crackled and illuminated the cavernous atrium beyond my enclosure. I heard the familiar grind and clank of the distant security door and peered through the reinforced glass to see our android curator enter with a scaly reptilian, lurching forward on its hind legs. The immediate greeting from my fellow inmates was the usual deafening, mealtime cacophony of howls, shrieks and yelps. The curator waited for the racket to diminish before starting the tour, introducin...

49 likes 54 comments 54
Read story

The King of Little Russia

An onshore Caribbean breeze caressed Skatta’s tattooed shoulders and chunky arms as he snoozed under his ackee tree in a low-slung hammock. The wind had changed direction during the morning and now swept through Little Russia, disturbing the roadside debris. Crumpled manifestos and discarded pamphlets swirled into the air, and the detritus from a fortnight of frenzied political hustings tumbled across the potholed asphalt like hordes of itinerant vermin.   Most voters reckoned the outcome would be inconclusive and questioned w...

28 likes 17 comments 17
Read story

The Price of Silence

Summer in Brighton ended abruptly and August brought opaque sheets of freezing drizzle that whipped against Harley’s third-floor office window. Shivering at his desk in a fleece-lined hoodie, he glowered beyond his bleeping laptop at the wretched gulls screeching with impunity as they drifted past. It was the sort of weather calculated to try anyone's patience and Harley’s was in short supply after working nonstop since last September.   He’d snapped at Laurel about her dreary article for the Argus before lunch and become even...

36 likes 43 comments 43
Read story

Smoky Rose

Submitted to Contest #237

I miss that little nudge in my ribs at seven A.M. and waking up to her vivacious smile. But now I recall her freckled face and tousled copper locks, I wonder, was it a pout rather than a lively grin? Her lips had a life of their own and quivered like the smouldering rim of an active volcano. She was just as likely to pounce on me as erupt into laughter. I’d blink in bewilderment as she drew near, uncertain of her mood and prepare for a possible onslaught. However, most mornings it was her dark hazel eyes that held me captive, glistening like...

43 likes 24 comments 24
Read story

Voyager 1 Down

Submitted to Contest #236

Your Voyager mission to explore other worlds had to end at some point. But you knew that before your intrepid vessel accelerated out of the solar system and hurtled through interstellar space. No doubt Mission Command monitored Voyager 1’s interminable progress and you all cheered as it approached the Oort Cloud. Perhaps you prayed for a glimpse of intelligent life as it sped towards our asteroid and groaned when its signal died, and said, ‘Voyager 1 down.’*  *  *If your spacecraft had survived the crash with our dirty sn...

36 likes 36 comments 36
Read story

Run, Fatso, Run.

Submitted to Contest #235

Harris and I have been trampling the tarmac for decades now.We know we’re a couple of fatties at heart, there’s no denying it. But if I cease my regular run, I’ll lose the bet and return to Fatsville.I have a recurring nightmare about my wager with Harris. There’s tsunami of wobbling belly flab, thighs and bingo wings. It chases me across fields, down a high street and all the way back home.Breathless, I slam the door behind me and it charges down my road.I’m sure if I stop running, it’ll catch me.God forbid that happens.*&nbs...

48 likes 37 comments 37
Read story