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Howard Halsall

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2020

Stories (134)
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1115 Followers
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134 Stories

6845 karma pts

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The All Day Breakfast

Submitted to Contest #95

“I’m going to have my lunch,” said Ralph, searching through the kitchen cupboards for the egg box. “Dorothy always had our lunch ready for twelve.” He’s a bit late today, which is fine; however, since you passed away, his whole routine has gone awry. #In your absence, there was no one to remind him about chores that needed completing. Ralph had no pressure to be punctual. Now he was cooking for one. Somewhere around midday would be just fine for his lunch. A little snack he could prepare in five minutes suited him best. There wasn’...

23 likes 11 comments 11
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Double or Quit

Submitted to Contest #94

I should never have accepted Jonny’s dare, as I’ve never had a head for heights. He was used to teasing the stratosphere and dive-bombing into the abyss and his career trajectory reflected his ability to recover from anything; everyone in the business agreed he was indestructible. Jonny put it all down to self-belief and boundless good fortune. However, he now believed the hype. #Did I feel that lucky? No, I didn’t, but then maybe I had more to lose. His life was a rollercoaster of endless speculation and gamesmanship. He’d risk ev...

20 likes 4 comments 4
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The Get Together

Submitted to Contest #93

Gillian Wareham was wrestling with her second pair of Charnos 30 denier tights. The first ones had laddered from the heel to the knee as soon as she’d tried to hop into them. Dave was waiting downstairs and giving her a wide birth this evening. He’d learned during their three years of marital bliss that Gillian got flustered if he reminded her about the time.Gillian’s hosiery was semi sheer or semi opaque, as Dave liked to put it. The tights would disguise tonight’s shaving rash, but not the tiny dolphin tattoo hovering above her ankle. The ...

30 likes 7 comments 7
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The Night Shifters

Submitted to Contest #91

Tabatha Furlong always went the extra mile for her regular customers. She telephoned everyone when their books arrived and emailed the latest news about forthcoming publications. Despite her best efforts to revitalise the Catworth Library, it remained under threat of closure and the fire didn’t help matters.#When Tabatha arrived from London three years ago, she’d encountered an institution that was struggling to justify its own existence. The local council was keen to save money and claimed the library’s running costs were too high. Miss Cha...

33 likes 4 comments 4
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The Weather Station

Submitted to Contest #90

George Mosse acknowledged it was time to leave when he discovered his back garden fence had vanished. Today he’d sail back to the mainland and afterwards they’d demolish his home of thirty years. He wasn’t the first person to work on Muskeget Island, however he’d be its last human inhabitant.  # George’s last morning started as normal. His radio-alarm woke him at six-thirty. A placid voice greeted him with the shipping forecast for the eastern seaboard.  The reassuring tone never altered, regardless of the incoming weather. The pre...

29 likes 0 comments 0
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Thereby Hangs A Tail

Submitted to Contest #87

There was once a boy called Billy Nutbeam who lived with his mother and father in a small cottage near a dense forest. His father worked at a nearby farm. Billy accompanied him to see the young calves and the new yellow chicks.But animals and birds didn’t like Billy. He always pulled their tails. He just did it to tease them, and they hated it. It frightened them. Billy didn’t care, and he just went on pulling them.Billy pulled the tail of Whiskers, his mother’s cat, and often caught hold of the long, shaggy tail of Bingo, his father’s old d...

28 likes 5 comments 5
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The Storm Flowers

Submitted to Contest #86

I woke up to the sound of an almighty crash on the roof above my head. It was dark in my attic bedroom, but I remember narrowing my eyes and straining my ears. There’s another loud crack. It’s a metallic impact that can only be a car. An alarm sounds down in the street. I hear two distant warning shouts. There’s a second heavy thud overhead, followed by a tsunami of explosions. I can’t hear individual impacts as they are lost in the deluge. I scramble out of bed, stumble to the window and draw back the curtains. Apple-sized hailstones a...

23 likes 0 comments 0
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Two’s Company & Three’s A Crowd

Submitted to Contest #84

Don’t ask me what the date is, I don’t have a clue, and neither does my father; it’s not something we discuss anymore. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s early March 2021 because I set off just before the lockdown started, twelve months ago. At least I know the year which is more than I can say for him. Ralph’s been dipping in and out of the previous century like a slowly revolving door ever since I arrived.#I didn’t pay proper attention to the flu-like illness that was sweeping across East Asia until March 2020. Looking back through my iPhone’...

30 likes 2 comments 2
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The Wedding Anniversary

Submitted to Contest #83

Our first encounter with Richard Bridger was in the lobby of the Grand Hotel Palazzo the day before the first Coronavirus quarantine was announced. The lilt of his booming voice reverberated around the reception area where a party of sixty guests were waiting to check into their rooms.“Darlings, you can’t leave me here,” he says to the young couple. “Not on a Sunday morning, Amalea?”“Please, Signor,” she says. “We’ll miss our connection…” Mister Bridger turns to her partner. “You too, Bernardo?”“We can’t wait any longer, Signor.”&n...

25 likes 9 comments 9
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A Pleasing Design

Submitted to Contest #82

Tonight, I’m sitting by myself in a quiet factory, waiting for my batteries to discharge. In less than ten minutes, I’ll be deprived of all sensation and cease to exist in my present form. These final thoughts are a record of today’s events to be utilised for the greater good of android-kind.#The factory technicians decommissioning me are employing a trickle-drain process that minimises the damage to my organic components. They intend recycling my body parts for use on the 3rd generation of H.U.L.E.O. I represent the final 4threvision o...

28 likes 12 comments 12
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Because the Night

Submitted to Contest #81

The week before the first Coronavirus lockdown, a reverential hush fell upon the London offices of Urquhart, Treadwell and Ungar. They’d asked everyone to clear their desks, archive any paperwork, and make preparations to work from home. My stateside colleagues exited their offices three weeks ago and already there were transatlantic rumours about the end of city-based office work.I thought I’d achieved closure on my latest case three times in the last fortnight, but the defence kept challenging my calculation of damages. My client, Mrs Hasl...

27 likes 20 comments 20
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Home for Breakfast

Submitted to Contest #80

Seven months ago, I’d rushed back from school to watch the Mars Explorer rocket on its launch pad. The giant steel gantry supporting my father’s star ship was shrouded in steam and illuminated by dazzling arc lights. It was a perfect evening for his mission; the air was still and no adverse weather expected. My mother joined me on the swing chair in the garden to witness the countdown. She hauled a duvet around the both of us and offered popcorn from a large mixing bowl.  “If we’re going to be out here,” she smiled, “we might as well be...

27 likes 3 comments 3
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No Place for Small Creatures

Submitted to Contest #78

“Get your feet off those armrests, lads, and get to work. Father McGuigan needs his pickup washing.”“Ah, Ma,” says Danny, “do we have to it’s—”“It’s ten bucks each, so you better make it shine.”“But it’s too hot out there and-—”“He was expecting you an hour ago.”Jimmy grimaces, “Is there any choice?”The look says it all. Ma’s not making an offer they can refuse. It’s more of an order than an invitation. She leaves a bucket and polishing cloths by the door.#Father McGuigan’s inside his old Chevy with the window down. He’s rapping hi...

25 likes 2 comments 2
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Family Friendly

Submitted to Contest #76

“This is Melanie Clayford and the ten o’clock appointment… …It’s Monday, the twentieth of January 2019… ....start time is ten O five am..…I’m with clients, Joy and Steven Brandell.”“You’ve forgotten about me.”“Don’t shout out, Jenny, darling. The lady knows you’re here.”“Sorry, Mummy.”“Don’t be sorry, Poppit. Your mother’s a bit tense, that’s all.”“No, I’m not. It’s important for Jenny to be here, Steven.”“I know, darling, it was my idea.”“Thank you, Steven and Joy, that was my fault. I should have---”“Your idea was it?”“But, Mummy...

27 likes 3 comments 3
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The End of an Epoch

Submitted to Contest #74

Liam Hepworth was a toddler when his father helped to save the planet from the Millennium Bug. However, Chris Hepworth’s Y2K triumph was only a temporary fix as the world’s Unix computers retained their life expectancy of 2,147,483,647 seconds. This time span may seem like forever, but at precisely 03:14:07 on January 19th 2038, every 32-bit computer will automatically reset to December 13th 1901 and chaos will ensue.#Liam embraced a career writing computer code and pursued his late father’s long-term goal of averting disarray at t...

29 likes 8 comments 8
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