James Barrett

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jul, 2024

Stories (15)

15 Stories

225 karma pts

?

“Javon and Kimberly” by James Barrett

Submitted to Contest #276

My name is Javon Jackson. I’m a twenty-nine-year-old black cop in a black high-crime precinct in Newark, New Jersey. Besides my service revolver, I carry a blackjack. Often, the blackjack comes in handy when I need to show some perp that I mean business without threatening or, God forbid, using deadly force. Like most cops, I keep a backup piece at home: a Glock 22 semi-auto. It's under lock and key in a gun safe. The combination is my daughter's birthday.New Jersey is heavily blue and controlled by Democrats. As is their wont, they spend ot...

0 comments 0
Read story

“It's Only a Nightmare” by James Barrett

Submitted to Contest #275

This has happened before. This is just like the other times. I have no idea how or why I wind up here, but here I am again. Scared shitless. “It’s only a nightmare.” I keep telling myself. I’ve only been to Zion National Park in Utah once. It was twenty years ago when I was a twelve-year-old boy. I thought I knew everything and could do anything. I was arrogant and intolerant. In short, I was the classic definition of a snot-nosed kid.My Dad was an avid hiker. He talked Mom into the Zion vacation. She wanted to go to the Caribbean and relax ...

2 comments 2
Read story

“It's Only a Nightmare” by James Barrett

Submitted to Contest #274

This has happened before. This is just like the other times. I have no idea how or why I wind up here, but here I am again. Scared shitless. “It’s only a nightmare.” I keep telling myself. I’ve only been to Zion National Park in Utah once. It was twenty years ago when I was a twelve-year-old boy. I thought I knew everything and could do anything. I was arrogant and intolerant. In short, I was the classic definition of a snot-nosed kid.My Dad was an avid hiker. He talked Mom into the Zion vacation. She wanted to go to the Caribbean and relax ...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Skeletons in Both Closets” by James Barrett

Submitted to Contest #273

It was a hot summer night several years ago in Fort Lee, New Jersey. If you’ve never been there, it’s a town straight out of The Sopranos. I remember it like it was yesterday. I had too many beers. I shouldn’t have been driving. That’s not an excuse, just an explanation. Ralphie shouldn’t have challenged me in the first place, but he did. I was running my mouth about my new Mustang, and I guess it rubbed Ralphie the wrong way. Ralphie said his three-year-old Corvette StingRay would blow the doors off my new Mustang. As usual, Callahan’s park...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Janeen the Dream” by James Barrett

Submitted to Contest #272

1985Greenwich Village had become a food desert. Oh, sure, there was plenty of sustenance to be had IF you were a risk taker. A gambler. I wasn’t. You only get one strike in that league, and I was terrified every time I had an at-bat.I had gotten used to being alive. I liked it—no, I loved it—and it was light years better than the alternative. I know some know-nothings referred to us as the "living dead," but they had no idea what they were missing. So, with my back against the proverbial wall, I began to do some serious research.You can imag...

1 comment 1
Read story

“One Night at the Twisted Elm” by James Barrett

Submitted to Contest #271

Built in 1890, the Twisted Elm is one of those old Irish pubs in Northeastern New Jersey that drips carved mahogany, fine leather, beveled mirrors, tuxedoed bartenders, and top-shelf, expensive booze. “The Elm” was originally intended to be a posh alcohol-laden retreat for the captains of industry on Wall Street. Guggenheims, Rockefellers, Woolworths, Morgans, Vanderbilts, et al would often pop in for a martini or three before heading home in their limousines to mansions and family dinners on the Gold Coast.During prohibition, The Elm became...

0 comments 0
Read story

“My Dinner With Kathy” by James Barrett

Submitted to Contest #270

It was a hot summer night several years ago. I remember it like it was yesterday. I had too many beers. I shouldn’t have been driving. That’s not an excuse, just an explanation. Ralphie shouldn’t have challenged me in the first place, but he did. I was running my mouth about my new Mustang, and I guess it rubbed Ralphie the wrong way. Ralphie said his three-year-old Corvette StingRay would blow the doors off my new Mustang. Callahan’s parking lot was crowded with our peers. All beer drinkers and gearheads. I had to accept. The alcohol made i...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Moonlight Drive” by James Barrett

Submitted to Contest #269

Jason was in his eighties, but he was still the most sought-after mechanic and restorer of elegant and desirable cars at "S & J’s Classic Motorcars” in downtown L.A. Rock stars, politicians, a-list actors, talk-show hosts, etc. all came to S & J’s to get their aging Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Jags, etc. restored to mint condition. Almost all the clients asked for Jason to oversee their restoration projects. If the result was perfect, some of these cars would be worth several hundred thousand or even millions of dollars. Jason was always...

0 comments 0
Read story

“You Shoulda Heard the Whine from My Screamin Machine” by James Barrett

Submitted to Contest #268

It was a hot summer night several years ago. I remember it like it was yesterday. I had too many beers. I shouldn’t have been driving. That’s not an excuse, just an explanation. Ralphie shouldn’t have challenged me in the first place, but he did. I was running my mouth about my new Mustang, and I guess it rubbed Ralphie the wrong way. Ralphie said his three-year-old Corvette StingRay would blow the doors off my new Mustang. Callahan’s parking lot was crowded with our peers. All beer drinkers and gearheads. I had to accept. The alcohol made i...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Who Are You?” by James Barrett

Submitted to Contest #267

The Planting Fields Arboretum is in Oyster Bay, smack in the middle of what is still known as Long Island’s Gold Coast. The mansions are mostly still there but are no longer occupied by the families that built them, namely the Woolworths, Vanderbilts, Phipps, Guggenheims, Morgans, etc. After the Great Depression, FDR and the Democrats made damn sure that sort of obscene distribution of wealth would never happen again, at least not here, not on their watch.Today, the mansions are planetariums, tourist attractions, and sites for the wedding re...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Go Ahead, Make One More Change” by James Barrett

Submitted to Contest #266

Three-fingered Jack Garcia. That’s me. Most lawmen and evil guys call me Three-Fingers. I am the most feared anti-hero on the planet. And the most popular. I was created by my former friend, writer Horace Lovestreet III. Horace is an Old West aficionado. He keeps a vintage Colt .45 in his desk. He pulls it out occasionally, hoping for inspiration that never comes.It all began one rainy night in Los Angeles. Horace was finishing a bottle of Jim Beam Bourbon, wondering how he would make a living now that the writing thing clearly wasn't workin...

0 comments 0
Read story

“A Thousand Ways to Die in Costa Rica” by James Barrett

Submitted to Contest #265

Follow a group of strangers touring a city on some kind of vehicle — a bus, a duck tour boat, a party bike… anything that transports passengers!A Thousand Ways to Die in Costa RicaAs the morning sun rose, my wife Linda and I were the first to climb aboard the small, gaily painted tour bus at the San Juan bus depot in the heart of Costa Rica’s throbbing commercial district. The bus looked like it had seen better days—a lot of them. The windows were all wide open.We had booked a three-day excursion to Playa Quesera beach on the Caribbean side ...

0 comments 0
Read story

“A Casual Look” by James Barrett

Submitted to Contest #264

Center your story around two people who meet at a wedding.A casual look, a little wink Can reveal just what you think …(The Six Teens, 1956) My name is Daniel Lassiter. Everybody calls me Dan. At least everybody did before the wedding. Since that episode, most people have put adjectives before my name with four letters. Still, it was the happiest day of my life and the strangest. All I did was answer the minister's question honestly. What was I supposed to do? Lie?I’m in my late twenties. I didn’t have a serious girlfriend. I didn’t have any...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Bona Fide Hedge” by James Barrett

Submitted to Contest #263

The accounting firm of Schwartz & Schwartz employed Leo Logan as a clerk in their local office. There was nothing remarkable about Leo other than the fact that his father, Zachery, had made a deal with the Devil years ago, where Zach would win more bets than he lost in exchange for sacrificing his immortal soul to the Devil upon his demise.               Zach was a cigar-smoking professional gambler, and because of the deal mentioned above, he could provide a mode...

0 comments 0
Read story

“A Sixties Tale” by James Barrett

Submitted to Contest #262

PROLOGUE The events I’m about to describe took place during 1967 and 1968. No one involved besides me knows the whole truth about what happened, and I want to keep it that way for reasons that will become obvious. Some of the names and places used in this story are fictitious. The events are real. Why am I telling this tale to you, a stranger? Because the prospect of taking this story untold to my grave is unbearable. Some of you may understand that what I did, I did out of love. Others may feel I should rot in hell for my actions. Each read...

1 comment 1
Read story

Author bio

James Barrett has not written a bio yet!