Jeannie Labelle -Potvin

“Flight of Fantasy ” by Jeannie Labelle -Potvin

Submitted to Contest #230

Jean-Luc was a man of many fantasies.His most persistent ones were somewhat delusional and had begun early in his life. He had been a quiet child, somewhat introverted and yet had a way of firmly holding stage center. When he was quite young, his parents began to be concerned about the slightly kinky nature of his narratives and often tried to temper his stories of murder and mayhem. They weren’t very successful.Time passed and Jean-Luc gradually...

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“Little Boy Blue” by Jeannie Labelle -Potvin

Submitted to Contest #220

“Are you hungry?”A rather simple question and yet for some, the answer lies deeply hidden beneath layers of complexity.He was very hungry. Though the family kitchen held copious amounts of food, to the little boy it was empty. To the uneducated eye his belief of emptiness was somewhat delusional.None the less, his hunger persisted. Empty promises lurked menacingly behind boxes and bags of food.He was just a little boy who lived with a good family. They looked after him as best as they could, but he had a hole s...

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“Zero Four, Zero Four, Twenty-four.” by Jeannie Labelle -Potvin

Submitted to Contest #194

It was the fourth day of the fourth month of the year 2024. I would soon be turning 74, and as I approached that landmark, I began to reminisce about the years I had wandered this planet I called home.I occasionally visited a time many years before. It was not a time I like to remember and I was grateful that as the years passed, the memories had become softer, and a little bit more gentle. I still approached cautiously for there were days when the images filled my brain with ugliness that spilled down t...

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“Crossing the Rainbow ” by Jeannie Labelle -Potvin

Submitted to Contest #189

It was so terribly cold. Snow was falling and it was almost dark.Sally sat in her kitchen, wrapped in several layers of guilt.She covered her ears as the loud howls from outside slowly quieted, petering off into almost silent whimpering.Her ordeal had begun several years earlier.Her children, aided and abetted by her husband had coerced her with their constant, pleas for a dog.Against her better judgment, Sally finally gave in to the pressure from her family.The reality was t...

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“Searching For Utah. ” by Jeannie Labelle -Potvin

Submitted to Contest #167

I begin dreaming of endings.Scene after scene endlessly play across the stage that fills my head.Old movies race towards the finish line. The final credits roll down the incline, crowding my vision with shadows and shades.It is the final scene of “Raising Arizona”.I stand behind Nick Cage as he speaks of the child he and Holly Hunter once stole.Their movie characters desperately wanted a baby and believed that the Arizona couple who'd just had sextuplets wouldn't miss one.Turns out they...

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“Only Women Bleed. Part 2./Never Surrender.” by Jeannie Labelle -Potvin

Submitted to Contest #166

Lilith was furious. Furious and disgusted with her nemesis Ginny.She put her hands up in the air, uttering the words that signalled her defeat.“I give up, I just can’t take this anymore, I QUIT!”Once again she’d found Ginny standing at the kitchen sink, weeping, paring knife in her hand, watching the rich, ruby red liquid pour into the sink,Once again she had endured hearing Ginny begin to sing, “Only women bleed”.The woman knew this wasn’t quite true and yet….she wept.Thankf...

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“"Mea Culpa"” by Jeannie Labelle -Potvin

Submitted to Contest #165

Barry’s excitement had reached a breaking level.The short whip he held in his hand dripped blood and skin. As he looked over his shoulder into a mirror, it dawned on him there was a very fine line between religious discipline, flagellation and sexual gratification.He broke that line often.His exercise in repentance had begun somewhat innocently.It was the ninth month of a year that had been a great test for this doggedly devout man.He had been working on clearing himself of character defects a...

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“Fearless” by Jeannie Labelle -Potvin

Submitted to Contest #163

 I’ve faced death in my life.The first time I remember, was the day my maternal grandmother died.She was 47, and I was 7. Months. Inutreo.You might say, “Well, that is sad but hardly a big deal. After all, you weren’t yet born. It really isn’t possible that you could remember her.”“Ha!”, is my reply.Here is my memory of that day.It is May the 29th, 1949. I’m peacefully contemplating my day. The routine has been reassuring and quite gentle. ...

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“Harry Get Out Your Cane” by Jeannie Labelle -Potvin

Submitted to Contest #153

 HARRY GET OUT YOUR CANE.Ginny sat, once again, in her therapist's office. She wondered if she’d ever be done with this woman, yet in the same moment looked upon her with deep gratitude.This person had stood beside her for almost two decades. She stored an encyclopedia of details about Gin’s life and knew things and connections to things that few others did.Gin could be quite a blabbermouth and though she told people much, she hid even more. Her words often became a s...

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“A Song For Someone” by Jeannie Labelle -Potvin

Submitted to Contest #151

 A Song For SomeoneGinny awoke with The Voice strong in her head.It had broken into her imagination and freely taken whatever It wanted. She was fine with this, for after all, she’d given this Force full permission to do so.She began her day with a prayer. Having woken knowing that a new day had begun, her brain began to percolate.It told her of all the things she had to do, all the tasks done, those left behind, those that sti...

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“Morning Has Broken” by Jeannie Labelle -Potvin

Submitted to Contest #149

Ginny woke up softly with an old Cat Stevens song rising from someplace deep inside. Indeed, morning was breaking and yes, it felt like the first morning.She stretched, thought of Luke with her eyes still closed. She smiled gently, reached out to caress his body and realized he wasn’t there.Ginny sighed, took a deep breath of praise and elation and opened her eyes.Glorious, blinding radiance filled the eastern sky. It had begun with a tentative flicker as the ea...

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“The Magic Flute” by Jeannie Labelle -Potvin

The Magic FluteA short story byJeannie Labelle-PotvinGinny began to awake.At first she thought someone in the neighborhood was playing drums, just a little too enthusiastically. She was about to get up, open the curtains and check where the sun was before calling the police. Just as she reached up, a loud boom blasted against the window. She flinched wondering if there was a shooto...

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“When Harry Met Ginny” by Jeannie Labelle -Potvin

Submitted to Contest #149

There were two males in Ginny’s life who did their best to hold a mirror of truth before her eyes. They each loved her in ways that fed her soul and filled many of the spaces that had left her empty and depleted for so many years.The first and perhaps most important of these men, was her maternal grandfather. Ginny was his first born grandchild, born to his only child. His wife, Elizabeth Jean, had died 2 months before Ginny was born. As the child grew and began maneuvering her surroundings, her uncanny resemblance to the dead wom...

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“She Called Him Al” by Jeannie Labelle -Potvin

Submitted to Contest #146

 SHE CALLED HIM AL. Gin had many scripts that fleshed out her fantasies about a life with Harry.One of her fondest ones had their lives played out according to Paul Simon’s “Call me Al”.So we shall take some poetic license now and script this story to Paul’s song.Gin will become ‘Betty’ and Harry? Well, we will just call him ‘Al’. We find Al walking down the street, muttering, bitching and co...

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“Hell Bent for Leather” by Jeannie Labelle -Potvin

Submitted to Contest #145

“Hell Bent for Leather”Ginny rolled down the runway with her walker. It was very expensive and had been guaranteed to hold up to 500 pounds. The wood framed catwalk also seemed to be reliable enough to hold at least five normal size models - about the equivalent of Gin and her walker.Her hesitancy to trust such promises rose out of the murky pools of experience.Ginny’s biggest fear was that the walker would buckle under her weight at some inopportune moment. She knew from the past, t...

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