Jim Loughran

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Apr, 2022

Stories (6)

6 Stories

125 karma pts

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“Time Lord” by Jim Loughran

Submitted to Contest #239

Time Lord2500 wordsOlivia loved showing off her new tattoo: a falcon whose wings spread across her shoulders. Billy, her kid assistant and she had been comparing tattoos. “I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours,” she laughed. The small dove on his bicep looked more like a parrot than an eagle and when he saw the falcon his jaw dropped.“Holy shit: that must have hurt.”It had taken hours and cost most of her wages but it made her feel strong. It gave her wings to fly! “Who needs Red Bull?” The more her father tried to talk her out ...

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“The Dying of the Light” by Jim Loughran

Submitted to Contest #239

The Dying of the Light1987 wordsThe village of Rathmullan is a special place, surrounded by steep hills and a forest of millennial oaks. The road from the coast corkscrews down under the green canopy of the trees until it reaches the valley floor where the houses nestle on either side of the Avon Beg river, connected by a steep stone bridge. It is a world-apart, out of time, where the only sound is the wind in the trees and water running over rocks. On one side of the bridge is a shallow ford where children paddle in summer, racing paper boa...

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“Jenny on the Run” by Jim Loughran

Submitted to Contest #148

Jenny on the Run It was a bitterly cold night, with biting frost and a mist hovering over Dublin’s Grand Canal. The Garda (police) patrol car cruised slowly up one side of the canal and down the other with two officers inside, one older, one younger. They crossed over the bridge onto Percy Place and as the car drove along the georgian terrace the outline of the car was reflected in the glittering water. A solitary figure stood outlined against the light on the top floor of one of the houses watching the scene. The car stopped at the end...

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“The Dear Departed” by Jim Loughran

Submitted to Contest #144

My grandmother is very old. She was born on 1 April, 1908, and today is her ninetieth birthday. She is a cheerful happy lady of the old school who adores her family. She likes nice clothes and an occasional illicit cigarette. She is a great cook and raconteur who loves to tell funny stories and has the gift of making you feel as though you are the most important person in the world. But there are some things she will never speak about.There is a polished mahogany box that grandmother keeps on her bedside table. It looks like a jewellery...

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“The Librarian” by Jim Loughran

Submitted to Contest #142

The LibrarianI have been going to the local library near the Court House in Omagh, County Tyrone for the last twenty years, since I was a teenager in fact, when it became my retreat from the world. The library is housed now in a modern red brick building but at that time it was in a rather run down Victorian building in the centre of the town. There was a reading corner with a bay window overlooking the busy main street and it provided an oasis of calm where I could read books on anything from the collapse of the Assyrian Empire to the rise ...

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“There's No Accounting for Taste” by Jim Loughran

Submitted to Contest #141

I could close my eyes and count to ten and with a bit of luck he’ll be gone when I open them again. On the other hand I could try the expeliare spell from Harry Potter and hope that he will disappear in a puff of smoke, back to his boring house with the white walls, the polished parquet and the le Corbusier chaise longue that looks so elegant but is impossible to sit on. Even the floors are painted white and there are no rugs to absorb the sound so that the house constantly echoes to the sound of people moving around. There are no curtain...

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Author bio

Recently retired after working for thirty years for international human rights organisations. I am originally from Northern Ireland but am based in Dublin. I speak French and Spanish and when not reading and writing I love cooking and gardening. The latter is supposed to compensate for the ill effects of the former.