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Jo Freitag

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Feb, 2024

Stories (42)

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35 Followers

40 Following

42 Stories

819 karma pts

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The Blame Game

Jo Freitag

Submitted to Contest #321

“Let’s review yesterday’s debacle!”“I would prefer not to do that right now, Malory Tennyson!”“Understandable, Lancelot, and I appreciate that you may not feel ready to discuss it yet. But I think we all need to review the past couple of days, while they are still fresh in our minds, to see where the blame lies, to avoid a recurrence in future.”“I do not see any need to discuss it any further. Surely nobody else is to blame if I do anything foolish or lacking in dignity. If it is a matter of paying compensation for the expenses incurred in s...

2 likes

Promises to keep

Jo Freitag

Submitted to Contest #320

The woods are lovely, dark and deep But I have promises to keep And miles to go before I sleep Robert Frost: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening The woods are lovely The scene in the Fog Lake was one of a knight cantering along a path in a sunlit forest, with his companion dog running beside the horse. Little Plump Jo, the current Artisan in Residence in Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies, assumed that this must be one of Malory’s exercises in writing a description of landscape, as there did not seem to any plot worth...

10 likes

Ai Lemur Seeks Sanctuary

Jo Freitag

Submitted to Contest #319

“Oh yuk, Psycho! What is that? Don’t bring it in here!”Psycho Motor Dabrowski, one of the five canine writing companions of Little Plump Jo had just strutted through the door of Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies, with a bedraggled lump of thick brown fur in his mouth and deposited it on the floor in the middle of the lounge room.“I found it on the doorstep. Can we keep it? Please! Please!” Psycho Motor had a habit of bringing his smelly, wet, ‘strictly for outside’ toys inside. But this did not seem to be a shredded tug...

8 likes

Interview with Sir Bors

Jo Freitag

Submitted to Contest #318

Brief mention of suicide“Make sure Lancelot is there in time for the Trial by Combat in the Land Dispute for King Bagdemagus, Bors!” called out Malory Tennyson, the owner of Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies.“Already organized,” replied Sir Bors de Ganis. “I have sent him off to sleep under an apple tree or by a hedgerow, to be captured by Morgan LeFey and three other Witch Queens. I have arranged for King Bagdemagus’ daughter to be there at Morgan’s castle, ready to free him in return for a kiss and the promise that he...

13 likes

Where were you when…?

Jo Freitag

Submitted to Contest #317

Intellectual Dabrowski had instigated a research project. He was investigating the effects of traumatic events and social change on the characters who participated in the re-enactments of the Arthurian legends in the Fog Lake at the foot of Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies.Intellectual was one of the five canine writing companions of Little Plump Jo, the current Artisan in Residence in Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies. Because dogs hear a different range of sound, the Dabrowski Dogs were attuned ...

11 likes

The truth about true love

Jo Freitag

Submitted to Contest #316

“There it is – the Love At First Sight Moment!” shouted Malory Tennyson, leaping up to bounce excitedly with Psycho Motor Dabrowski, on the porch of Cloudbank Cabin. “Did you see it, Little Plump Jo? Did you write it?”Malory, the owner of Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies was watching the picnic, being held by the Arthurian characters in the Fog Lake at the foot of Cloudbank Cabin, to celebrate the inaugural Iteration Day. Little Plump Jo, the current Artisan in Residence in the cabin and her five overexcitable canine w...

8 likes

Happy Iteration Day!

Jo Freitag

Submitted to Contest #315

It was two days after the Midsummer Tournament. King Arthur was in a cheerful mood. “Happy Iteration Day, Lance!” “Iteration Day?” “Yes. I have just legislated the inaugural Iteration Day. It will be a day to mark the transition from one iteration of Fog Lake reenactments to the next. It will be a day to remember the events of the previous and make resolutions about the iteration to come. We will celebrate the day with a picnic in the woods. Lady Charlotte-Elaine of Charlotte’s Web Weaving has made up lovely moss green woollen tunics and ...

9 likes

July and August cannot be too hot.

Jo Freitag

Submitted to Contest #314

The weather in Camelot had been legislated, by a law made a distant moon ago, to be perfect all the year. As this ruled out the extremes of heat usually found in summer, the only way to gauge the time of mid-summer in Camelot was to observe the stars. When Sirius, the Dog Star would rise just before the Sun in July, it would indicate the time surrounding the middle of summer, the dies caniculares, or ‘dog days’.Malory Tennyson, the owner of Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies, was doing just that. He was particularly obs...

6 likes

All together now. On the same page. In the same iteration.

Jo Freitag

Submitted to Contest #313

Look at me now! (I mean ‘look at Sir Lancelot now’) crowed Malory Tennyson.“little need to speakOf Lancelot in his glory! King, duke, earl,Count, baron—whom he smote, he overthrew.” Malory Tennyson, the owner of Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies, was reclining on the porch of Cloudbank Cabin, watching all the Arthurian characters demonstrating their martial skills, in a practice session in the Fog Lake at the foot of the Cabin. With him were Little Plump Jo, the current Artisan in Residence at the Cabin and her overexci...

9 likes

Quest for a Galahad

Jo Freitag

Submitted to Contest #312

My good blade carves the casques of men, My tough lance thrusteth sure, My strength is as the strength of ten, Because my heart is pure.“That was from Sir Galahad written by Alfred 1st Baron Tennyson in 1842,” informed Intellectual Dabrowski. “And that was what Malory Tennyson read out first. Then he put out a call for people to audition for the role of Galahad for the Fog Lake re-enactments.”Intellectual Dabrowski and Psycho Motor Dabrowski, two of the five overexcitable Dabrowski Dogs, canine writing companions of Little Plump Jo, the curr...

6 likes

The Return

Jo Freitag

Submitted to Contest #311

This story contains a brief mention of the topic of suicide “Where is everybody?” asked Little Plump Jo.“They will be back. They always come back. Even Arthur always comes back”The hitch in Sir Lancelot du Lac’s voice and the pain and uncertainty expressed in his dark eyes indicated that Lancelot was trying to reassure himself rather than answer.Jo had only been away for three days but it felt as if it had been much longer. And Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies, where Jo was a current Artisan in Residence, felt differen...

6 likes

The ARC Arthurian Readers Club

Jo Freitag

Submitted to Contest #310

Of course, it would be quite improper to take five over excitable dogs to a meeting of The ARC Arthurian Readers Club. But Little Plump Jo did not need her five over excitable canine writing companions, the Dabrowski Dogs – Intellectual, Sensual, Emotional, Psycho Motor and Imaginational, to be with her physically to know pretty much what thoughts and opinions they would have. Often people thought that Little Plump Jo may be slightly mad; as she tended to suddenly burst into tears or into gales of laughter at the mental pictures the thoughts...

15 likes

The Scarlet Sleeve Care Provider

Jo Freitag

Submitted to Contest #309

The Lady Charlotte-Elaine, Lady of Shalott and entrepreneur owner of Charlotte’s Web Weaving came bustling into The Halfway House for Disgruntled Characters.“I understand you have a wounded man here who has The Scarlet Sleeve listed as their care provider.”“Oh wow! It’s your Elaine, Little Plump Jo!” barked Imaginational Dabrowski, one of the five overexcitable canine writing companions of Little Plump Jo, a current Artisan in Residence in Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies. “Not even I could have predicted that!”Jo’s El...

10 likes

Ethical Concerns and AI Botflies

Jo Freitag

Submitted to Contest #308

When Little Plump Jo and her five overexcitable writing companions, the Dabrowski Dogs arrived, they were greeted outside Sir Lancelot’s door by Merlin.“He wants to have time with you in your role of Epiphany Provoker; but you are quite within your rights to refuse or to leave early. His mood is quite erratic this morning -to say the least!”“No worries! I will go in first and cheer him up!” That was Psycho Motor Dabrowski who had come wearing a jester’s hat for just such a situation. “He had a very bad night” Merlin said, “in a lot of pain a...

14 likes

The Epiphany Provoker

Jo Freitag

Submitted to Contest #307

“I want you to do this for me, Little Plump Jo. I want you to set me free from the Fog Lake, as you did for Elaine of Astolat!”Sir Lancelot du Lac’s dark eyes were filled with hope and misplaced confidence.Little Plump Jo had not actually done anything to free Elaine of Astolat from the Fog Lake. In fact, Elaine had not even vacated the Fog Lake. However, Elaine was now free from the eternal re-enactment of the tragic role of Elaine the Fair, Elaine the Lovely, The Lily Maid of Astolat. But unless you were to include ‘masterly inactivity’ as...

14 likes