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Joe Smallwood

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Apr, 2023

Stories (91)

Comments

Library

61 Followers

25 Following

91 Stories

2098 karma pts

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No Problem

Submitted to Contest #295

While bringing in the groceries, I locked the apartment door each time I went to the car. Then, when I came panting up the steps, burdened with two heavy bags, I would unlock it again. It’s a routine you hardly think about. But one day, my apartment locked me out. That night, when I couldn’t sleep, I heard her voice. ‘It’s what you wanted!’ she saidWhich is cool. I think it’s a meme, so I make posts, and others say, lol, when they don’t mean it. That apartment, she’s more than just a place to live; she’s my best friend, my confidante. I call...

0 likes

Apex Exile

Submitted to Contest #294

I don’t know what came over me. Oddly, I can’t say everything. Seeing that everything knows me. You laugh with that look that you get with every failed joke.But I’m not kidding. We need to deal. Except that now I’m at a loss for words because if I truly know everything, there shouldn’t be a problem.It all began. How do you think I should say this? Yesterday? No, long ago. Both the other day and long ago, like time doesn’t matter. But why is there an obsession everyone has with beginnings? Something you have always been doesn’t have a beginni...

0 likes

Quite

Submitted to Contest #291

"Oh, don't you just love libraries? Quel ambiance!""Shush!" I whisper scream. It was those big oak tables. No, it was the proctor. Then again, it might have been me. Just mean me. I couldn't take any more of him. Or it. Or she.Being a roundish lout sort with appendages that swiveled about made generalized intelligence look amuck, on roller skates, it was. It was a person, impersonating a being, a Whatever?He, uh it had a name, didn't he, it, she?"Quite!" The thing said. "My name is Quite!"We both stopped. "That's quite a name. Where did you ...

9 likes

Once Upon a Time

Submitted to Contest #291

Once upon a time, I saw two spooks fighting, which wasn’t scary. It was more like a video—the ones that supposedly showed frightening events, like the video of the creepy creature that swooped around the Palisades before that massive fire that upset all the celebrities.However, it seemed odd that a child would fake a video of something so far away on their cell phone, flapping around and gliding, all black, like an air-borne demon. If you were to fake a video about something this alarming, wouldn't you do a better job of it? Especially with ...

14 likes

Seeing Red

Submitted to Contest #290

I was just getting off the elevator when it spoke to me. “Going down!” it said. Which was fine, except I wanted to get off, and the doors wouldn’t open. I laughed. What a silly predicament—alone in a talking elevator, the doors don’t open.So I used that telephone thingy, and no one answered. I had always wondered if someone would answer that huge thing hanging there with enough plastic to kill several fish. When something isn’t used much, does no one check it?Where’s the tag they hang from fire extinguishers that tells you when they were las...

20 likes

Ilsa

Submitted to Contest #289

One could remember that sunset. With Ilsa, I would have. The lingering threads of starlight envelop a world so drawn, unremarkable, and lacking. These stars, which guided us here, carried messages from even more remarkable beings whose names we do not speak.It was always this way: a flourish, resolutions, and feverish activity—from learning languages to making alliances. With whom? I hardly looked anymore. My mouth formed words that meant nothing to me. The northern provinces demanded grain while the merchant guilds clamored for lower tariff...

19 likes

Cyclists

Submitted to Contest #275

"... the cure for loneliness is a relationship with an AI..." His voice made it hard to judge whether he was serious or joking. So, you smile, then nod, then change the subject. Not that it was a dreary day, being outside for a walk. It was just enough of everything already. Clearing cobwebs and calculating how to get through the day made us survivors, the latest company layoffs be damned! Maybe that was why a city block away, I could smell Montreal smoked meat on rye, oozing tender slippery beef, overflowing on bread ro...

15 likes

All That Glitters

Submitted to Contest #273

I won’t die today. Maybe only next week. Or so I imagine the doctor says as he hustles out of my room, just before the big weekend. I heard him talking to my nurse, “Can hardly wait, gotta new boat and girlfriend, it’ll be great!” My doc kind of goes with the sunshine that streams through my window, all patterns of luminescence, dancing through the lace curtain which moves with the spring breeze. That and the curly Q special lunch with a surprise! Dessert a la supreme chocolate cake, minuscule portion. Part of my special recovery diet! The k...

16 likes

The Ultimate Script

Submitted to Contest #266

"If the voices in your head had any say, any say in the matter at all, how would they account for themselves?"One voice to another. Not quite fair. A fair question would begin with "Who is speaking?"Wouldn't they?I'm not quite with it yet. I'll let you know."But it isn't only a matter of perspective. Or you would be able to answer."Who are you?Answer who are you. Do it!"I said, I would let you know."Rubbish. I turn in and there is more than I can take in. Dreams that are neither here nor there. I wake up thinking I know what is what. What a ...

12 likes

Elephant Man

Submitted to Contest #266

And they lived happily ever after.So, I ended my story and breathed a sigh of relief as I shut my laptop. I hadn't counted on staying up so late, with work only a few hours away. But what the hey. Push on through.The city was so quiet, the odd passing car, someone walking.Elephant man.Why did he exist? This plodder, who could never sleep, his heavy steps sounding through the night, back and forth, was it untamed feelings, or a broken romance?It's heartless to even think of progeny that could waste a night brooding and pounding floorboards i...

12 likes

Mark Sang

“Still a crackpot, huh?” Sara said over her lobster eggs benedict, talking about my erstwhile friend, Mark Sang, former app developer and Internet sensation. “Yeah, the deep end of all endings!” I chortled, digging into my gourmet pancake stack, fresh berries, edible flowers, and a drizzle of rare maple syrup. Everything was to impress Sara, so young and capable. Another convert, for me the company evangelist. Her resume was made to order, like our brunch, money no object. Who worked for a salary, anyway? You build a career with those oh so ...

2 likes

Everything Unfiltered

Submitted to Contest #259

He wanted to force me off the road because I was driving at the speed limit. But the worst part was that I could feel and hear his rage, even his thoughts.“Damn tourist! Where did he learn how to drive?He sped by me, giving me the finger.Then, I heard everyone's thoughts when I got on the elevator at work. “That tie is so out of date…stop crowding me, idiot…I sure hope it's his cologne I smell and not his deodorant…See you! Baggy pants!The boss was full of questions, but it was what he was thinking that I couldn’t get out of my head.&nb...

7 likes

Sis

Submitted to Contest #259

Sis didn’t like attention. “Oh, Foo Ferrah!” were her favorite words, especially if everyone else was having fun. But the hill was way too icy, and that last bump was killer. Her airborne toboggan banged down so hard, you could squish your jelly with your backbone, though mine was safe at the side of the hill. Through my frozen breath, I watched her roll away like a pro. She managed a smile right there at my feet, grimacing only when she looked away from me. “It was nothing! What are you staring at, Jeff?” she moaned, holding her mits with o...

10 likes

Wandrin' Evil Spirit

Submitted to Contest #258

I don’t know how it came to be, so long ago when everything seemed possible.He was my inspiration. That and his photograph. Of what you ask?Oh, a demon! Uploaded it to YouTube, he did. So, a picture was formed in my mind from a video that shouldn’t exist. I can hardly get my mind around it. Its hard to even speak of it.But we all do what we must. And he certainly did what he wanted! Two children, one impossibly older, so ready to accept things…But we’ll have to start at the beginning. A hot summer’s day, so brutally hot. Hot enough to broil ...

15 likes

My Yellow Fellow

Submitted to Contest #253

My husband, Daryl, and his peculiar behavior had been a growing concern, and these feelings I had about him lingered, refusing to dissipate. Unexplainable incidents disrupted our daily routine, leaving me perplexed and disoriented.I had a headache. No, it was a muscle ache. It was both. It was neither. He was the cause of it. And you know what? I would get nowhere if I tried to figure out why he changed.“You don’t cook your spaghetti anymore!” I accused him one night.“We eat out too much,” was his reply.“No, we don’t! Name the last time.”Dar...

8 likes