Joe Smallwood

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Apr, 2023

Stories (36)

36 Stories

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“Leticia Was Her Name” by Joe Smallwood

There has to be more life in my life! That's it. Get out there. Take some risks and see where I end up...It was a social gathering for young twenty-somethings, and everyone welcomed her, although those Hi-how-are-yous wore thin.But she was dressed so nicely, a little on the heavy side, yet with such hopeful eyes scanning, scanning. Will this be the place for me? It seemed so natural to let down her guard: Finally, I’m home; this is the place!That was before she made losin...

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“Are You Alright” by Joe Smallwood

“Are you alright?”“Yeah, how long was I out for?”‘A minute or so. Do you think you should see a doctor?”“Nah! I’m fine.”January 12th 2018“Why are there so many Canadian flags around these days, eh?” I wondered aloud as we drove by Walmart one day.“It’s so the Americans could know they are in Canada,” answered my wife, tongue in cheek. “And certain other people…”“Yeah, but this one is huge!”“Well, you can’t bring guns into Canada....

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“The Broad Strokes” by Joe Smallwood

“Some people start talking to themselves whenever I am around,” I observed one fine Saturday.“How so, Peter?” my wife replied while she checked the firmness of a Cucumis melo reticulatus, otherwise known as a muskmelon or cantaloupe. “Too firm, that one,” she said, rolling it over to grab the one that made her smile.“See what I mean?” I huffed.“I was talking to you, not to myself!” Into one of her numerous cloth bags that melon went.We should have gotten a cart. Goodness knows how heavy a load I would ...

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“It Had to Be” by Joe Smallwood

You’d think I would know better. Really. It was a simple thing: just be normal, like everyone else. Enter a crowded room and not wonder about everything.Oh, how I would try! Let’s see. Work hard at not working hard! Absurd enough? Absurdism had nothing on me. Master of Dissembling that I was! Or am, whatever!You wonder if there will ever be enough of me to go around. There wasn’t enough of me for myself. What a thought. Where was me for myself? Going gone done! Sold to the gentleman who had better things to...

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“Natal Day” by Joe Smallwood

Trigger warning: death of a child.The road by our house was sand-sealed, not paved. It would heave and tilt every spring, shedding gravel and tar clumps for the graders, men, and dump trucks to set right again.The kids in our neighborhood were friendly enough, and when we weren’t in our backyards, the road was our playground. We played Red Rover until too many scraped knees made tearing up and tossing frisbee-shaped chunks of sand-seal more fun. We never got in trouble for that.Trouble unlike any we had eve...

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“The Pavilion” by Joe Smallwood

It should have happened to someone else. As St. Germain said, everyone had already been through the wringer. A parade of people, the who’s who of SETI, scientists, politicians, ordinary people, wackos, and children. Yes, children.“So, you’re right where you belong,” St. Germain quipped. “Children being SETI’s last try.”He looked me over like he was meeting me for the first time, even though he was supposedly the boss of Regional Health. “It's down to the local authorities,” he continued. “Health Services, Po...

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“Zippo” by Joe Smallwood

“I can see my whole life, start to finish.”“There shouldn’t be a finish. You’re seeing it wrong.”That trip. Together. Shouldn’t be something you could even talk about. He wanted to go one way, and I wanted to go one way. One and one makes two trips, but it's one.Say again?Second try. We were very different. But we are the same. Except he sees an endpoint, and I don’t. What are we talking about?Third try. He thinks I can’t make sense of this. But he is wrong. The fact that there is an end to his life, his...

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“Burning Down the House” by Joe Smallwood

Discussions of family breakdown and abuse.As the upper floor of the old farmhouse yielded its secrets, I was near to overflowing with excitement. I turned to my brother, who, lacking experience in adventuring, was wont to throw caution to the wind in his explorations, although I observed that he arranged matters to the best of his ability, given his tender years. Of such was our journey to the ends of mortal longing. Alas! It was not to be!“Will both of you get down here?” yelled a familiar voice. “You know you’re not allowe...

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“All That Fitz” by Joe Smallwood

“You are supposed to believe certain things, don’t you know?”“What? Am I supposed to be some bible thumper now?”“Why would you assume that?According to Michael, I was the one with a problem. Our friendship depended on me making the right choices. He always took the lead to sort things out for us. Then it got so weird. He chose a set of beliefs all right. Things that made no sense to me.He was right and everyone else was wrong. His beliefs were fashionable too. Everyon...

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“The Final Visit” by Joe Smallwood

I would rather not go see her.I would have ignored her pleading phone call, so low-tech and useless. I imagined her fumbling with her cell phone and being so ridiculous. She couldn't make a cell phone work if her life depended on it! No wonder I never answer her calls.I called her back but it was a wasted effort. I tried to get her to use her Instagram account. She didn't know how to sign in or use a password! She would apologize and say "Emma! I'm so sorry to be wasting your time like this." What? Did my time really count f...

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“That Was Easy!” by Joe Smallwood

“You know that red button you can buy? The one for five bucks? When you press it, it says “That was easy!”“Yeah, uh I think so,” I replied.“Well, I got one marked down! Only two fifty!”“Sweet, I think.”“I’m going to get another one.”“So, things will be twice as easy?”There he went, back in line at Staples. Couldn’t resist a deal. Then he was pressing those buttons all the way home until I was sick of it.“What are you doing now?”“Every time something is easy at work, I’ll use it there...

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“Through The Eyes of a Child” by Joe Smallwood

Discussions of Hell. “Hell doesn’t exist, right?” “Why do you ask?” “I need to know.” With that my idyllic afternoon was shot, done for. Kaput. Young Francis, my nephew was in a state. Or more correctly we were now in a state. Of something. It isn’t normal for people to ask questions that just hang there, like an unanswered cell phone or the insistent ringing of a microwave. ...

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“Flowers of Destiny” by Joe Smallwood

That delightful spring moment upended Ethan with its delicious smell of peonies. Flowers of all sorts wafted their allure, now one meadow assortment, blue with golden pollen, followed by ravishing red clusters sprinkled with sparkling dew. Ethan had so many to choose from so early in the morning. A smile bloomed on his misshapen face as he staggered forlornly for one spray of lilies, only to be entranced by purple larkspur, starry arms to steady his gaze so that even the air itself was untroubled by any bustle of importance.All tho...

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“My Dumb Phone” by Joe Smallwood

“You know, I was at church the other day and something weird happened.”“What?”“No one’s phone went off.”“Who is No-one?” my friend asked.“Nobody’s phone went off! There was no disturbance!”And that was the start of it. The new me. The next day my smartphone fell down my apartment garbage chute. Ker-plunk! Accidentally or was it on purpose? Only my subconscious knows! It didn’t cost much anyway. Super small squinty-eyed-cracked-dim-screen, and five years old. Android had already given up on it. No more up...

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“Almost Famous” by Joe Smallwood

It was probably going to be my last day working for Green Associates. The employees in the union who worked directly for the stadium had nothing to worry about. They worked for the stadium in jobs that some of them had been doing for decades. I wasn’t one of those lucky individuals.You could tell who worked for the Mean Green and who didn’t. It was in how they moved. Garbage glided down garbage chutes for union employees with smooth enveloping strokes, a side comment or sly observation often accompanying their light loads.Me...

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Author bio

Ok well I started writing a very long time ago but gave it up because life got hectic. Now things are way easier, so here I am!