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Joe Swanson

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2020

Stories (284)

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260 Followers

1 Following

284 Stories

4018 karma pts

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Halls End

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #77

Is it supposed to stop? I should have left several hours ago, when I wanted to. But as always, I let the duty, or perhaps my presumption of duty, cause me to disregard by instincts. I make the usual assumption that if the weather was that bad, they’d let us know. Tell us, me, to go home. Looking out the window, I can see the snow piling up on the roof of the car, swirling around the parking lot, now a white desert. I’m used to being alone here, I’m a night watchman, security guard they call us, but I’ve yet to figure...

10 likes

Room Temperature

Joe Swanson

“Lies are best told at room temperature.” “Who said that?” “Does it matter?” I saw the film, Liar Liar. Jim Carey played a character who could not tell a lie. The film develops along predictable lines of exploration, and although predictable, it was informative, and insightful. Not being able to tell a lie of course is different than not wanting to tell a lie. There is no lie detector stretched across our spectrum of daily interactions that rings when we cross the imaginary line of truthfulness, that indicates a word or actio...

3 likes

Is Delusion the Solution?

Joe Swanson

“We’ve just had an assault on our capitol building, but more importantly some say, on our democracy. I’ve heard many people speaking of, what it was, how it came to be, and what was intended by those who visited the capitol. What do you think about that?” “You know I try not to think…about things like that. I understand the purpose, and realize as Che Guevara said, “A revolution without guns, is no revelation at all,” in so many words of course. I do not mean to speak for him or rationalize his ambulatory messaging, as a ...

4 likes

The Next Time

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #76

“The next time she says that, I’m going to…” How many times have I said that? And then what? Usually nothing. I’m a coward, not because I want to be, but because I have been taught to be. Not just by my parents, but teachers, telephone solicitors, nearly anyone in authority. I am afraid of being embarrassed, humiliated, made to feel as though being ineffectual, is what I should emulate. I was encouraged to be no more, no less, than that opaque color on the wall that refuses to make people wither, blush, or prete...

5 likes

You Don't Say

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #76

“What I am attempting to tell you, is that when it comes to right and wrong, you are wrong. You can be both right, and wrong. That is the measure of any word, its meaning. And who gives it meaning?” “Oh contraire, my friend. Right and wrong, although opposites, are the same in one respect. One can’t exist without the other. It is the same principle as good and evil. The words and therefore the concept only have meaning if they exist in conjunction with one another.” “I see your point, but that does not eras...

7 likes

Depictionary

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #76

“They call that, unprecedented?” “I don’t know what you’d call it. I’m not sure what the word even means anymore. It’s one of those words that will go down in infamy. You know there is a problem with using a word too many times for too many different reasons. It begins to resemble those comedians who do nothing but swear. After a while it gets to be less effective. Your ears rebel against the lack of imagination. Let’s find another word. What do you say?” “I agree it has been us...

5 likes

Today's Tomorrow

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #75

When I think back on my day, I can’t believe it actually is over. Much like the week, month, year, ten, twenty years gone. I spent most of that time planning I assume for something. I don’t even remember what it was anymore, but I must have believed it was important at the time. It is just that life goes by so fast, I don’t remember most of it happening. Tomorrow is a new year. I normally don’t pay much attention to all the celebratory nonsense that surrounds it. To me it was just another day, until it wasn’t. I...

3 likes

Forgetting Something?

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #75

“You don’t remember anything?” “Nope, not a thing.” “Doesn’t that bother you? I know it would bother me.” I don’t really know when it began, because it isn’t like you get hit in the head, end up in the hospital and don’t know who you are or where you are. It is slower than that. It’s more like you can’t find your glasses. You know how someone always points to your head cause that’s where they are supposed to be. But you don’t wear glasses and you can’t find them cause you don’t remember you don’t wear glasses. It’s n...

3 likes

Other's: Lives

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #75

“I was driving on the 5, when this truck up ahead of me slams on his brakes. That’s why I don’t like driving behind anything I can’t see around or over. Like to know what’s up ahead, just in case. Well this was one of those just in case times. A metal pole came flying from nowhere and went through the windshield just inches from me. I could have been dead, but I’m here talking to you. I want to know how come I’m still here, and how you are going to get me through it.” “It’s not really what I do.” “They told me ...

5 likes

Past Due

Joe Swanson

When Abraham Bean stepped from the curb into the path of the oncoming bus, he said a prayer while closing his eyes, and kissing a metal cross that hung from a chain he’d found next to the dumpster at the corner market. He didn’t quite know what to expect, for he didn’t believe in heaven or hell, or limbo for that matter. He believed in nothing; absolutely nothing. He wasn’t always so blasé about life in general. But lately, with advent of the most recent projections about the world coming to an end, climate change, an impote...

2 likes

Revolution In the Air

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #75

Jimmy Bob, lived on the thirteenth floor of Abercrombie and Flinch Building. Bob James, lived in the basement of the same building. Jimmy lived in the penthouse, having access to a rooftop with apocalyptic views of the city. Bob lived next to a boiler that was heard to be possessed. They shared one thing in common: noise. The route of Santana Gomez, included the 4 AM dumpster pick up, and subsequent emptying of refuse from the dumpsters of the Flinch building, where it was meant to disappear into the unknown, and ...

2 likes

Time Served

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #74

“How many commandments do we have?” “Ten, last I checked.” “How many amendments to our Constitution are there?” “I don’t rightly know; twenty, thirty…why?” There are times when we find ourselves entrenched in a physical or mental activity, when we become so overwhelmed by repetitiveness, that we become essentially comatose. Incapable of mental and or physical function. Jail will do that to you. “How come we have only Ten commandments, and twenty-seven Amendments to our Constitution.” “Hey man, you is asking the wrong Dude.&...

7 likes

Know Boundaries

Joe Swanson

There is a place that exists only in our minds, or at least I believe it does. A place where decisions are made. A place free from influence, other than the influence we exert. You may not recognize that place, but it does exist. It is the place where morality and or ethics dwell. I can not point to that place, or even define it, if I were asked too. It is a place built on a past, a vision of a future, and a present, that allows us to stampede through our daily routines in hopes of what, absolution perhaps? But...

2 likes

A Time to Sew

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #74

I had planned, we had planned in case of trouble, that we would meet here. It is a root cellar on the old farm. It is built into a bank, and but for the door, invisible. It is its protective facilities that we considered, when deciding on a meeting place. The first military vehicles arrived about a week ago. They come and go, so we didn’t pay an abnormal amount of attention to their presence. But after a week, and the continued addition of troops, we began to worry that something out of the ordinary was about to happ...

6 likes

The Two Step

Joe Swanson

Two Step “When I snap my fingers, you will awaken and remember nothing of what has occurred… So Michael, you are stating that the election as far as you are concerned is all but over. Do you really believe that, or are you just telling me what I don't want to hear?” “Does it matter? You know you have no intention of leaving. You have seen to that. You have corrupted the system to the point that it is no longer a system. Which indicates there are no avenues that one can pursue to procure a different outcome. W...

3 likes