Menu

Menu

Prompts

Contests

Stories

Blog

Directory

Contests

Magazine

FAQ

Joe Swanson

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2020

Stories (284)

Comments

Library

260 Followers

1 Following

284 Stories

4018 karma pts

?

FINI!

Joe Swanson

Billy Bob was the boy’s name. I found that out later from his obituary in the Gettysburg Gazette and Shopper. He had peddled for all he was worth up the hill. The harder he peddled, the madder he got. He was going to give that General guy a piece of his mind. And he wanted that ten bucks he was owed or he’d never see that suitcase again. He knew of caves that had no bottom. He’d thought if and when he would have to kill someone, he’d throw their worthless body down into the hole.&nbs...

2 likes

Obtuse

Joe Swanson

The day I was hit by a car, I remembered as I flew angelically towards the boulevard, and a rather large sycamore, it was lucky that I’d forgotten to pick up milk on my way home from dance class. I normally go to dance class on Tuesday evenings, but because of the recent basement flooding and lightning strikes that left the building engulfed in darkness each night, it was determined we should meet at the VFW hall on Wednesday, as Bingo night was cancelled due to the untimely passing of Wilbur, the Ball Mast...

2 likes

Heaven's Gate

Joe Swanson

“Do you remember that movie about a young guy who ran away from his memories of youth, and became the opposite personification of who he’d been raised to be? It had that guy in it who played the crazier of the tree guys in the movie Easy Rider. I think I heard he died, but can’t be sure.” “Dennis Hopper?” “Yes, Dennis Hopper. Do you remember that movie?” “Flashback! Yes, I remember it. Happened to watch it a while back. ...

2 likes

Remebering to Remeber

Joe Swanson

I remember the undeclared Korean War. I remember Americas young dying in Vietnam, their death toll plastered nightly on the six O’clock news. I remember when the national guard of the United States of America fired bullets into a crowd of students protesting an undeclared war in Asia. I remember parades of people wearing hardhats bosting American flag decals, chanting “love it or leave it.” I remember when they found the bodies of the Civil Rights voting advocates in a hillside in Mississippi. I remember the 16th Street bombing that ki...

2 likes

Height of Ambition

Joe Swanson

What we are, and what we are not, may come down to our perception of a line on a door jamb. Not just any line, but one dedicated to recording our growth, maturity, freedom. It allows us to forgive childhood while giving us counterfeit credentials to move beyond where we have been wished to remain. There is no end to demarcation between the past and a future, as it is an arbitrary illusion attributed by others with no specified intent, but leaves a perception of impene...

1 like

Seeds of Time

Joe Swanson

“Whatcha doing?” “Planting seeds for a future.” “Why?” “Why What?” “Why plant seeds for a future?” The questions of my young neighbor caused me to think about the future; his and mine. Three generations ago most people didn’t have a car, refrigeration, electricity, or the majority of the medical advances we enjoy today. The exponential growth in technology, science, agriculture, has allowed...

0 likes

Third Rock From the Left

Joe Swanson

Feb. 18 It started today. I watched as they came down the road, the tanks, troop trucks. Some didn’t believe they’d dare come. What would be the purpose? And yet here they are. Feb. 20 I had planned for such an event. I pay attention to things. It was all evident, even if you just believed what the papers said. There is a distrust of news because it has been so distorted by hope, but it only disguises the truth, not erases it. We chose not to believe because it is easier, less painful. Less...

2 likes

Growing Up

Joe Swanson

"Grow up!" words marching across time to invade my fading memory. Physical fitness is a growing concern. More hours are spent daily on our phones, lap tops, and doing just about anything but moving. We have become a society of viewers, not doers. I am not attempting to remove myself from the majority of us who do not get enough physical exercise, and pay the price for not doing so. I have to date been fortunate; I do not have any serious illnesses attributed to being overwe...

1 like

Shadow Land

Joe Swanson

When I pulled the box from the closet, I did so with the trepidation of a frightening story I had as yet to know the ending of. The clothes the box contained belonged to Emeril, a neighbor boy. His mother had asked if my son could use them. My son is the same age as Emeril was when he disappeared. “You might as well have them if they will be of any use to you. When he comes home he will certainly have grown out of them. Please take them if you can use them. I...

0 likes

Sunset Boulevard

Joe Swanson

“Do you believe heaven to be a state of mind?” I most certainly did. I don’t speak of my intuitiveness often, for it gives one what I believe, an aura of arrogance, that remains with others for far too long after they have gone. A lasting impression is something everyone aspires too, and I have as yet to discover why. Everything in my opinion is better, more mystical, authentic, artistic, when imagined than when observed in its physical form. The...

1 like

The Existential Yard

Joe Swanson

When Ezekiel Klingenstein woke that morning he had no idea his life would be changed forever. He slipped from the warmth of his bed, put on his robe, searched in vain with his foot for his slippers, headed down the stairs into the hall and out the front door, where his morning paper was expected to be. It was not on the porch, and not in the bushes by the porch. He stepped down the two steps to the ground, turned, looking into the morning sun he squinted as he surveyed the roof for his newspaper. &...

1 like

The Last Picnic

Joe Swanson

I thought it to be a good idea at the time. A surprise, not the normal jump out of the bush surprise, but something out of character, not for her, but me. I’m not one for grandiose displays of, well everything, but it was her birthday and it was the first nice day in a while. Even though it was July, it felt like spring. Why, I have no idea, but then sometimes something gives us that push; it might be stupidity, or love, but we do something no one would expect us doing, a picnic. &...

1 like

Rembrandt Slept Here

Joe Swanson

“I want you to go to sleep.” I listen and attempt to understand their demand, but no matter how many times I ask, why, I receive no answer. I understand. I’ve felt like not answering questions at times myself. There is something about giving into power you cannot control, that is disturbing. Control is all we have to remind us of who we are. Control anchors us in the reality that surrounds us. Being here, surrounded by so many who have lost that control and now flo...

1 like

Illusional Plain

Joe Swanson

“Where are we going,” she asks squeezing my hand. I don’t know how to answer. I’ve never done anything like this before. Why now? I don’t know that either. It could be the constant drone of news, mostly bad. Bombed daily by news that steals what little hope is left. “We are going to Armageddon,” I reply as she smiles without looking at me, knowing the truth can be told in many ways; but lies? “Where is Armageddon, and why are we goi...

1 like

I Regret

Joe Swanson

“I regret that I have but one life to give for my country.” The infamous line of words that conjures from the past the ghosts of those that have sacrificed themselves in vain. Their screams from the trenches attempting to remind us of past failures propagated by the arrogance and power of those who play at being God.# I sit on the cold wet ground, my back against a dirt wall that follows an irregular path, and then is gone. My legs stretch towards the root infused wall oppos...

1 like