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Joe Swanson

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2020

Stories (284)

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284 Stories

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Joe Swanson

The problem with memory is that it is not as truthful as we believe it to be, want it to be, nor as prophetic. I’ve had dreams where I outran the Devil, and everyone knows that can’t be done. You can’t outrun a mystical figure contrived to keep us in line, civilized. If you could, everyone would be doing it, and where would that leave the collection plates?Don’t get me wrong, God has a place, just as we do. Pretending though that it’s God’s will that makes our lives what they are, is abandoning the principles that we proc...

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What It Is

Joe Swanson

“Love anyone ever?” “I don’t know. I don’t really know what love is. Do you?” The type of question I’m sure has been asked over the millennium and the answer no doubt is different for everyone. “Do you ever think about the past, things you loved, people you loved, dogs you loved? Ice Cream?" # Loves from my past? I am not sure I could say anything about love in the present, let alone the past. Love is a ter...

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Wilbur

Joe Swanson

Saint Wilbur was one of the lost boys. Not one of Peter Pan’s boys, but a boy who was literally lost. How he became lost no one was sure, and if they had to be honest would confess to the fact, they did not care. Many of the people in the town of Jerome were considered to be found, and would have traded their monotonous safety for Wilbur’s condition, gladly. Wilbur was not sure why they called him a saint, but when he sought the reason, no one was around, so there was no one to as...

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In the Sky With Diamonds

Joe Swanson

“And the rains came.” A lyric from an old song. Maybe not a lyric, more like a tellers recollection of events. It reminds me of that day in June it began to storm. The weather prediction was for rain, some heavy, hit and miss. The nebulous predictions that we are exposed to daily. We let them pass without comment as their assurance is never absolute, as they can’t be, the weather being the unpredictable entity that it is. That particula...

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Interpreting the Interpreter

Joe Swanson

“If we don’t act, it may too late. You know what General Dropumoff used to say?” “No, I forget.” “He used to say if you don’t pretend to be the toughest kid on the block you are going to be forced to fight, when If you had acted out, you could just growl.” “Yes, a classic philosophy. Do you remember that joke he used to tell about two comrades, one a conservative, the other a liberal? They went into a bar and beat up a guy who couldn’t...

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The Evolution of Destiny

Joe Swanson

“Noel Coward? His name was Noel Howard. He was someone that worked on the movie, Lawrence of Arabia. Where did you get the idea his name was Noel Coward? You have never read the story of Noel Coward, the anti-war feminist who led the resistance of the Colon area of France during WWII?” “Can’t say that I have.”* I am always surprised by the lack of history people have been exposed to. The majority of history is exploited for purpos...

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Twi-light Zone

Joe Swanson

“If this makes you uncomfortable we can do something else. The idea is to allow us to find which areas of training you are best suited for. Perhaps rather than filling out the forms you can just tell me what you like to do. What things you are good at, and why you believe so. Anything you add will help to determine which area of development you should pursue. We are attempting to find the training that will allow you to chase that dream of yours. What do you say?” “I’m ...

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Oscar Grim

Joe Swanson

Oscar Grim is the mayor of the small town of Griswold, not far from here, population 12. Oscar in a contentious race , won by the flip of a coin. The six-to-six tie was not unusual, and two families make up the entire number of inhabitants of Griswold. Because of this unique situation it was determined over one hundred and forty years ago, by the flip of a coin, that all ties would be resolved by a flip of a coin. That of course was only the beginning of prolonged argume...

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A Casual Act

Joe Swanson

“Thank you all for braving this awful weather and somehow making your way to this inaugural class. I will attempt to make your sacrifice as rewarding as possible. The class as you know is “Casual Acts.” I have found that the term “casual acts” leaps to the presumption that acts are necessarily good. I can only assume that we tend to look to the more positive aspects of life as they are not as depressing. This premise however overlooks an important aspect of humans abil...

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Out of This World

Joe Swanson

“How was the trip, Honey?” “The trip was fine.” “Where did you go? You said before you left you weren’t allowed to disclose your destination. Top secret, all that nonsense.” “It is not nonsense, and now that we’ve returned I can tell you some of where I went, and what we found. Until it is cleared, I can’t tell you everything.” “Well?” “It was a difficult trip. Not because of the physi...

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In Plain Sight

Joe Swanson

“You should see this!” “You can get arrested for doing something like that.” “Funny, but it’s nothing like that. Have you ever noticed how oblivious people have become to their surroundings? I can see the street and the path along the river from here. This telescope allows me to see their faces, as if they were as close to me as you are. They look like zombies. They move like people, but they seem to be unaware of others and…everything arou...

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Horizontal Vision

Joe Swanson

That arc that refutes the promise that if you travel long enough and far enough, you’ll come to a place where you can look over the edge. And see what? No one will dare say as the last one who tried has never been heard from since. The idea is intriguing. Edges are always enthralling, as are beginnings and sometimes endings, hardly ever bottomless pits where the addictions that haunt us live. I remember once being chased by a God who said he wanted to show...

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Luke Warm

Joe Swanson

“So you are the infamous Luke Warm. Heard great things about you boy. Is it all hyperbole, or are you all they say you are? In my business I meet all kinds of people who wear only left shoes. Problem is you have to take them off at one time or another, and then you got…well let’s just say you can only hope you don’t have an odiferous demeanor, if you get my drift.” I knew from our initial spontaneous introduction that it was going to be, would be, far worse than suggested.&n...

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Gravitational Gravitas

Joe Swanson

“I feel as lite as a feather.” “You high?” I believe it is just the times we live in, the response. When you say something about feeling good, there is someone who has been programmed to say or do something that makes you question your feelings. Raining on parades has become the new leisure activity for millions. I can’t help but think we have slid so far down the proverbial rabbit hole that the light is no longer something to aspi...

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The Personality of Chocolate

Joe Swanson

“I’m looking for something different, not the usual-usual. Something Showing I care, I refrain from using the word love, because that is as nebulous as the description of chocolate. It leaves out, as there is no way to adequately capture the essence of the word, the emotional supposition involved. It has become more than cocoa seed growing from the Aztec history of South America, into a mental phenomenon that encapsulates the individual and the masses search for perfection, within the singular word, cho...

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