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Joe Swanson

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2020

Stories (289)

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289 Stories

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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. &...

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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.   &...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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Many Pots

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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