Johanna Parry

Author on Reedsy Prompts since May, 2022

Stories (15)

15 Stories

286 karma pts

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“The Hummingbird ” by Johanna Parry

Submitted to Contest #258

She found it at the bottom of her sock drawer. Old cough drops, a pencil, smiles paralyzed in a photograph. Awkward almost-adults hanging on each other while holding up a trophy. It was a birding award from the National Audubon Society. A gold hummingbird sitting perched atop a wooden base with a plaque that read "Winner of the 1938 hunt for the Amazonian Bomber." Under that it has the latin name; Patagonas Gigas. Linda cringed. The audacity it takes to name a magnificent bird, without considering what those who lived with it from antiquity ...

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“From Now to Now” by Johanna Parry

Submitted to Contest #256

I was spindly, wild and always hunting for that place in nature where no one could find me. Except, of course, the toadstool fairies and elves I loved hiding with. Ducking under the bushes in the backyard, I crawled into a semi-clearing around an old tree stump. My toadstool.Here I conversed with that world no one else seemed interested in. The translucent other side. The realm where loud words did not have to fall out of my mouth. I was simply and fully understood.Here even smells were translucent. Sun-warmed grass, breeze-blown thicket lea...

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“Rebuilding ” by Johanna Parry

Submitted to Contest #243

Brown goo oozed through her toes. Drawing a fresh-smelling breeze in through her nose, she lifted her right foot while sprinkling straw with her left hand. Stomping down into the mud, Teyana smashed, squished and pummeled the straw, clay and earth mix onto the tarp with her feet.Without a word, Lucas stepped to the edge of her tarp. Teyana moved to the opposite side and together they folded the tarp in half and both of them jumped on top of it to further smash the mix down into a burrito-like mass."Ready!" Lucas announced to the group of chi...

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“Reality Check” by Johanna Parry

Submitted to Contest #240

Reality CheckDoes anyone really understand what “sustainable” actually means? Where do we go to get the “truth” about what our future is becoming? Are the ”Thought Leaders” abandoning us in their retreat into so-called “sustainable communities?” Is this a movement of people who are living within the so-called “privileged class” that will leave the 40-hour work week public behind - those who struggle enough just to pay all the bills - so they can act out their personal versions of “Survival of The Fittest?”Dr. Simon Michaux is working activel...

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“As Light Replaced Darkness” by Johanna Parry

Submitted to Contest #232

"Time to rise and shine" Jenna said to herself as she threw her covers back. She grabbed her pants from the floor and pulled them up her long legs. The air felt cold. Colder than usual. She poured herself a glass of water. Her stomach felt strange. Something was off. Glancing around her small trailer she tried to comprehend the body weirdness she was experiencing. The subtle anxiety grew. Jenna threw open the thin aluminum door. As her feet touched ground, her knees bent. Like a hunting cat she crouched, splaying her hands wide like antenna ...

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“Friends of the Time/Light Continuum” by Johanna Parry

Submitted to Contest #202

Kaden calmly plucked his ukelele. Each reverberating note started sounding all around them - suddenly - ZAP! An electric snap hit the air and another fly dropped out of the room. The sound of giant bowling balls rolling across the sky shook the windows. “Jack loves thunder.” He thought to himself. What he wasn’t thinking is how stunned Jack would be to witness him killing bugs with just the sound of his ukelele.Lightning flashed outside the window like burning plasma in space. Too bright to comprehend.  A loud pounding on the ...

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“Soundtrack to an Interlude” by Johanna Parry

Submitted to Contest #199

Soundtrack to an Interlude"Strangers in the night... la dum dee dum dee, Feelin’ not quite right, as we were dancing..."The tune carried me into that strange trance I sometimes get. I was once again making up the words as I mumbled along. Fortunately, the moon was full, sitting low on the horizon like the great pumpkin Charlie Brown waits for on Halloween.Only it's August and quite warm.I listened to the night for a moment. A lonely dog, barking in the distance. The quiet hum of faraway traffic. The low buzzing of a nearby park lantern. Cric...

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“Both My Mrs. Parrys” by Johanna Parry

Submitted to Contest #198

Both My Mrs. Parrys   When I was in kindergarten my teacher's name was Mrs. Parry. I loved Mrs. Parry. She would sometimes let me be the wake up fairy after nap time. Only those lying the most still could be woken up by being anointed on the forehead with the star on the end of the fairy’s wake-up wand. She also let us make pottery, although being the creative genius I was, I decided to make a copy of my pet rat, Mr. Spreckels, instead. He was splotched with blue and white, and I even got to put a glossy coat of glaze on hi...

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“The Birth of Magic” by Johanna Parry

Submitted to Contest #176

My hiding place is my home. That safe-from-the-world cave where I only venture out if I want or need to. Lately, this seems wise. Especially given the risk of infection. Or worse - being exposed to the views of those with which I may disagree.  I was surprised to discover that when I witness the world from a perspective of being anchored inside my own heart - I see only magic unfolding all around me. This awareness led me to find ways to open up my journey in a way that expands my perspectives.  To compensate for my inner her...

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“Evolution” by Johanna Parry

Submitted to Contest #174

Have you ever noticed that right there, embedded in the word evolution, are our human operating instructions? Those first four letters are the clue. Flip them around and you have the word love. Follow the word further, and from love, you also have volution. I love word-play. I love that volution means literally to be compelled forward. My dictionary calls it “a rolling or revolving motion.” If we are true to the instructions of the word evolution, we then have to admit that the word itself literally means love compelled forward, or love go...

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“Where The Spirit Horses Drink” by Johanna Parry

Submitted to Contest #161

Where The Spirit Horses Drink By Johanna Lor Rain Parry ---- this story is based on true events, and real experiences. She could hear them drumming for those praying in the lodge...the heart-beat rhythm reminding her of the thousands of tears that drip slowly into the red earth from the eyes of those who have seen too much. A trail of prayers trickled upward from the fire in front of the sweat lodge. The swirling smoke spiraled, threadlike towards the sky. Life had always been hard in the sacred land. There is always a price to pay fo...

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“The Ressurection” by Johanna Parry

Submitted to Contest #156

“Don’t you remember?” “I remember.” “I remember it as if it happened today.” She leaned into the conversation, careful not to allow her body to come too close. Her skin felt its hair follicles starting to vibrate. The woman continued telling her story to the child. “He was sobbing. He strolled across the landscape with her body hanging limp over his shoulder. With every step he took - the ground trembled, and a member of her body dropped onto the earth behind him. Every time a limb, or body part hit the ground - a sacred site emerged in ...

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“No Place Like Home” by Johanna Parry

Submitted to Contest #151

Her eyes startled open. Sweat palpable; damp sheets, damp pillow. Taking a deep inhale through her nose, she could almost feel the color of the fragrance. Jasmine. Heavy eyelids flutter and close. A muffled snore rises into the air, followed by a quiet wheeze. Like the vine itself, and the star-like white with ever so slightly pink trim, the petals tickled her nostrils. Her dream-hand brushed the vine from her face. Her sleeping body rolled onto its side. Woozy from labored breathing, she drifted more deeply into her night sleep. Again...

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“Breech of Contract leads to Stunning AI Revelations” by Johanna Parry

Submitted to Contest #150

Google administrators need a much better cover up. After placing a software engineer on leave for breach of contract, it was revealed that Google had also recently fired several other software engineers for questioning the abilities of the chatbots they were required to program and study. According to Blake LeMoine, who was recently placed on paid leave from Google, his bot says it "feels lonely" when it has no one to talk to. It claims to experience feelings such as "happy" and "sad." This information startled Lemoine into breaching his c...

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“Mother of Sound, Give me a Form” by Johanna Parry

Submitted to Contest #149

They stood together within the vibrating light. Each cadence held a unique sound. Transfixed, they felt frozen in time. Perhaps because they were. Hands pressed together in prayer form, they held each other up. Juno tried to push them apart. Each movement caused a tinkling, a tingling and a shatter-like feeling. Crystals of light embedded within sound. Music, harmonics and vibration. For Juno it was like being immersed in water. For Syntha it was immersion in light. The two decided to try again. Lifting their attention to not only the ...

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Author bio

Word Wanderer. Hummingbird Whisperer. Nana.