John Steckley

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2019

Stories (254)

254 Stories

5430 karma pts

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“Pebbles on a Window” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #97

Pebbles Against a Window It was two o’clock in the morning. Josh knew that fact because of the red numbers that shone brightly from his old clock radio. “Why am I awake?” he wondered. Then he heard a sound just outside the window of his second storey bedroom. Had that been enough to wake him up? Could be. Remembering the Past Then he was suddenly hit by a blast from his past. When he was a teenager sleeping in this same room, his buddy Ralph would toss pebbles at his window to get his attention. It would t...

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“One Last Thing” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #96

One Last Thing Strangers Meet An old man, somewhere in his late seventies or early eighties gets off the bus, and starts walking. He is carrying a bag that holds a change of clothes, and little else. These are all his worldly possessions He moves slowly, but with what looks like a sense of purpose. If you walked past him, you might hear him mutter about doing “one last thing.’ He is aware that no one probably knows him in this small town. And likewise he feels quite sure he will not see anyone that he knew way b...

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“A Dilemma that Could Be Beat” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #95

A Dilemma that Could be BeatI have long been content with my life. Those words, and that sentiment sound weak, but they are still true. I have won for myself much more than my teenage self could have even imagined, and he had quite an imagination.I have a well-paying, respectable job in an office with pictures of my wife and three kids and one dog on my desk. My wife, Katy has always been supportive, even in the early financially insecure days. My kids are just great, I draw joy from their everyday presence.And yet…W...

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“One Small Choice” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #95

One Small Choice A Choice is Made So I’m was driving home from work on a Friday afternoon before the May long weekend. The driving was bad—inch forward, stop, inch forward stop. Gerald from work was in the car right ahead of me. He had his headphones on, and he was smoking one cigarette after another. I didn’t hang out with him any longer at breaks, as I had quit smoking – doctor’s strict orders. We still called and e-mailed each other regularly, however.  I had replaced cigarettes with ice cream, and had pu...

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“Did I do it again?” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #94

Did I Do It Again? Did I do it again? I have always had a weakness for accepting a dare without thinking about the consequences of my so doing. It’s not knee jerk, just pure jerk when I do that.  This one now just happens to be the biggest dare of my life. People who I grew up with, and who know me well were not surprised at all when they first saw or heard what I was doing, even with the great magnitude of this particular dare. So it is alright then that I just go on a long rant, and you record it so you can write it...

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“Somebody has to do it.” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #93

Somebody Has to Do It It was going to be a dirty job. But the two of them, Bill and Joan, had volunteered to do it, knowing full well what would be involved, and how disgusting it might prove to be. They felt that they owed Stan, the host, as he had introduced them to each other, played the matchmaker at a previous party a few weeks back. They were now a couple. Stan’s house was the sole building of a short dead end street, so the loud noises of his parities were not complained about by any neighbours. Some of them we...

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“Perfect is the Enemy of Good” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #93

Perfect is the Enemy of GoodI don’t know why I agreed to do this, go to a 15th year reunion party of my graduating high school class. I’m not a big party goer at the best of times. The last one I went to was five years ago, and that was a party thrown by my parents, complete with someone they had set up to meet me. My mother is worried that she will never have grandchildren. I am an only child, hence the pressure put on me to get into a ‘serious relationship.’ I live with my parents, so I hear that expression a lot.I...

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“It's a Fact” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #92

“It’s the strangest phone message I’ve ever received. And I’ve I had a number of very weird ones. You see I am a retired university scientist, and to keep my mind active, I host a local weekly cable television show called “It’s a fact”. What I do is debunk some of the dumb ideas out there held by a lot of people in town: conspiracy theories, anti-vaccination fears, UFOs, and the like. It is a lot of fun. There is a call-in at the end, where people get to ask questions, or assert their determined ignorance of all thin...

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“Plotting in the Library” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #91

It was dark. The library was closed for the night. It should have been quiet inside. But it wasn’t. Sounds could be heard if you walked closely beside the north side of the building.It was Monday night. Earl was taking his dog for a walk, as he did every night. She (her name was Louise) was an energetic dog that require a great deal of exercise. Their Monday night walk took them past the library. There was a path there that leads to a trail in the woods. As they walked past the building on this one par...

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“The Pear Tree” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #90

Ron“I have it now – my own farm. I am working for myself – not my father or my older brothers, but myself. And of course for my wife Diana and our child-to-be. I’m sad, sure, that Granddad died, but the money that he left me gave me enough for a down payment on this farm.           And I’m going to make it like no other farm in the area. People, especially my family members, are always saying ‘Ronnie has his own mind. He always does things his own way.’. I d...

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“S.O.S” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #90

One thread that is woven brightly coloured through the cloth of just about every year of my life is the walk in the woods. I remember so well my adventures that way as a child when everything in the woods world was new and exciting, even the little critters that I more or less take for granted now. I had few worries in such walks. My only fear then was that of being bitten by one of the much-dreaded, poisonous Massassauga rattlesnakes, the only dangerous snakes in the area. This fear extended to my initial reactions to ma...

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“So Here I am” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #89

My Life on MarsSo here I am on Mars, the first human to live on the red planet, and right now the only one. Not bad for a guy who doesn’t generally like to travel, and never did well enough in science and math at school to seriously consider becoming an astronaut. I will be here on this planet for the rest of my life. And I’m feeling now that is not such a bad thing. I would not have thought that a year ago, when I had no idea that there were Martians, that they could come to earth, and certainly not that they would want ...

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“Hansel and Gretel in the 21st Century” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #88

The children were all sitting quietly in their seats, when their teacher came in with another woman whom they had never seen before. Their teacher spoke with her most formal voice and said: “Students, you are very fortunate today, because our special guest is Hilary Grimsby, the famous author of the children’s book Fairy Tales for Children of the Twenty-First Century. Please greet her with applause.” The children did so.  Most of them have heard of the book and is author, but few had even tried to read it. The special guest ...

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“Junior's Joke” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #87

Everyone at work called him ‘Junior’, but not to his face, as they knew he didn’t like it, and he did have power in the company. Still he knew what they were saying when they used his name ‘in vain’. He had overheard such talk too many times for his ego to stand it much longer. It got so bad that he actually thought of removing the listening devices he had planted in quite a few of the offices, one Sunday afternoon, when the 14 storey office building was closed. Sure he was the boss’s son and the founder’s grandson of the big...

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“A Freak of Nature” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #86

Every word came out slowly, like he had to think each one out first carefully before speaking. “Your.. face.. tells… me… you… think… I… am… a … freak, a… freak… of… nature… maybe just… stupid.” He was mostly right, of course. He had read my face right. I was in desperate need of a ‘public interest’ story for our weekly local paper. I had heard about this guy, actually overheard in a bar, from some old-timers talking about ‘Harris the freak.’ These are desperate times for journalists. I have to follow every ...

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Author bio

I am a retired college professor who researches and writes about Indigenous languages and cultures. My specialty is the Wendat/Wyandot language.