John Steckley

“So You Received This Letter Today.” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #47

So You Received This Letter Today Scene One: A Lawyer’s Office “So you received this letter today. That is why you wanted to see me so urgently.” The lawyer in the gray suit then picked up the letter, and read it out loud. “Dear John: I know that you will be surprised by this letter. You think I am visiting with my sick cousin Elizabeth for a week. But you are wrong. She is well. You were easily fooled. You are as gullible as you are charming and nice. You see my grandmother included me in her will. I  ...

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“An Adventure in a Writer's Circle.” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #46

An Adventure in a Writer’s Circle The 10 writers sat in a circle like the famed knights of Camelot reportedly did.  Only they did not wave sharp swords about and were not weighed down with heavy armour. The weapons of choice for this writers circle were pens and pencils (the latter for those expecting errors), which they would wield with words on pads of paper. They were a mixed group, male and female, young and old, published authors and those hoping to have their first publication so that they could refer to themselves as ‘publ...

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“It's Been a While” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #46

It’s Been A While It’s been a long while since I’ve tried to do this. I wonder if writers today ever take pen in hand like I have just done, and began their story that way. I just can’t see starting a story on a computer. There seems to me to be a distance from the writer somehow. But then I don’t seem to be able to start the old way either. I know this particular sitting is going nowhere, so I will put the pen down, stand up, go outside, and do some gardening, probably going to feel like I have more in common with ...

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“A Black and White Story” by John Steckley

A Black and White Story He was perfect in an ‘all parts fit together into one picture’ way. He was a big, tall Black man standing in the snow beside the laundromat, leaning on his dark car. What really made for the completion of the image was the long, fat cigar that he held in his left hand. It smoked like a gun just fired. The words ‘Big Daddy’ sprang into my mind like a long forgotten song title.            We walked up to him and complimented him on having th...

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“There is this island” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #45

There Is this IslandThe Island There is this island. Actually, it is barely, technically, an island, surrounded by the two main streams of a usually sleepy river. But there are two bridges that join the island to what the locals call ‘the mainland.’ They have long called those living on the other side of those bridges “mainlanders”, but since the Diana Galbadon books and the popular television series, they started labelling them ‘outlanders’. There is a main street that links both bridges. Newly-licensed mainlander t...

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“You See Sir” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #44

“You See Sir” “You see sir, the truth is, I’m a leprechaun.” As Patrick looked at the small man, thin and short, sort of withered like an old leather belt, he could almost believe what he had just been told. The problem with that interpretation was that Patrick had just come out of the local Irish pub, and the small man was standing in the alleyway just beside it. He pretty much knew what was going to come next – an appeal for money, whatever he could spare, or words similar to that. “I was wondering, sir, if you had any loose chan...

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“Transformations” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #43

Transformations           The sky is white in late winter/early sprig mist. It is like the heavens have no height, but exist just as a hovering presence, like smoke from fireplaces in a deep, cold northern valley in the winter. I am out in the backyard knocking the snow off of the drooping branches of a spruce tree I am particularly fond of. I like to see the branches standing high and proud, not weighed down with snow, like it has suffered some loss.   &nbs...

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“The Table Lighter” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #43

The Table LighterA Young Man Writes At the last week of every summer of my life from age 9 to 19 I would go downtown to the annual exhibition. I, of course, loved the rides, the junk food, the freak show (Dainty Dora at 600 plus pounds and The Lobster Boy, whose middle fingers and toes were fused with his thumb or big toe and pinky finger or toe), and, as a teenager, the bands, and the girls. But the main attraction for me was a particular arcade game. I would deposit my dime and use a metal claw that opened and closed to try ...

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“Just the Way You Look Tonight.” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #42

Just the Way You Look Tonight           “I love you, just the way you look tonight.” He would certainly sing those words from the old song concerning the woman he was looking at right now. On a dare to himself, he had decided to go to this all-ages singles dance in the community centre. He felt that he had nothing to lose as there was no one important in his life at the time. Friends and close relationships from his past had all long ago ended. It was time for so...

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“What is She? What is She doing that is so Strange?” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #41

What is She? What is She doing that is so Strange? Her problems all started one morning when she was young and completely by herself. She did not know why she made the decision that she did. There was no one older around to indicate that what she was doing was seriously wrong for one of her species.  She did it initially just on a whim, something she just wanted to try. She was curious about what it would be like to experience the sensations it involved.  She enjoyed it more than she thought she would. So it was not...

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“ In a Dark Moor with the Beast of Bodmin” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #41

In a Dark Moor with the Beast of Bodmin I am in the midst of a misty moor. It is the kind of place that fills my mind with scary images, of Dartmoor, with huge ghostly dogs like the Hound of the Baskervilles and of escaped prisoners hiding, ready to pounce on unsuspecting travellers. And this is Bodmin Moor, where, in a Daphne Du Maurier classic, Jamaica Inn, a fanatical fictional gang-leader named Joss Merlyn led a mad, drunken band of wreckers. In the book and in my mind they lured ship’s captains to founder their vessels on...

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“Three Friends on a Date” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #40

Three Friends on a Date The three friends, Mike, Steve and Dave had not had a date since they graduated from high school together, went to college together and set up their own heating/air-conditioning repair service together. Their excuse had been that they had been way too busy, which was true to a certain extent. So, at age 26, they arranged with a local dating service to procure three young women for a date at a dance club that they had frequented as teenagers. None of the guys wanted to ‘go it alone’, so it was to be a group d...

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“The Big Picture” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #39

The Big Picture Walter was a good photographer, one of the best in the business even if he did say so himself. He said that his ‘great gift’ was the ability to see what others could not, and then capture that vision so that others could share in his ‘genius’. His ‘great flaw’, not that he would ever admit to it, was his overpowering competitiveness, especially as it rose to the dizzying heights of arrogance. That was especially true in his relationship to his brother Elliot, who was also a photographer, and who also worke...

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“He Stared Up Into the Stars” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #39

He Stared Up Into the Stars He stared up into the stars. It was a clear night in the last week of April. All the familiar sky bodies were twinkling in their usual places. He should know what they are and where they should be. For 60 years now he had barely missed viewing the late April sky on such a night. Now that he was no longer in school, he wasn’t distracted by homework, or the guilt-inducing looks of his parents when they told him he was “night-time day-dreaming” when he went out to look at the stars. Now ...

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“A Man and a Dog in Close Captivity” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #38

A Man and a Dog in Close Captivity I feel like I have been kidnapped and kept in close captivity. I spend pretty much all day in one place, leaving only to walk the dog and buy a few necessities (there is a long lineup at the beer store).  Part of it, of course is the covid-19 quarantine. But there is also the matter of in the month of March my being put under witness protection until a trial (I hope it is virtual) a month away. While walking my dog one dark evening, I stopped to pick up his poop on the sidewalk (he likes very pub...

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