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John Steckley

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2019

Stories (254)

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254 Stories

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Now It Begins

Submitted to Contest #223

Now It Begins My First Thoughts on Campus When I first walked onto the university campus after finally being accepted, albeit conditionally, I thought “Now it begins.” I will finally be moving ahead in my dream to be a professional writer, a published author. Some of my favourite books, and short stories have been written on these very grounds. Good writers have been inspired right here, perhaps where I am standing right now. I hope to become one of that number in my time here. In high school I wrote a few poems that g...

5 likes

You Got This

Submitted to Contest #222

You Got This I pride myself in being able to adjust to new situations. It comes from the experience growing up of moving from place to place. My dad was a professional athlete, a hockey player in the NHL. Although he was a good goalie, he seems to have been traded every two to four years throughout his career, and of course that meant a new house in a new city, and my having to change the hockey sweaters that I wore to school to avoid getting into a fight. While I did not want to go through such shifting in my own career, th...

5 likes

The Voice of a Leper

Submitted to Contest #221

The Voice of a Leper I was on a two-week vacation in Iceland, and had spent most of my first days there exploring the capital city of Reykjaivik. I decided this morning that I would drive a little outside of town, somewhere near where I could look out at the ocean and see the volcano-produced peninsula (almost all of the Icelandic landscape was volcano-produced) that was not far away. I had seen a picture in the room that I was staying in, and I wanted to see it for myself by facing it from the side on the mainland and take my own...

7 likes

A Surprise Awaits a Reporter

Submitted to Contest #220

A Surprise Awaits a Reporter Scene One – Walking Through the Woods – Camera in Hand Why did I think that I was taking a short cut? I don’t even live in this part of town, and have only visited it a very few times. And I am getting very tired. It’s been a long day and the sun is beginning to set. I might not be able to take the pictures that the editor wanted me to take. And what does ‘a strange red light over a potato field as the sun set’ actually mean? And why trust what some boy had to say on the subject? He ma...

13 likes

I Can't Imagine Anything More Boring Than This

Submitted to Contest #219

I Can’t Imagine Anything More Boring Than This I can’t imagine anything more boring than what I do for a living. I work on the night shift as a security guard for a very large company, that is housed in a monstrously huge building. Every night I have to watch the same blank scenes over and over again on the 20 screens of the CCTVs. There are no criminals, trying to sneak in through any of the doors, or through the underground parking or through a window. I almost wish that someone were trying to break into the place on...

12 likes

The Eyes Didn't Have It

Submitted to Contest #218

The Eyes Didn’t Have It I can remember when I taught English as a Second Language, and I had to explain to my surprised students that we have an expression in English: “I see what you’re saying.” I told them in Canada, when the weather is very cold, we can see someone’s breath when they are speaking in the great outdoors. Some of the students took me seriously. I was reminded of this one day recently, when my eyes were very far from ‘seeing’ what I was experiencing, but another sense told me without speaking a word something...

7 likes

Not Like the First Time

Submitted to Contest #217

Not Like the First Time I remember the first time so well. I had felt that I was probably too young for the task at age 16, but my father and uncles were very supportive, telling me that they were sure that I was old enough for it. I think that maybe they wanted to give up the challenge themselves, as they were slowing down some, and I was young and fast, and filled with energy and enthusiasm. Maybe they felt that that their good luck might just come to a fiery end one day in one unfortunate battle. I had never ever se...

9 likes

A Tale of Two Competitive Friends

Submitted to Contest #216

A Tale of Two Competitive Friends Who Got to Play in Goal Even though the two men were long time friends of a sort, it seemed like they had been competing with each other all their lives, something neither of them particularly liked, but did anyway. Tom had won the first challenge. He and Fred were both 10 years old, and each wanted to be the regular goal tender on their hockey team. That would leave the other to be stuck sitting on the bench just in case his competitor got injured or let in too many goals. Tom certainl...

9 likes

6 Living Inside

Submitted to Contest #215

6 Lives Inside The whole strange affair started one Sunday, when we were driving north a long way on the highway (well over an hour) to have a hamburger, fries and a chocolate milkshake at our favourite summer take out place: Weber’s. It was always well worth the drive and the lineup. Nearing our destination we saw an old abandoned house we had seen many times before. It was one of the sights we looked forward to viewing along the way, like a lake or a river. Was it always abandoned when we saw it? We couldn’t say. It w...

15 likes

It Was the Last Night

Submitted to Contest #214

It Was the Night Before It was the night before the first day of school – always a time of high emotion for me. When I was in elementary school, it was a time of great excitement, as it would provide an opportunity to see friends that I hadn’t seen during the summer. I could catch up with their lives, and I could tell them about the highlights of my summer. But this year is much different from that. I am entering high school now, not returning to the elementary school of my earlier years, and I will not know anyone in my...

10 likes

Can This Really Be?

Submitted to Contest #213

Can This Really Be? Can this really be? I am beginning to think that this isn’t just a hallucination. The dog has in one day demonstrated that he is good company when I am working out of my home. It is just this one weirdness that has me wondering. What Started It All The pandemic caused big changes in many people’s lives. What I experienced could be about the strangest aspect of all. During the peak period of the pandemic many people stayed home, and...

10 likes

The Mystery Letter

Submitted to Contest #212

The Mystery LetterWell, let’s see what is in the mailbox today. Letter number one, asking for money and giving me a bookmark with a picture of a wolf on it to make me feel guilty if I choose not to donate. Letter number two, thanking me for being a supporter of their cause when I haven’t given them anything, and I have never heard of them before. Letter number three a bank statement telling me that my investment money has earned me $65 over the last six months. I can blow all that money on a dinner out at Kentucky Fried C...

7 likes

You Can't Judge a...

Submitted to Contest #211

You Can’t Judge a… He had been at the Happy Valley Seniors Retreat for slightly less than two months now, but still very few of the people there, young staff or aged inhabitants, had ever heard him speak. And those that had wouldn’t call it conversational speech, but only a little more than a grunt in response to a question or comment. He never initiated a vocal interaction. Sometimes people, and not just those who did not know his ‘real’ name of George, called him by the name of ‘Stones’ whenever they gossiped about him. O...

14 likes

We Have a Lot in Common

Submitted to Contest #210

We Have a Lot in Common In response to an important question posed to him by two very serious looking individuals, David replied with the following words. “We have a lot in common, my wife and I. For one thing, we both love watching the outrageous, but still very engaging science fiction movies from the 1950s, especially those that feature scary aliens. I do not know how many times that we have viewed such classic movies as “Attack of the 50 Foot Woman” (my wife especially likes that one), “Forbidden Planet” and “The Day the Eart...

8 likes

All Pumped Up

Submitted to Contest #209

All Pumped Up Ted and Ethel, a recently married couple in their fifties were driving down a long, infrequently travelled country road. He was telling her stories about his memories of driving this route in his first car when he still lived in the small town that was a few more miles down the highway. “There is the old gas station not far from here where I used to work as a gas jockey. I haven’t seen anyone working at that job in years. I hate being forced to obey the dictatorial commands of the computerized gas pumps. W...

12 likes