John Walsh

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Dec, 2020

Stories (21)

21 Stories

480 karma pts

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“Grimm Conversations In a Wagon” by John Walsh

Submitted to Contest #76

    “Listen, you amphibian bastard! You’ll tell the rubes what I tell you and make it convincing or there’ll be hell to pay” The Ineffable Cagliostro rapped his walkingstick on the floor of the wagon.     “Do you think it’s easy talking all day when you’re a frog?” said Wilhelm the Prophetic Frog. “My tongue is backwards and I have no voice box.”      “You have no trouble giving me backtalk.”      “Backtalk! You know I am a king.”&nb...

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“1095” by John Walsh

Submitted to Contest #74

      He used the nail to scratch a diagonal line through the four vertical lines he had made the four previous days on the wall opposite the door of his cell. He counted the sets of five he had made, 219. That meant there were 1095 hash marks on the wall. If his calculations had been right he had been here three years.        He could not be sure. He scratched a mark on the wall every time just before drinking what he thought of as his “evening gruel.” There was also the “morn...

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“Out With A Bang” by John Walsh

Submitted to Contest #74

Trigger warning: suicidal thoughts   December 22, 2020: Life is a meaningless chaos. It’s the second day of winter, a Tuesday, the randomest day of the week. I can’t take it anymore; I’m going to end it. I suppose the easiest way is to do an internet search for the over the counter medication that is most sure to kill me if I wash a handful down my throat with a fifth of vodka and go to a few pharmacies to get a stash. It would have to be an over the counter med: I have no prescriptions. I haven’t been to a doctor in years. As to street...

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“Nuts To You, Jennifer” by John Walsh

Submitted to Contest #73

     On the evening of December 14, Greg rang Jennifer’s doorbell.      “The company is transferring me north and I can’t take Cyril with me,” he said, thrusting a rather large cage with a sea-green cover topped with a big red bow into Jennifer’s reluctant arms. “I’d like you to have him.”      He had taken off his mask and had the hangdog expression that made it hard for Jennifer to say “no” to him. He replaced his mask, shut the door, and walked away witho...

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“Last Night” by John Walsh

Submitted to Contest #72

     We at the Hierarchy of Morpheus would like to offer you a position as a dream sorter in our human division. The doctors with beaked masks skate on frozen Styx. There are more names for us than anything else. The red-faced children build with sheets of glass. You should think of us as spirits. The fog blows over the ebony tree. We send dreams to all creatures that dream. The wooden clown dances in the sated baby’s fists. We often use coporeals with their squishy brains to do quality control. The coconut falls int...

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“Zucchini Spice” by John Walsh

Submitted to Contest #71

          “We decided to make the raspberry bars this year,”  Brad the firefighter said as he showed Maryann a cellophane wrapped paper plate filled with pinkish purple rectangles. “What did you bake this year?”        “Soft zucchini spice cookies.”       “Zucchini?” Then he grinned. “I’m sure they’ll be great. Your cookies always are.”       He never came out and said so but everyone had guess...

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