Karin Venables

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jul, 2020

Stories (17)

17 Stories

493 karma pts

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“Diamond Anniversary” by Karin Venables

Cardamon walked through the tap room at Murphy’s Tavern.  The tap room with its peat moss fire hadn’t changed at all from his childhood till now. Timeless, it exuded comfort to every guest inviting them to stay, lingering over their ale or a pint of stout. He raised his eyes to the rafters. Smoke blackened; they formed the framework for the straw materials laid over them. Sturdy and rainp...

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“Spring Break Whiteout” by Karin Venables

Doug peered at his brother through the dim light. The clock on the dash of their Jeep Wrangler announced noon, but the storm made it a lie. It couldn’t be more than dawn. Fat goose down clumps of snow hit the windshield. Frost etched the passenger windows, and he wished they’d put the hard top back on before they left dad’s house. “Can we get any more heat out of this piece of junk?”“No, don’t ask again, the answer will be the same.”Mike was hunched over the st...

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“Grammie's Heirloom Irish Fruit Cake” by Karin Venables

“Cousin Cardamon, can we try to make Grammie’s fruit cake for Yule?” Alanna had taken to baking as a stress reliever for her studies. She knew most of the ingredients by memory, except for the list of fruits. Some how Gaia added a unique combination each year. “Did she tell you to soak the fruit in whiskey?” The silver haired healer asked with an amused quirk to his right eyebrow.Alanna wondered how he did it. She’d never figured out how to move hers. Her dad could, an...

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“Orange Moon Part Two” by Karin Venables

Greta stared out the diamond window hoping to see the pool they’d landed beside. Her ears were protected by a double layer of noise canceling headphones. The inner ones shielded the inner ear, the out the eardrum. Fortunately, they’d had the protective equipment stashed in the emergency kits inside the main ramp. She’d taken to reading on her personal tablet up in the flight command center and she anxiously made note of the countdown timer every time she flipped to a new chapter.For some reason, readi...

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“Samhain” by Karin Venables

This year the moon is new. It makes a difference as to what the rite will be. Newly married, Morgan thought about the ceremony she would lead for the first time. Gaia, Gloria, Alanna. It would be Alanna’s first rite of Samhain. Her brother, Harry, and her husband would complete the group unless, Melissa and Stan could find a way to make the journey down from Butte. Stretching her arms above her h...

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“Picking Apples” by Karin Venables

Oliver and Violetta wandered through the remains of a small orchard. The apple trees were sprinkled with fruit, and Vi smiled. She knew her parents would arrive sometime in the next hour or two, and so would her younger sisters. It would be the first time their family was together in almost twenty two years. “Do you remember how shocked mom was when you invited her over to your townhouse? She fainted. It ...

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“Raggedy Anne” by Karin Venables

Annie sat on the couch in front of the fireplace. The old photo album was laying on the table, and she wondered if she could make Mirrium understand how many others had played with the Raggedy Anne doll laying beside it. The first picture with the doll, was on the first page of the album. Sepia colored, it showed her grandmother as a child. She sat on a bench beside the door of a sod shanty. Her family wa...

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“Orange Moon” by Karin Venables

Greta stepped out onto green rocks, with purple liquid lapping across more pebbles of green, grey, and brilliantly gold crystals. The air had been confirmed as oxygen rich, more so than Earth’s. Safe to breathe, the doctor and biologists on board had insisted, but she wasn’t so sure. The air was putrid, rotting flesh disgusting. She noted orange and brown leaves floating in the violet liquid at her feet and wondered what kind of plant life had developed on this planet. There was a carbon dioxide ...

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“Accidental Prison” by Karin Venables

Jacqueline walked the long hall along the cubicles, checking to see who had stayed late. It looked like she’d been the only one with a project so pressing she’d gone on long past dinner time. She’d barely noticed the sun setting in brilliant golden hues outside her window on the forty first floor of the sleek office tower. She’d seen them reflected often enough, as she drove home, but not today. Not a single employee left to share her lonely ride down to the parking garage. The crack of thunder b...

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“Being of Sound Mind and Health” by Karin Venables

Being of sound mind and health… Miss Margret looked at the words and knew her family was going to get the shock of their lives. This time they’d gone too far. She looked across the desk to meet the eyes of her great grandson. His steady blue gaze matched her own. He’d inherited the McCormick genes in undiluted exactness. He looked precisely the same as his grand father and her own lamenta...

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“A blast from the Past” by Karin Venables

The agents in the conference room had arrived within minutes of the start of the meeting. Ignoring each other they wrote their names on folding name cards and set them in front of the laptops, proceeding to follow instructions on the big instruction screen. By the time the head investigator walked into the room, everyone was absorbed in reading the initial reports on the latest mass injury attack by the BLF. The Pasaden...

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“Can you Keep a Secret?” by Karin Venables

“Can you keep a secret?”The four year old preschooler I was babysitting looked like she would burst. What would make a little girl with a turned up nose and pointed little chin light up like that?I was making a little extra during reading week at university by taking care of one of the professors’ children while a group of them had gone on a ski vacation.“Of course, I can keep a secret.” I was curious.“Come with me,” she slid out of my lap, where I’d been he...

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“Hitting the Books” by Karin Venables

The arch over the main entrance to the University of Calgary mimics the Chinook arch we see so often in the west or southwestern skies of Alberta. It was there so many years ago, when I was a student here for the first time, with all the hopes and dreams of finishing four years of post secondary education. It didn’t happen that way.The fall of 1976 was crisp with an early frost. My birthday was the first day of classes and I was an eager student. I enjoyed the first year, but as I went into my second ...

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“What if?” by Karin Venables

I hate being the oldest sometimes. I don’t know who forgot to put the other half of their popsicle back in the fridge, but I knew I’d better clean up the mess before mom got home. I smelled it before I found it sitting on the laminate counter. The overwhelming scent of orange that isn’t even close to what you find when you peel one, assaulted my nose. Scanning the counters, I hoped it was contained or the stain would be ...

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“Pearl” by Karin Venables

There was something familiar about the reflection in the window. Jackson had stopped to admire the display of pearls in window of Soho’s Fine Jewelry. His breath frosted on the window, and he reached up to polish it away, when he spotted the face. The one he’d loved since he’d first noticed him across the gymnasium. The one he’d known was destined to be part of his life the second their eyes met.It couldn’t be! Orin was dead. There was no way. He’d died in Istanbul. He h...

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Author bio

I'm a recently retired from a 41 year career with the City of Calgary. I've always enjoyed creative writing, and now I have the time to explore my passion fully.