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Keba Ghardt

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jun, 2024

Stories (14)

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92 Followers

26 Following

14 Stories

1625 karma pts

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Holy Smoke

Keba Ghardt

Beneath his woolen cloak, Aethelstan, son of Aethelred, was burning with a high sanguine fervor, not daring to stop as the night air chilled his sweat. Clutching the precious bundle to his chest, Aethelstan spared a glance at the gathering storm clouds, dreading the potential for divine retribution before his purpose could be fulfilled. Stealing through the neat furrows of a walled garden, the breathless pilgrim pounded on the sanctuary door.It was not long before footsteps approached, and a light bled through the stoic timber. The door’s ru...

3 likes

Elves vs Vampires

Keba Ghardt

Submitted to Contest #300

Christmas Eve at the North Pole. Jingle bells in the air. Gingerbread in the oven. An improbable architecture overwhelmingly inspired by peppermint. Santa's sleigh has just departed, and the elves are wrapping up production before the end of a successful year.CC, the elf in charge of candy cane development, said, "Merry Christmas," and put his pants back on.Noelle, a lollipop parked between her teeth, squeezed back into her stripey tights. "You're not allowed to pay me in candy anymore.""What?" CC hissed. "Of all the bureaucratic...I mean, I...

15 likes

Where There's Smoke

Keba Ghardt

Submitted to Contest #300

The chore wheel was not designed for fairness. The chores themselves were not equal, and so, everyone having the same number of chores did not mean everyone had a fair share of the labor. Betsy didn’t mind taking out trash or scrubbing the bathroom tile, but a dragging mantle of dread descended when it was finally her turn to clean the sun room.Pushing back the sliding glass door, the aggressive stench slathered over her. Betsy held her breath, wrinkling her nose at the ghosts of a thousand cigarettes, the cloying nicotine hanging in the unf...

10 likes

In the Dark

Keba Ghardt

Submitted to Contest #298

When the lights turned on, a slow drip dropped down into a spreading pool of melted ice cream. Pastel confetti in pinks, yellows, and blues cheerily swirled across a lazy river of French vanilla and chocolate sauce. Whorls of whipped cream deflated in a weary sigh, subsiding from the ruptures in the crumbling Oreo frame. The still face resting in the soft-serve pillow could have been dreaming in sugar-spun sleep, except for the splash of hot red slashed across the pressed confection letters, the blue-tipped fingers scattered across the table...

10 likes

Being Dicks to Crows (For Science)

Keba Ghardt

Submitted to Contest #297

The feathery missile smacked into Jake’s face, and he stumbled, clutching at the mask. It was knocked askew and obscuring his vision, his heavy backpack dragging him off-balance as he tumbled inelegantly to the ground. All around him, a metalocalypse of scolding crows cussed out his mama from every parapet, cornice and corbie-step, their champion dive-bomber ruffling his glossy feathers on the dome of a white-streaked statue. Jake clambered to his feet, re-adjusting his plastic protection, and checked the time on his cell phone. It was 2:43,...

11 likes

Seen and Not Heard

Keba Ghardt

Submitted to Contest #296

Only sweet-voiced birds are imprisoned. Owls are not kept in cages. --RumiIt was possible that I would be stopped. The forest had always been my home; I was merely a guest at the palace. The emperor was as vindictive as he was insecure, as paranoid as he was petty, and it was well within the realm of my imagination that I would be shot on sight.Instead, as I crept in over the garden wall, I simply failed to be noticed. Reminding me why I left.The last time I was welcome here, all hours of the night were filled with music, games, recreational...

19 likes

Frank N. Tine

Keba Ghardt

Submitted to Contest #295

It was maddening, day after day, making the circuit from the tray to the table to the dishwasher and back again. Frank, made with discount tin, never expected to grace the banquet halls at Buckingham Palace, the fondue pots at Aspen, or the never-ending shrimp buffets of clothing-optional cruises, but was he not entitled to at least the inside of an incisor? Could he not meet a molar? Careen into a canine? At the Soft Palette Assisted Living Community, Frank was part of a pronged populace that proved pointless with every platter of pre-prepa...

11 likes

More With Honey

Keba Ghardt

Submitted to Contest #295

Officer Hale shook his head at the dust and weeds all over his recently washed squad car, and waved away a curious bee. Half a mile before entering the More With Honey summer camp, the road had crumbled from smooth pavement to an overgrown dirt track. As the officer waited, he watched a line of children, little knees hiking in theatrical march after their willowy counselor as she led a buoyant call and response.There was a treeThere was a treeThe prettiest treeThe prettiest treeThat you ever did seeThat you ever did seeThe tree in the hole a...

20 likes

Drown the Devil

Keba Ghardt

Submitted to Contest #294

References to sexual assault and suicide.When Arnold was younger, his folks had taken him to see the crypt of John Paul Jones. The haunted tomb was quiet, and vigilantly guarded, with dim lights washing over the stone walls like moonlight on a restless sea.The war hero died alone, after a life of ceaseless fighting, an ocean away from American shores. For a hundred years, he was lost, buried by an unmarked grave, but unmistakable when he was found. The casket that held his pickled corpse was a cask brimming with high proof alcohol.“That’s ho...

16 likes

Traffic Calming

Keba Ghardt

Submitted to Contest #293

Ray braced against the horn, teeth clenched through the prolonged blare as the offending crosser calved away from the sidewalk. “Move, you old bitch!”The woman—was it a woman?—turned to look at him. She was curled in on herself, hunched over under the weight of a massive black-green coat, a spindly walker supporting her doubled frame. Her skin was black, the color of cracked leather, and her head was crowned by a black helmet of a turban. Thick black goggles like glass ashtrays covered her eyes, and the gnarled hands gripping the walker were...

14 likes

A Colorful Past

Keba Ghardt

Submitted to Contest #292

Hallie gasped when she walked through the front door. The foyer was glowing in fiery red, blending seamlessly into a vibrant orange, then melding into a luscious turquoise. Daniel frowned at her expression. “Problem?”“No, I—” the young painter had to get her breath back. “I just…it’s such a gorgeous palette; are you sure you want to cover it up?”Daniel nodded. “That’s what I’m paying you for. Just white is fine.”Drifting after him into the living room, Hallie breathed in the glorious canary yellows and lime greens offset by a delicate mauve....

19 likes

Pour Lost Things

Keba Ghardt

Submitted to Contest #287

“I only have about a quart,” Mariole said. “Less after we boil it.”Jack clenched his teeth. “We’ll make it work.”“Really?”“Yeah, kid, knock yourself out.”Mariole’s face lit up behind her mask, and she clapped her little hands together. Jack swept the rubble off of a table while Mariole set up the propane burner, even though the cannister was feeling a little light. The flame kicked on, and Jack poured purified water from his flask into a camping kettle. “In the old days, you were supposed to have a kettle that whistled,” he said. “To let you...

18 likes

The Staff

Keba Ghardt

Shortlisted for Contest #280 ⭐️

There you are. Hello, sir. Busy day, soldier? Not especially, sir. Awful lot of people here. That’s not unusual, sir. That’s true, that’s true. Lots of people come here, feels like every day, to gather out past that balcony, just to get a look at his excellency the pope, and receive his blessing. That they do, sir. Incredibly powerful spiritual experience that people travel miles for, to actually behold God’s avatar on Earth, and you and I are tasked with the protection of his holiness, to preserve the authority of the Catholic church. I tak...

30 likes

Your Animal Side

Keba Ghardt

Winner of Contest #257 🏆

Eddie was sweating. He'd been told, before putting on the suit, to drink a ton of water, so much your stomach hurts, and he bet there was an extra ten pounds of perspiration in the cheap costume fur. It certainly smelled like it, but rule one of wearing the suit: never take off the head. "That's an automatic write up," said Rob. "If you do it, and Faye finds out you subbed in without approval, you are off weekend hours, my friend. Good luck sucking up Tuesday tips." "I get it, I get it," Eddie had insisted. "I'll stay away from French revolu...

90 likes