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Kendall Defoe

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jul, 2020

Stories (192)
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1359 Followers
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192 Stories

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Kiddo

He always called me that. Kiddo. Hey kiddo; how are things, kiddo? Got your work done, kiddo? I never minded. He was my uncle, anyway. My favourite uncle who I saw once a year since he started school (could barely remember him living in our hometown; always heading out for university and then overseas for work). When the Christmas and New Year’s break came, he would be back with us for two weeks, staying with his mom, my favourite grandma. We would see him for dinners when they came over or we stayed there for the countdown at the end of the...

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Shoplifting

It was a Friday. That was why he had to do it. After work, when the traffic was not too bad and he could transfer between the bus and the metro (no construction that summer; rather odd), he would step into the mall, walk through a food court, the fashion district and toy departments to the escalators, head down to the second-hand department where you could pass by recycled items, small variety shops and tourist traps, and enter Dollarville. This was his routine. This is what he needed today. The AC was on full blast, and he felt comforted by...

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The Café

Submitted to Contest #204

“Gonna be a hot one, t’day.”“Yep.”“Hmm…”The fly-speckled screen door was flapping lightly in the summer breeze as the last one walked in. That was Sal, an old-timer who still drove his Chevy up to the gas station-café every morning to get his regular cup of coffee and scrambled eggs. Chester and Mitch were waiting for him, already digging into their second cups of coffee and muffins they liked for their breakfast. It was warm, moving quickly to humidity as the sun crawled patiently over the horizon. There was not much else for that sun to mo...

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A List of Demands

Submitted to Contest #203

The young man on the phone was laughing after the first slap, but I kept my cool. “We are listening.” “Then you know that I am not screwing around and that I want to speak to someone higher up right now!” There was a particular etiquette in these situations and I was following it to the letter. My boss, the main officer on the case, put me in charge for a reason: he did not really care about this one. A man – really, a kid - had a supermarket locked down with a gun and the promise to use it. It was not in a very important part of town – immi...

24 likes 20 comments 20
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Gork and Slarb Find Out

Submitted to Contest #202

Gitfangula is a very strange place. As a planet, orbiting between the ancient worlds of Marnus and Minuous, it lives in a particular harmony with its past that many other planets and galaxies would envy and resent…if they ever managed to find it. The thing is…Gitfangula cannot be found by conventional ships that rely on anything besides timegates. This is one of the reasons why Gitfangula has been so peaceful for such a long time. The only conflicts come from within. All citizens of that orb have an instant psychic connection and can immedia...

20 likes 10 comments 10
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The Town Crier

Submitted to Contest #200

“Hear ye, hear ye…!” He really went all out this week. I mean, no one expected Albert to wear the full outfit that early into the celebrations. It was six in the morning, and he was right in the dead center of Antonville, right underneath the bunting and the flags, standing by the statue of the town founder (not important right now, but you know the place is called Antonville, so…), and he did not even have a microphone or bullhorn. But I heard him. He was right by my café and I had just gotten up to make the coffee for the day. Not that I d...

14 likes 7 comments 7
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The Crossing Guard

Submitted to Contest #198

“***** *****, please come to the principal’s office.” When you are young, it is possible to believe that adults are there for you; that they are aware of what is best for you; that they are doing the right thing. I thought so for a very long time, all through the great disappointment that was my father, his replacement who could not stand even in his shadow as an example worth following, and many other figures in my life who were always lacking in some way. My moment of discovery came in the most innocent manner and I still recall what it wa...

24 likes 16 comments 16
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The Day in a Life

Submitted to Contest #197

The alarm did not go off, but he was ready. Jason was always ready, but this was a day that was going to be extra special for him and maybe…a few others? The lamplight blinded him for a moment. There was a little time left for a shower and some cleaning up before heading out. The cat was fed – it kept showing up all month and he made sure the bowls were filled – and the weather finally turned (their first day that month without rain). He turned on the water for his bath and the shower head hit him on the nose. The spray of water was enough f...

11 likes 8 comments 8
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Try

Submitted to Contest #196

Was it clear from the message what they wanted him to do? * The letter arrived in a beautiful envelope, with his name and address written in embossed letters on red glossy paper. He had woken up that morning wondering if he was going to speak to his neighbor about their dog and their children again (they were always teasing the poor thing when he saw them in their yard). At his front door, he picked up the letter and thought that this might be another joke. But as he read the note inside, he realized that this was a real company and that he ...

18 likes 7 comments 7
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Zeppo

Submitted to Contest #195

Sit down, sit down… There’s no point in having an office like this if I cannot share it with fans, especially ones like you. You really look beat up, as you should be if you really traveled all this way just to speak to me. My secretary would not have believed it without my letter and your determination. So please…take a breath and we can start. * You are absolutely right. Most of the fans know nothing about me. They don’t even know my real name (impressed that you found that out; so much information out there if you hunt for it). Herbert wo...

21 likes 9 comments 9
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The Trail

Submitted to Contest #194

Day One: I am investigating the disappearance of some food from my locker. I understand that I should not expect any help from my fellow classmates or the school, so I will be undertaking this venture by myself. In the event that I do not solve this mystery, I intend to carry about my own food and then find a way to replace my combination lock – or locker – without breaking any of the rules of this institution. Several teachers have advised me to let this go, but I am a fan and devoted reader of mysteries, and I know that there is always mor...

21 likes 13 comments 13
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A Beautiful Day

Submitted to Contest #193

Mr. Peter Smith looked at the clock above the desk and smiled. After twenty-five years on the job, he was happy to look at the last moment of his working life ticking away. Insurance was an interesting world for him; not that his wife and friends would think so; not that certain colleagues in his office would believe it. Most of them thought that he was overjoyed at facing retirement, rest, and Mondays without a long commute. Mr. Peter Smith smiled at the clock as it ticked over into five p.m. The same white numbers in those same black squar...

16 likes 9 comments 9
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Another Day on the Job

Submitted to Contest #191

I blame the Underground; I really do.I got called in for a job that January and they told me that I had to be there by ten, so I knew that everything was already at the office and my wife, my Gloria, had me sandwiches ready for me and the mug of tea to go on the counter when I was reading the paper that morning. Angie, my youngest, lost her bleeding mind when she knew that I was going to be in when they was going to be in.“Can you get an autograph, da?”“Let your father finish his tea. He isn’t goin’ in to get autographs.”Oh, Angie. Such a br...

22 likes 13 comments 13
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High Note

Submitted to Contest #190

“Speak now…”            “What?”            “It’s just something I say when I go to the shows. ‘Speak now or forever just hold your…’”            She was just staring at me after that, but I knew that I got to her.            We had just had dinner at Alfreddy’s when I told her about the show, so it was a good meal…for a littl...

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Terminus

Submitted to Contest #189

“Have a good night now.”All the passengers loved him. The driver said the exact same thing to everyone leaving the bus on Dark Wood Road, no matter who they were: young high school students; older women with shopping strollers; surly men looking for something they could not find; endless parents and their children trying to get through the day. They all heard the same thing. He would look up at the rear-view mirror or look over to his right and smile if they left out the front. And he did it for all of them, every single ...

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