Kim Olson

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Feb, 2024

Stories (34)

34 Stories

974 karma pts

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“Big Easy Rain” by Kim Olson

Submitted to Contest #291

New Orleans in the rain suits Cal and his ever changing moods. The city is at times brash and festive, and at others, tawdry and shameful, like a perpetual partier who overindulges and wakes up with sharp stabs of pain in his head – a hangover that lasts all day. The thought of sunshine, really any kind of bright light, causes Cal to wince. The rain and darkness allows him to wallow in well deserved misery. Laissez les bons temps rouler has run its course. The good times aren’t rolling at the moment, either for him or for New Orlea...

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“A Purple Goodbye” by Kim Olson

Submitted to Contest #290

I rememberOur last kiss.It was purple.It happened The day after I got a black eye.The black eyeCame from you.Followed by the kiss.It was a Saturday afternoon,An ordinary day,A day that startedLike any other.We were at home,I was doing laundry,The washer started leaking.Water ran all over theDirty tile floor.(I really needed to wash that floor,Even before the leak,But somehow never could find the time.)I wiped the water up With an old, threadbare towel,And wondered aloudDid I need to call a plumber?You didn’t answer my question...

11 comments 11
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“Heartstopper” by Kim Olson

Submitted to Contest #289

The room is unfamiliar. I don’t know how I got here. I am laying in a single bed with white sheets and a thin white blanket. It is a mechanical bed with buttons that allow either the head or foot to be raised. My head is elevated. On each side of me, there are silver safety bars, containing me so I don’t fall out. I have an IV in one arm and circular pads with wires coming out of them attached to my chest. A monitor behind me shows a pattern of multicolored waves that are ascending and descending in rhythm. Corresponding numbers flash at the...

14 comments 14
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“Friday Night Lights” by Kim Olson

Submitted to Contest #287

Friday night lights,Small town,High school football game,The place to be.All the big fishSwimming in a tiny pondAre there.A raven haired girl on the dance teamShakes her shiny pom poms,Flashes a killer smile,It’s her sweet sixteen birthday.She is pretty and popular.Life is good.She prances in front ofAn adoring crowd withHer select pack of friends.Fellow mean girls.Everyone thinks it’s coolTo be a pom pom girl,Not everyone makes the cut.Another boy,A lowly freshman,Sits on hard, cold bleachers,With his newly made, Wallflower friendsExci...

5 comments 5
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“Cuts Like a Knife” by Kim Olson

Submitted to Contest #285

I look at the sign over the door, “Beauville Historical Society,” my new home. I am now an artifact, a historical thing. How have I gotten to be this old, this obsolete? Does anyone even use grinding wheels anymore to sharpen things? It has been a long time since I have felt anyone’s hands on me. Prior to coming here, I had been sitting in a dusty old barn for years, unused, unloved. That is, until someone decided to move me. A tattooed young man wearing an earring, a stranger to me, threw me in the back of his pickup and brought me here, dr...

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“The Forsaken” by Kim Olson

Submitted to Contest #283

Sherrie sat in the employee cafeteria on a hard plastic chair, unwrapping a soggy tuna sandwich — one that she had no appetite for whatsoever. She gave a deep sigh, before admitting defeat and returning the sandwich to its cellophane wrapper. She couldn’t eat it. Her stomach was in knots. Her physical state mirrored her emotions. She was despondent and stuck in a funk. She hadn’t heard from her boyfriend all week. That was highly unusual. Not only did they work in the same building, but they also ate lunch together everyday in this very...

9 comments 9
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“Kaleidoscope” by Kim Olson

Submitted to Contest #276

I have always believed that holidays have colors. Thanksgiving, which is rapidly approaching, is a bright yellow, vibrant orange, deep green, rich brown, and sometimes a muted gold – the colors of vegetables spilling out of a cornucopia, also known as a “horn of plenty.” The colors are many and varied, but they are all in the autumnal family. The colors are reflected in my Thanksgiving decorations. These are the things I pull out every year in late October/early November – my yellow patterned tablecloth with turkeys on it, a welcome mat...

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“Mary Worth” by Kim Olson

Submitted to Contest #275

“I think we should have a seance,” Amber said.“What’s that?” I asked uneasily.“It’s where you talk to dead people, to ghosts,” she replied.“Talk to ghosts?” My voice shook.“Yeah,” Courtney chimed in. “Sleepovers are the best time to talk to spirits. The spirits are more receptive late at night. I hear midnight’s the best time. And it’s almost midnight now.”“Yeah,” Amber giggled. “And we can’t talk about boys all night.”“Why not?” I tried to keep my voice light. I would much rather talk about boys than talk to ghosts, even if boys make m...

8 comments 8
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“Lady of the Lake” by Kim Olson

Submitted to Contest #274

On a day when the calendar slipped from late summer to early fall, I went to an art exhibit in my hometown. The exhibit was held in a grand mansion which was converted to an Arts Center. The historic old house, bequeathed to the city by a generous benefactor for cultural purposes, had floor to ceiling vaulted windows overlooking the rolling, immense waters of Lake Michigan. It was very windy that day, and the waves crashed into the rocks dotting the shoreline, sending a spray of water into the air. The turbulence in the air changed the water...

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“Hiding in Plain Sight” by Kim Olson

Submitted to Contest #271

Cal and Sherrie were seated at a high top table at their favorite restaurant. They both liked eating there for different reasons. Cal liked the place because, in addition to having his favorite gooey cheese curds and chicken wings with just the right spice, it also was a sports bar. Everywhere he looked, there were large screen TVs, showing the games of all of his favorite teams. The atmosphere was loud and raucous. He could cheer or boo along with fellow rowdy fans. After a long and difficult work week, it was a relief to let off some ...

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“An American Dream” by Kim Olson

Submitted to Contest #270

I have a picture on my kitchen wall that talks to me and tells me stories. It shows a horse and buggy with its faceless driver traveling down cobblestoned streets. The picture appears repeatedly on my patterned gold wallpaper. At first when I heard it talk, early one morning, I thought I was going crazy, or was not yet awake and still dreaming. I live in my grandparents’ house, a house that my carpenter grandfather built long ago. Grandma would be 112 years old if she were alive today. My grandfather was slightly older than her.&nb...

15 comments 15
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“All that Glitters” by Kim Olson

Submitted to Contest #268

At the church that day, I had the strangest sense of dĂ©jĂ  vu, like I had surely been there before although I don’t remember exactly when. I almost felt like I was in a dream, or as if I had been teleported there, time traveling or something. Everything felt surreal. I could hear the organ playing the bridal chorus. Here comes the Bride, all dressed in white. And the bride was me. I was there to get married. I could picture everyone sitting in the pews, bride's side on the left, groom’s side on the right. Everyone was expectantly waiting...

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“The Mystery Man” by Kim Olson

Submitted to Contest #267

Cal plunked down on one of the many plastic chairs in the employee cafeteria, setting his cellophane wrapped hamburger, fries, and can of soda carefully in front of him. Eating lunch was the highlight of his day. Lunch was a mere thirty minutes long, but it was thirty minutes to himself, with no demands and cranky customers calling him. Be careful what you wish for, he thought wearily. A few scant months ago, he would have done anything, paid any price, to lead such a boring, humdrum life. At that time, he was at death’s door, finding himsel...

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“Belle's baby” by Kim Olson

Submitted to Contest #264

Rhett Butler had received a message from Belle Watling. It came to him through a young errand boy, a thin freed boy of mixed race who was paid to sweep up and empty ashtrays at Belle’s house of ill repute. The boy stood outside the study at Rhett and Scarlett’s house and threw pebbles at the etched glass window panes. When at last Rhett opened the heavy windows, threw up the sash, and looked outside, the boy darted over and dropped in Rhett’s hand a note written on Belle’s distinctive stationery, the embossed B and W at the top of the t...

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“The Restless Prince” by Kim Olson

Submitted to Contest #262

“Hear ye! Hear ye! Your attention please!” The official kingdom crier stood at the front of the room, dressed from head to toe in the palace’s royal colors of purple and yellow. All eyes were upon him. No one spoke or moved. Everyone was simply too hot to do much of anything. The large gathering hall, used for meetings with dignitaries and the kingdom’s royal subjects, was particularly stifling. Although it had a high, vaulted ceiling, the room was airless due to thick gray stone walls that heated up like an oven. Moreover, the room’s n...

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Author bio

I am a librarian and I love to read. I am having fun trying Reedsy and creating my own stories. Thank you for sharing your work and reading mine. Happy writing!