Laurel Hanson

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Nov, 2022

Stories (21)

21 Stories

2025 karma pts

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“Colonel Mustard in the Kitchen Without a Hearing Aid” by Laurel Hanson

🏆 Winner of Contest #178

Note: brief reference to ableist languageRachel stood at the kitchen sink watching the snow fall softly over the back yard, muffling the world in its white overcoat. She wanted to wrap her mind up the same snug way, but in the living room, her husband was watching some show where commentators loudly traded barbs and lobbed insults at each other. The noise was incessant. Oh! The noise, noise, noise, noise! she thought, visualizing herself poised on a snowy crag, ear cocked to the Whos down in Whoville bel...

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“Smoke and Mirrors” by Laurel Hanson

Submitted to Contest #177

Sheltered in the shadows of the forest, we peered past the agro spears and blue fronds of stillbing to watch the magicians. They stood out in the badlands in front of a large object that made me think of the plated armor of the battlebeetles. They wore clothing from head to toe and face masks of some material, clear as air, but shiny. Sometimes, the Villagers found sharp pieces of that same air-that-is-hard substance in the dirt around the Council Ring. The tall one moved awkwardly over the rocky ground, a...

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“A Thing of Value” by Laurel Hanson

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #176

“You should not be doing that.”I looked down at the frail bird of a woman leaning on her cane in front of me. Her eyes were the kind of faded blue you can only get by leaving denim out in the sun too long. They nested in a mass of wrinkles, a face like a dried apple doll. Still, there was a sharpness in her glare that drilled into me from a good foot and a half below my chin. I’d hit 6’ this summer, so this lady was short, but she also looked like she wasn’t going to take any lip from anyone.I had ...

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“Correction” by Laurel Hanson

Submitted to Contest #175

Correction“Are you sure you want this item?”Christine stared at the question blinking on the white screen. She’d never had this particular page pop up before, and come to think of it, she wasn’t at all sure she wanted to buy her son a pair of pizza socks. Sure, they were funny, but were they comfortable? Upon further reflection, it struck her that footwear decorated with cheese and pepperoni wasn’t that clever after all.“Thank-you, Amazon.” She clicked on the blin...

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“Under the Indian Sun” by Laurel Hanson

Submitted to Contest #174

Lisa waited in the shade of the veranda, squinting down at the Untouchable village smothered in the hot gold of the Indian sun. The small huts of dung and mud formed a lonely outpost in the arid land, a scattering of impoverished cockeyed blocks. The metal signs and corrugated tin patchworked into the roofs threw splinters of light into her eyes. She turned away.  The American missionary school her parents had sent her to was up in the mountains where the air was cool and moist, the forest thick and green, scen...

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“After Midnight (you can let it all hang out)” by Laurel Hanson

Submitted to Contest #173

She doesn’t seem all that happy to hear that I am her fairy godmother. She seems, in fact, downright – what’s the word you’d use? – skeptical. That’s it. Highly skeptical.She’s standing in her doorway, looking over my shoulder at my trim little landing craft, pointing her chin at it like it’s a discarded mining shuttle. I glance back at the running lights flickering over its surface in ultra-violet waves. The last time I had been assigned to this system, I’d had an older model landing pod with orange lights detectable to...

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Author bio

Laurel Hanson has not written a bio yet!

Winning 2 stories 🏆

Contest #183
Of Harpers and Heroes – read story
Contest #177
Colonel Mustard in the Kitchen Without a Hearing Aid – read story

Shortlisted 5 stories ⭐️

Contest #221
After the Fall – read story
Contest #193
Beragrub and the Beast – read story
Contest #189
Once Upon All Times – read story
Contest #188
Near and Far – read story
Contest #175
A Thing of Value – read story