Leane Cornwell

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Mar, 2020

Stories (7)

7 Stories

264 karma pts

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“Family Traditions” by Leane Cornwell

Submitted to Contest #85

That’s the thing about this city, there’s more than one reason it earned the nickname Sin City. You can’t write about Las Vegas, Nevada without giving credit where credit is due. Most of which belongs to the caginess of one very large, very extended east coast based family. That family and it's role in building such a mega-glamour capitol from desert sand captured my imagination and was the sole reason for my sixty year intrigue with the city.By the time my own extended family discovered that ill-gotten electric city in the 60s, Vegas w...

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“Witness” by Leane Cornwell

Submitted to Contest #80

Mr. Dixon required promptness, attention and participation. Those words were chalked in at the top of the black board behind his desk and remained there all year. I did not suffer his wrath on this November day in 1963. It was hard to make friends. My family had just moved to Colorado the summer of 1963 and I started Northglenn Junior High School in September. Status ranking in the hallway cliques among thirteen, fourteen and fifteen year olds is hard won and can be very fleeting. Just talking to skirts (girls) ...

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“Ten Days in September” by Leane Cornwell

Submitted to Contest #74

Monday, Labor Day, September 7th, 2020. As we prepared to get a good nights’ sleep before a three hour drive in the morning, the wind started. We had been warned beforehand that it would. However, it was coming from the east which was unusual. The term “historic” was bandied about. Three wildfires were burning north and east of the area we locals call "the canyon" which includes sister cities of Gates, Mill City, Lyons and Detroit. Certainly concerning but nothing to worry over. Little did I know.The later the hour, the fiercer the...

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“Police Protection” by Leane Cornwell

Submitted to Contest #61

Way back in the 1960s, Thornton Colorado was a much smaller place than it is today. It still sits nestled within the dips and crowns of gently rolling hills that make up large amounts of land known as the Front Range, but it has kept pace with twenty-first century progress. Back in the 60s it was a very comfortable place to spend your teen years. Close knit. People knew local authority figures by name. Parrish priests, the local mayor, business owners and city cops. They were all our friends and neighbors. It was one of those friend...

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“Autumn's Quest” by Leane Cornwell

Submitted to Contest #55

As late autumn rains begin in earnest, they take hold of the Pacific Northwest where I live. I notice the start of annual soaking and am aware my mood has suddenly turned giddy. Fall down-pours, which at times cause tire grooves on Hwy 22 to become misplaced rivers. Together with impatient little waterfalls springing from mountainsides along the highway, they burst across the asphalt racing alongside the rain-rivers. They are forgotten perils we Oregon drivers encounter annually. Yet my mood remains buoyant and optimistic. Summer’...

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“Marking Time” by Leane Cornwell

Submitted to Contest #51

2017 the year I was summoned back to my past; back to 1967.I had received my invitation to our high school reunion and by April, facebook searching, name goggling and cell number gathering began in earnest. Merritt Hutton High School’s 50th Reunion was to be held in Denver, Colorado in September. My group, my home town. By June a lot of us had messaged or texted our way back in touch. Lists were made. One titled “Can’t Find Yet”. Another titled “Gone but Not Forgotten”. For a senior class of 280 graduates, that secon...

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“The Mighty Mortimer” by Leane Cornwell

Submitted to Contest #48

Mortimer Macklin didn’t think water had ever tasted so good as he slurped from a clear mountain stream below the family campsite. Just as he was about to wipe a hand across his mouth and stand up refreshed, the creek surface glittered with bright colored light. Mortimer fell back onto the creek bank tilting his head up just in time to catch remnants of a shooting star in the dark sky above him. Mortimer hadn’t seen but three shooting stars in all his twelve years but knew this one was different. It looked like it was dragging ...

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Author bio

It's not true that life gets easier as we get older. It is true that we gather a great deal of knowledge. If we are relatively smart about it, we can pass along stories garnered from those years. As I enter my eight decade on planet earth, I notice the small things. Small things are rarely insignificant.