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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2020
Submitted to Contest #89
“I don’t undertand why you’re doing this,” Lauren said. She picked up her butter knife and dabbed at a pat of butter, a look of intense concentration pinching her features. Lauren took a bite of the warm, buttered bread and chewed slowly. Faith closed her eyes and suppressed a sigh. “I’ve explained why this is important to me,” she said. “I’m not sure there’s anything left to discuss.” Lauren placed the bread on her plate, carefully before saying, “This feels like an act of rebellion.” Faith ducked her head so her sister wouldn’t se...
Submitted to Contest #85
“That’s the thing about this city, it’s a cesspool,” Hal said. “Harsh,” Toby said. Hal glanced up. He did not try to hide his disappointment. He’d been expecting Cutter. “Truth,” Hal replied. “Just the truth. Where’s Cutter? I asked for Cutter.” Toby flashed the goofy awe shucks grin that made Hal want to sock him. To keep his hands busy, Hal fished for a cigarette. His pockets ...
Submitted to Contest #84
Henry lay in pre-dawn dark, eyes wide, thoughts circling. Was it Monday or Tuesday? Was it the 21st or the 22nd of the month? It was May, he was sure of that. It was May, right? Was it May? Crap! He missed being of sound mind even more than he missed having a body that didn’t ache from stem to stern. Henry rubbed both eyes with the fingers of one hand and tried to find some moisture with a tongue that had been hung out to dry for hours. It was Tuesday, wasn’t it? Yes? No? Was it Monday? Did it matter, when one day was going to be no ...
Submitted to Contest #79
“I got a letter from my mother today, an actual letter that came in an envelope with a stamp. The mailman left in my box with the gas bill and a sale paper from Stop N Go.” “Did you open the letter and read it?” “Not yet.” “Why not?” “I knew I was going to see you today and I thought reading the letter would be hard. I thought…that is, I was wondering if…I mean…” “Would you like to open the letter and read it now, while you’re here with me?” “I gu...
Submitted to Contest #77
Martha held the telephone away from her ear and stared at the device, her brow furrowed and the corners of her mouth dipping into a frown. Her hearing was not as sharp as it had once been, but she had heard the man clearly. Ben Wilson had invited her to go sledding. She’d only met Ben a few weeks before, so she could not say whether he possessed a peculiar sense of humor or suffered from dementia. He’d not impressed her as being odd or ill, but first impressions could deceive. Martha stood, staring at the telephone looking as perplexed ...
Submitted to Contest #76
"Hi. I hope you can help me." "I'd be happy to try." "I would like to return this blouse." "Is there something wrong with it?" "No." "Then why do you want to return it?" "It was a gift." "Which does not explain why you want to return it." "Well, the truth is I’m not fond of the color." "You’re not fond of blue." "Not this shade of blue." "What have you got against royal blue?" "Is that what you call this color, royal blue?" "Isn’t that what you call this color?" "I didn’t know the color had a name."...
Submitted to Contest #75
Liv stepped from her car. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She recalled reading, somewhere, that memories are fluid, that those moments in time we hold dear, those that haunt us, even the fleeting and mundane are shaped and shaded changelings related to, but not dependably grounded in fact. Liv shrugged. She knew what she knew. She called up the very real memory of her former self standing in this spot, in stained and baggy sweats, her heart heavy with doubt and her lips stretched into a desperate, “Yes, I am a fish out of wa...
Submitted to Contest #74
“No argument, 2020 was a beastly year, but it’s almost over. I’m suggesting we start the new year with a new, attitude,” Jase said. “Just for fun, lets each list 20 good things that happened this year, and 20 things we plan to do in the year ahead.” “As usual, you’re not listening, Jase,” Kim snapped. “I told you I don’t want to play this game. Aside from the fact that we survived it, I can’t think of a thing, about this year, that was positive.” “I’m just suggesting we have a little fun, Kim. You remember what fun is, right?” “Are ...
Submitted to Contest #72
Elouise Parker shook her head and said, “I’m sorry, Mr…” “Wellingford,” Arthur Wellingford said, for the third time. He left the smile out this time. This young woman was clearly having difficulty taking in the news he’d just delivered, but that did not excuse her failure to retain such simple information as his name. “Mr. Wellingford,” Elouise Parker said. “Yes. I’m sorry. I just. You can understand… I’m…this isn’t…” she raised both hands, palms up and gave a small shake of her head. “Yes. Well. Shall we proceed?” “No. We can’t,” El...
Submitted to Contest #71
“The internet is down again,” Cassie announced. An eyeroll and sneer punctuated the statement so there would be no doubt, in her mother’s mind, that Cassandra Richards was an unhappy camper. Sharon smiled at her eldest. “You’re welcome to join your sister and me,” she said, careful to keep her tone light. “We were just talking about recreating great grandma Em’s famous gingerbread cookie recipe.” “Join us, Cas,” six-year-old Alissa said, offering her sister a gap-toothed grin. “Mom said I could stir,” she held up the new wooden spo...
Submitted to Contest #70
“We have to go back, Brenda,” Josh said, twisting in his seat to look behind them, as though the act of looking backward would persuade his sister to turn the car around and do the right thing. “You’re not going to get away with this.” “Says who, Josh?” she made his name sound like a curse. “Says the law, Brenda. You broke the law. It isn’t like you swiped a candy bar. You’re not going to be able to talk your way out of what you did back there.” Brenda leaned over, jabbing a finger in the air, aiming for Josh’s head....
Submitted to Contest #69
Jason Packer leaned forward, finger hovering over his keyboard mouse, and hesitated. The meeting was due to start in a few minutes, but he was having a hard time clicking on the link that would connect him to his family and likely seal this fate. He pulled his hand away and leaned back in his chair, staring at the cursor on the monitor and rehearsing, again, the speech he planned to make. Packer family gatherings were strained under the best of conditions, even actual holidays like Independence...
Submitted to Contest #68
“Well, our secret is out now, isn’t it?” Carmen said. Inside her head, the greeting sounded pithy, a lighthearted opening gambit in a meeting that she had every reason to believe would be excruciatingly uncomfortable for both participants, but even as she spoke the words, she wanted to suck them back in and banish them to the mental junk heap where the worst of her ideas languished. The words floated between them, now, like a verbal stink bomb. Revising this woman’s first impression of her was as probable as having leprechaun wait ...
Submitted to Contest #66
“It doesn’t count if you’re already planning your defeat,” Stella said. She leaned over to peer around the tall guy in the torn t-shirt in line ahead of her and sighed. She hated waiting for anything, and this line was longer than she would have liked. Stella opened her shoulder bag and began searching for the coffee flavored lip balm she purchased the day before. She pulled the tube from her bag and twisted the top off. “You sign on for these things and immediately check out,” she said, poi...
Submitted to Contest #65
“Come on, Ben. At least tell me you’ll think about it,” Katherine said. She recognized the unpleasant note to her tone, the wheedling quality she found distasteful in children and intolerable in adults. If she was going to have a meaningful, adult conversation with her husband, she was going to have to adjust both tone and her argument. “You’re behaving like a jerk,” she said. Ben’s jaw dropped open. “I want to go, and I want you to join me,” Katherine said. “End of discussion.” &nbs...
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