Mara Masolini

“THE TURQUOISE MEDALLION” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #103

THE TURQUOISE MEDALLION The first time he saw it, it was hanging from a silver  necklace around the neck, or, more precisely, on the chest of his colleague Sybil. That round pendant of a few centimeters in diameter was noticed, it leapt to the eyes because of the bright turquoise , which was the background color. In the centre of that shimmering turquoise enamel surface there was a very small figure which, seen from distance  looked like a stylized heart,  while it was instead a very little b...

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“THE BANDAGED HAND” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #103

THE BANDAGED HAND It was five o’clock in the afternoon when Charlotte learned from the news that the serial killer of the screwdriver had killed another young woman. This time the victim had been a nurse who was walking to come back home after her shift in the hospital, and who had passed through the public gardens in the vicinity of the hospital, where she had been assaulted and killed with numerous knife blows. But even this time the serial killer had used also the screwdriver , which was considered preci...

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“THE BALD HEAD WITH POINTED EARS” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #102

THE BALD HEAD WITH POINTED EARS The first time they saw him he was lying ( sleeping) under a table in the small square in front of the Cecchi bar, which also served lunches, so there were several tables outdoors, in front of the bar. The first to see him, early in the morning, was Rosa, who lived in the house attached to the bar. Rosa, who was seventy years old  and almost limped, had just looked out the door, without having taken a single step, when had seen that there, a man , wrapped in a black blanket , lyin...

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“THE USUAL DAILY WALK” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #101

 THE USUAL DAILY WALK The sun had just set when she went out for her usual walk, which wasn’t even a walk. In fact when she was going to do it, she used to say: “ I go out to take just a few steps back here” . She went out of the house, then she turned  to the corner on the right of her house and walked on the narrow and stony path that was behind her house. She walked along it up to the wooden little house, which was located on the ground to the right of the path, then she turned back. With ...

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“JUST FOR THE BLINK OF AN EYE” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #101

JUST FOR THE BLINK OF AN EYE The large mirror, placed right in front of the window, on the opposite wall, framed the landscape that could be seen from the window : the expanse of fields and meadows , the lush foliage of the trees, the red roofs of the houses and, in the distance, the hills of the same color of the sky, sometimes blue, sometimes gray, sometimes it happened they appeared pink, since on the horizon there was a  pink light. When she passed in front of the mirror, and it happened several times every day, Judy did not no...

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“THE BLOODY LAMB” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #100

THE BLOODY LAMB After the succulent appetizers, after the first, tortellini in broth, the highlight of the lunch would be the LAMB. Fried lamb would be served, but also stewed lamb, and roast lamb too. They would eat lamb as they always did at the great Easter lunch, to which there were present aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, children of cousins, of nephews…. Eating lamb at the Easter lunch was a tradition to which her family, her relatives would never give up.  Since years she had refused to eat lamb, even thought ...

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“THE SECRET HIDDEN IN THE YELLOW” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #100

THE SECRET HIDDEN IN THE YELLOW The yellow cake stood out on the table, spreading a very light ,barely perceptible scent, yet absolutely irresistible, all pervading. It tasted of vanilla sugar, enhanced by the fragrance of rustled corn, you could also perceive in it the sweet smell, with just a pinch of apple sour, and even that fragrance which seemed of milk mixed with wood bark, of the walnut. In fact apples and nuts were, along  with corn flour, the main ingredients of that cake, the Margaret’s YELLOW CAKE. ...

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“BUT THIS DAY NEVER ENDS” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #99

BUT THIS DAY NEVER ENDS It wasn’t noon yet , Carl wouldn’t call before two. More than two hours to spend waiting seemed to her too long to bear. For a moment, yes, just a bit of time as escaped from the time, she seemed to hear again what her friend Nathalie often said, to express her surprise, but also her disappointment for the time that is too fast. How many times she had heard Nathalie saying : “But how, is it already one o’clock? Ah, impossible, I was sure it wasn’t yet ten!” or: “ But how, is it already Friday? Oh, but it se...

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“BLOOD ON THE GRASS” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #99

BLOOD ON THE GRASS “ Here, Johnny gave it to me…Oh , he is still a fierce hunter, with him these beasts have no escape. It is wild, but Johnny assured me that it is very good to eat, especially if cooked stew. Of course, it needs to be skinned” Peter said, laying the dead rabbit , that he held by its hind legs, upside down, long stretched out on the table. “ Ah, don’t ask me to skin it” Sharon said, who, already at the only seeing the poor beast killed , had felt invaded by a dull malaise. She went  to the window , w...

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“STEPS IN THE SKY ARE RESOUNDING DOWN HERE on the earth” by Mara Masolini

STEPS IN THE SKY  ARE RESOUNDING DOWN HERE ON THE EARTH Over there on the horizon the red flames of the sun are burning the sky, around the red of the fire the surface of the sky is becoming thinner and thinner, ethereal, evanescent. Big , massive gray clouds, with darker, almost black edges, .are hanging above the red fiery. From under the dark edges of the big clouds the sun flames spring out , spreading  streaks of incandescent yellow, and splashes of a dense, deep pink “ Ah, how wonderful this sunset ...

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“AT THE BOTTOM OF THE GLASS” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #98

AT THE BOTTOM OF THE GLASS It had happened to her several times, when she saw that little girl playing with those three big dogs, in the courtyard of the great house , where she lived , that Terry felt that the little Mill was in danger. Mill was too small, and those three dogs too big, that they could  attack the little girl. But even if the dogs had just accidentally bumped the child, they would have dropped her. That had been , for Terry, a concern dictated by reason and prudence. How could her parents leave ...

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“THAT WINDOW” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #97

THAT WINDOW In the golden , liquid light of the morning ___it was not yet mid morning____tiny specks of dust, moved by some draft , some gust were hovering in the midair in that room, with a very worn, even broken brick floor. The sloping floor made almost a hole about at the centre of the room. That was a room in the old part of the house, mostly used to relegate abandoned things. It was a passage room, accessible ( by) going down three steps at the end of a corridor. Not that it was a great difference in height between ...

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“CRIME AT THE WINDOW” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #97

CRIME AT THE WINDOW The window, on the back of her house, overlooked the garden of the Cecchi, her neighbors. Beyond the garden they stood, the high, massive, squared buildings, recently built, that included hundreds of apartments. It was an almost dark night, there was only a  thin crescent moon in the cloudy sky. Angry meows , which seemed to her, who was standing at the open window, coming from the garden of her neighbors who, however, didn’t have cats.  She tried to sharpen her eyes, but she was able only to se...

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“THE STRANGER'S SHOES” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #96

THE STRANGER’S SHOES Some people said  to have seen that one there, certainly a foreigner, since you couldn’t understand a word of what he said ( was saying), arriving in their town aboard of a car, that had unloaded him near the square___Seven fountains__, before, almost soon, to run away at high speed. It must have been, those people added, someone who had given a ride to that guy never seen before ( in their town ) That stranger, a young man, as he had just got out of the car, had pulled his tent out of...

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“THE EMPTY ROOM” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #96

THE EMPTY ROOM Alice opened the door, crossed the room and went to open the window.  A wave of weed scent pleasantly surprised her as soon as she put her face out of the window. Since that room, the most wide, and most bright too, of the house had the view on a vast expanse of green, mainly made up of meadows, but in that expanse of green there were also vines, even trees. When she and Peter had moved to the country, about ten years earlier, they had agreed that in their new house would be a guest room, which ha...

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