Marilyn Filewood

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Sep, 2022

Stories (5)

5 Stories

403 karma pts

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“Amor Vincit Omnia. Love Conquers All.” by Marilyn Filewood

Submitted to Contest #181

(One profanity, a theme of Autism, bullying) "Asparagus got Aspergers!" Bronson lowered his face to my eye level and beamed with menace. His two front teeth had fallen out last week, so a spray of spittle came through the gaps and landed on my glasses. I wished glasses came with windscreen wipers. Due to the missing teeth, what Bronson actually said was "Athparagath got Athbergeth", but I got what he meant. Bronson was possibly the meanest of the mean boys in Year 3. He was born mean, I think, so not much can be done about it. On the ...

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“Come In Spinner” by Marilyn Filewood

🏆 Winner of Contest #180

Thommo rammed a bayonet into the rocky clay and tied a string to it. Thommo, the only one of us over thirty, and therefore responsible, was our Ringie, the supervisor of the Two-up ring. He attached a second bayonet to the other end of the string and, using the bayonets like a giant school compass, drew a perfect circle in the clay soil. It was the 23rd May 1915, just months since I'd left Australia, to fight for my country and our King, George V, King of England and the British Empire. We were perched on a small section of rock on a hil...

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“2046” by Marilyn Filewood

Submitted to Contest #172

I was so lucky when the world ended. I had the good fortune, you see, to have been born into a Doomsday cult, and we had prepared for it every day of our lives. It was almost a relief when it came. Why, we all wanted to shout, why didn't you listen to us? Two generations ago, our community had bought an abandoned mining town at the very end of the world, the tip of New Zealand's southern isle. Conveniently, it came with a schoolhouse, medical centre, and small police station with gaol. The stroke of serendipity was that it had miles of dee...

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“Big Bertha” by Marilyn Filewood

Submitted to Contest #169

A rap at the front door. "Who's there?" Beads of sweat were already trickling down my spine. Had someone heard something? "It's me, Ella. Stan. Is Cedric there? I need to borrow the pumpkin knife." "He's resting." This was technically true. I couldn't lie straight in bed. Best to stick to at least half truths. "I'll get the knife for you." I rushed back to the kitchen. The knife was in the sink, pinkish liquid still dripping, despite my scrubbing. I wiped it carefully and carried it out to Stan, wrapped in a clean tea towel. "Watch...

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“The Lismore Ladies Who Lunch Club” by Marilyn Filewood

Submitted to Contest #165

I inserted a pounding purple heart, followed by a thumbs up emoji, into the test message, then pressed "send". This was the standard way to accept an invitation to coffee from a member of the Lismore Ladies Who Lunch Club. The Queen Bee of our group, Melissa, had just sent me a personal invitation to an urgent coffee meeting in half an hour and I was beyond excited. It would be just the two of us to have a great conversation and, as a bonus, I could get out of the house. Two years ago, together with my husband Callum, I had relocated aw...

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Author bio

In writing years I am a slow starter. It was not until 2022 that I was game enough to put pen to paper, revealing my innermost thoughts, dreams and desires for the rest of the world to see. Then, after entering a few short story contests, I realised I need not have worried. It seemed unlikely anyone was going to read them. This gave me courage to soldier on. Having discovered this cruelty-free forum, I am, therefore, profoundly grateful to anyone who takes the time to read my stories, and if you laugh or cry, all the better.

Winning 1 story 🏆

Contest #180

Come In Spinner – read story