Marty B

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jan, 2022

Stories (103)

103 Stories

4155 karma pts

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“Christmas in Lockdown” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #276

I had one job, and I had to get it done, failure was not an option.  With only two days to go, I had to get the impossible-to-find gift by Christmas Eve, or I would ruin a 4-year-olds Christmas. My family goes crazy over getting Christmas gifts, every year we all scramble for the perfect gift, and usually at the last minute. And I get it, presents are an amazing and heartfelt way to show how I care about those I love.  I remember the light in the eyes of my kids when they first saw the brightly lit Christmas tree, with colorful wra...

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“Football Tryouts” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #271

Brand new saddle shoes and penny loafers clicked across the linoleum checkerboard floor tiles on the first day of the new school year, while the black and white students sat at segregated tables in equally patterned sections in the high school cafeteria.Vats of pale vegetables, alongside mashed potatoes and unnaturally colored meats steamed untouched, while the students pushed trays past them to collect the cookies, apples and cartons of milk. Acne-faced boys told fantastic lies to each other while the girls, in long skirts and cat eye glass...

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“The Man with a Hole in His Head” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #267

 Some people love cats, others dogs, some love good food, some love their local futball team. Johan Mahlman loved music. He loved music so much it almost killed him.The fateful night had started out like many of his evenings did, listening to a live band. A cybersecurity consultant in South East London, Johan had left his office early to find a perch at a pub table upstairs at The Old Blue Last. An obscure indie rock group was band number 841 on his quest to listen to 1,000 bands in one calendar year. “They sound like the...

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“The Greatest Competition” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #263

John Fisher saw his rival in the bathroom before the contest and knew he would lose again. His stomach dropped at the the other's aura of invincibility, standing ramrod straight, and a lean, fit physique.John did not know if he could beat him today; he still had the headache, and an vague imbalance from his poor sleep last night. John kept his head down, maybe he wouldn’t be noticed.“Hey.” The Man spoke as John washed his hands. John stopped, then looked up to catch his eye, reflected through the mirror. The Man wore all black, his coun...

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“Reality is Relative” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #260

Something terrible, Tina James knew, had happened because her heart raced, and she could barely breathe, but she couldn’t remember what, the last few hours had blurred in her mind.  She stared across the counter at the woman in the green uniform and tried to remember how she got here, to this horrible little place, with the blazing lights and the noise. “What’s your boy’s name?” The woman in the uniform asked.“My boy?” Tina blinked, the bright lobby had too many colors and too many sounds. It felt like a ni...

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“It Ends With Us” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #259

With exquisite skill and talent, Matt Perucho would show her the man he was. No longer would he be the dorky Asian kid, but with her on his arm, the coolest guy in school. He knew this was his chance to impress Lani Macatangay, his true love.He felt the three rubber balls in his pocket, then tapped his foot; pressed his pants straight with his hands, and pulled at his collar.In his best suit, bought for his cousin’s wedding last summer, he practically sparkled in the pale blue with a matching tie. He knew he looked good in it, his ...

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“The Hero Train” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #257

***discussion of suicide****You have to be completely dead to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, not just mostly dead.  But I went anyway, figuring I could kill off the rest of me easy enough on the cross country trip with whiskey, or if desperate, my Sig Sauer.  What had been saved after the surgeries, the best bits, I had secured in a box. Army hospitals don’t have much in the way of ceremonial boxes, so I used what I could find. I thought about using my Silver Star presentation box, or the Purple ...

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“North Shore Boards” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #256

Kailani balanced on her Alaia wood surfboard as a Hawaiian goddess, her bronze skin flecked with the spray of salt water. A thick black braid flew behind her as she rode down the face of the wave, her fingers trailing in the crystal blue wall of water. One more day. She recited her fortune, told by her Auntie that morning , the one year anniversary of her Father’s death. ‘Your new future will land soon’. Kailani knew, deep in her heart, that tomorrow her whole life would change. “Damn, look at her fly!” Another surfer shouted as...

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“The Pi Day Pie Baking Contest” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #255

If pi is an irrational number, does that make pie bakers irrational too? Jasmine certainly believed so, as she eyed the other bakers swirling around the church auditorium. Irrational maybe, but not ghosts, though somehow her dead Grandma had come back from the grave to enter her famous strawberry rhubarb pie.The Pi Day Pie Baking contest didn’t have many rules, the entries just had to be round, homemade and with a pastry bottom. Jasmine Dumas walked along the long tables looking at the competition, the entries glowing under the fluorescent l...

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“Stillwater” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #253

I believe reality is relative, especially when what you see from behind a screen is designed, produced, and created by someone else. Our visitors come searching for the real world, a place where the sun shines, and they can touch the reality around them. We were going to give it to him, though he won't like what he’s going to get. Sally and I sat in our usual spot, the weight of the slow summer afternoon heavy on our shoulders, almost forgetting we had a job to do, when he finally stepped off the train.  Lo...

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“Vim of Verisimilitude” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #252

If Marcus Boddy knew it was going to be his last day on earth, he wouldn’t have drank so much. The dark room spun with alcohol-induced vertigo as he lay in the pillowy soft bed, enveloped in the plaid-patterned quilt. He shook his head back and forth, but the stitched, frilled edges still rubbed against his face.  He grimaced, soft beds always wrecked his back. Everything was wrong, off track. He had to make a decision, but he couldn’t think straight.He fought through the fog in his head; something important happened earlier, he had a l...

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“Book of Hours” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #251

 Manuscripts are from the devil, I’d been told, but I felt it too, evil emanating out like heat from a fire. I wrapped it in cloth to be safe, tucked it in my satchel, and now I wait.I had a few hours, enough time I’m sure before my Master discovered my absence, and my theft. I drank my beer down to forget the past, to focus on my future, my hope brightening the walls of the dark Public House.My eyes followed Evelyn as she moved around me, cleaning up from the night before. Her dark hair pulled back tight showed her pale beaut...

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“The Best Beau Ever” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #249

“patio of Awaken Cafe- I’ll be wearing a hat - see you at noon!’ Joanna re-read the brief text message, looking for some further clue. A mustachioed man bumped her slightly as he walked past. Joanna appreciated his well cut suit, his mincing precise steps, and his unfortunately bare, well coiffed head Zach, Mr. Right, her rest-of-life partner, and future husband, would be waiting for her. That seemed like enough information yesterday, but now looking from the Awaken Cafe door out into the patio, filled with people at small met...

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“The Push-Up Challenge” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #247

Calvert Barrows, known to friends as CB, couldn’t do 10 push-ups in a row. He actually couldn’t do 2 push-ups in a row, but it sounded better when he said 10. Like he had gotten up to 9, and fell just short on his way to 10. A real man was strong enough to do 10 push-ups right? He needed to show his boys, Ben 6, and Theo 3, how to be a man, and push-ups seemed like a good place to start. He charted his plan out, designing a multi-tab spreadsheet in Excel with progressive increases, rest days, and of course a nutrition pla...

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“Back in Balance” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #241

Patrick O’shea had a knack for finding lost things, people, jewels, even stolen money, but when he got lost, that was a problem. He couldn’t find himself. Out of jail for almost a week, and he still didn’t feel right. O’shea moved the newspaper draped in front of him to catch the morning light coming through the open windows and door. The shaft of sun warmed only his right side, adding to his unbalance. O’shea felt untethered, let loose in a place where he no longer fit. He had no job or purpose anymore. How would he find...

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Author bio

It is difficult to get the news from poems yet men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there. Asphodel, That Greeny Flower [excerpt]   by William Carlos Williams Copyright © 2023 Marty B - All Rights Reserved. Using content without written permission is prohibited.

Winning 1 story 🏆

Contest #161
Long Distance Phone Call – read story

Shortlisted 1 story ⭐

Contest #213
Anand's Lamp – read story