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Michael Heavener

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2021

Stories (13)

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3 Followers

1 Following

13 Stories

257 karma pts

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The Quiet Presence

Michael Heavener

Submitted to Contest #294

In a quiet village nestled between the hills and the bay, life had its rhythm, its routines. People liked the slow-paced days, the charm of the tree-lined streets, and the smell of fresh bread from the bakery on the corner. And then, one day, she arrived. No one knew her name, where she came from, or what she was. She just appeared, wandering into town one breezy afternoon, moving with a strange, jerky gait, like she wasn’t entirely sure of her own legs. The townsfolk didn’t recognize her face because, in truth, she had none. Ins...

10 likes

Hiking Adventure Turned Enchanting

Michael Heavener

Submitted to Contest #291

The bar was dim and humming with conversation, just the place I needed to shake off a week of non-stop number crunching and "hurry up" requests from the whole office. It was Friday night, and I wanted to be well snockered for the weekend. The moment he walked in, I noticed him. Tall and rugged, with a natural charisma, he was the kind of guy who belonged in a forest, not in some louder-than-hell bar. His eyes were sharp, attentive. We hit it off like we'd known each other for years. We laughed, drank, and talked until late, and by the end of...

8 likes

Dragon Traits

Michael Heavener

Submitted to Contest #290

I never thought my life would take a turn like this. A few years ago, I was just a first-grade teacher with a passion for baking and a stubborn will to keep life simple. Now, I'm Marilyn: half-human, half-dragon, and somehow still trying to teach a school full of hyperactive youngsters. At first, my wings were so heavy that I could barely lift them, and the tail was constantly in the way. In my head, I thought my students would be terrified if they saw me. I visualized my career ending right as it was starting. Thankfully nothing else...

4 likes

A girl like you

Michael Heavener

Submitted to Contest #284

I should have known better with a girl like youThat I would love everything that you doAnd I do, hey, hey, hey, and I do.By John Lennon, Paul McCartneyFor two weeks, a girl sat on the back of the common lounge sofa whenever I played Hearts or Spades with the other guys in the dorm. At first, I took no notice. Then gradually, her presence penetrated my lame-o brain.The games were a focus after classes and before the assigned readings. They lowered our stress and bonded us in a way I doubt any other activity would. Well… except for my trains.I...

8 likes

Custer's time warp disaster

Michael Heavener

Submitted to Contest #204

With a snappy salute, Colonel G.A. Custer embarked with the famous Seventh Cavalry on what may have been the most fool-hardy mission in the western theater of the U.S. Army. They planned to march bald-faced into what, although they didn't know it, was the largest gathering of native Americans since the French-and-Indian War a century before. His commander, General Matthew Terry, cautioned Custer to rest his men as often as possible. Custer was well-known for daring escapades, but Terry, understandably nervous, tried to impress on the brash...

10 likes

Harvey

Michael Heavener

Submitted to Contest #202

I won't say Harvey was my best friend. Jim, my buddy on boy scout camp staff, had been my constant companion since third grade. But Harvey earned my respect in so many ways. In the time I knew him in high school, Harvey's looming presence was my salvation a number of times. In medieval times, he'd have been my jousting champion. From the outside, Harvey was what people call "a bruiser," the kind of bigger-than-life physique that might make him a good bouncer at a rave. He wasn't exactly Andrea the Giant, but he was two inches taller than m...

12 likes

Embracing the difference

Michael Heavener

Submitted to Contest #199

Embracing the difference After I completed a training workshop in New York, I decided to take Amtrak back to Seattle. I booked a trip on the Lakeshore Limited to Chicago with a transfer to the Empire Builder to Seattle. Along the way, I was deeply affected by people that I met with their own stories to tell. In Rensselaer, NY, where the Boston section of the Lakeshore Limited is combined with the New York section, a student from France wandered away to smoke a cigarette. Not knowing he'd gotten off, the conductor gave the "All Aboard." ...

7 likes

Thought that counts

Michael Heavener

Submitted to Contest #193

I caused a missionary family an enormous amount of grief because they stopped to help me on the way home. They were on their way to the airport and didn't make their flight.The thermostat of my car stopped working and the engine overheated. I managed to get to the shoulder on kinetic energy after it quit; I was driving a car with a manual transmission, fortunately.My boss stopped to see if I needed help. I gave him my home phone number and asked him to call my wife to let her know. That was nice of him but didn't help me.Where I stopped was ...

14 likes

Bouncing Bernie

Michael Heavener

You might say Bernie was the luckiest guy I know. I disagree. I thought of him as the unluckiest person in my life. He was a magnet for bad luck—he just had an incredible knack for landing on his feet. No matter what happened, he always bounced back. For example: My college roommate, Bernie, was the assistant tennis coach and was studying for a master's degree in sports management. He loved to play pick-up tennis with the neighbors at the apartment's court. Bernie was a parttime kleptomaniac. His particular "specialty" was highway sign...

0 likes

Surprising his favorite teacher with a special telephone call

Michael Heavener

Submitted to Contest #164

Shoes—c'mon—what 11-year-old boy looks at his teacher's feet? She was always standing where he couldn't see over the heads of his classmates, except during tests when she sat with her feet behind her desk. Maybe he should have looked, given that Mrs. Arrington was his favorite teacher. It was 1962 and he was 11 years old. He had just moved to big city Seattle from faraway Farmington, New Mexico. It was the "Century 21" World's Fair and for a boy on the verge of growing up, that was an irresistible attraction. Sixth grade in a new school wa...

11 likes

Love at first byte

Michael Heavener

Submitted to Contest #150

Love at first byteIt happened again. I asked the MIRI voice-activated AI on my laptop to show me the Reedsy website … and a woman’s face came up on my screen. No website appeared. MIRI didn’t even open a browser. But it winked at me. That’s it … just winked.This started happening last week after I upgraded the computer’s operating system. I had asked MIRI to start my screen saver. It just winked, and smiled. I asked it to open the Bluetooth app when that stopped connecting to my mouse. It just winked again. Its smile was seductive. I asked i...

13 likes

Flowers Film and Floods

Michael Heavener

Submitted to Contest #144

Flowers Film and FloodsThe Mesa Verde plateau, a sunny day, a girlfriend, a camping van, a camera -- and fields of wildflowers. The perfect day, the perfect place, and the perfect vacation. While Susan sat in the van reading and enjoying herself, I ran happily around the fields with my macro lens, taking pictures of all the different flowers. I had my pocket guide and my photo log with the will to annotate every single photograph. In the matter of a morning, I amassed several hundred Kodachrome frames of blossoms, leaves, seed pods...

8 likes

Morning

Michael Heavener

Submitted to Contest #118

This morning, I wake up and find a pregnant woman in bed beside me. In my bed. There's no mistaking the swelling of her belly. This woman, she's a young thing. From the side, she appears too young to be so pregnant, maybe 16 or 17 at the most. She—the young woman—has long brown hair. Long. It flows everywhere, on her side, onto my side. And it has soft curls. Really pretty, I wish I had hair like that. I lean up on my elbow to see her face. You'd do the same, right? Maybe I shouldn't have. She has my husband's face. No shit! I've l...

20 likes