Paul Spreadbury

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jan, 2025

Stories (7)

7 Stories

134 karma pts

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“The 'L' Word” by Paul Spreadbury

Submitted to Contest #290

Grover had just gotten out of rehab and was trying to get a fresh start. Pay as a dishwasher at the local club wasn’t much and when a member told him of a furnished room offered by an eccentric old lady for just $800 a month, all utilities included, he jumped at the chance. “You have your own bathroom and I expect you to keep it clean.”“Yes Mrs. Stamp, I will.” Miriam Stamp, owner of the handsome was clearly a wealthy woman she still kept the welcome mat at the front door, the one she handmade when she was thirty. It ready, Welcome...

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“Memories of My Father” by Paul Spreadbury

Submitted to Contest #289

Emma grew up believing her father Russell Maddox was as good a man as any and better than most. He enlisted in the Marines out of high school, earned a Purple Heart and Bronze Star in Vietnam, returned to marry her mother Denise, bought a refrigerated semi tractor trailer and earned a good living hauling frozen foods from state to state. ~ “Goggles secure, ear and nose plugs inserted,” the lab tech reported as he strapped the subject securely to the gurney. “BP 110 over 8...

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“The Self Fish” by Paul Spreadbury

Submitted to Contest #288

I wander the seas in search of interesting stories to add to my Collection of Tales with Scales. My name's Paul and I’m a Pencilfish. Us Pencilfish learn to write before we know how to swim. When I recently learned of a request for a story that takes place in a place where weather never changes, I figured all my stories fit that description. Weather, as you landlubbers know it, never changes down here.Every season’s just the same, from one day to the next.It never snows, it never rains, yet everything’s all wet.No autumn leaves for wind...

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“The First Tea Time” by Paul Spreadbury

Submitted to Contest #287

It had been ten years since Erg and his wife Pym had been banished by the tribe. Using assumed names and once disguising themselves as troglodytes, they tried to blend in with others. But, in every case their true identity was discovered, and they were expelled. On this late and chilly afternoon, the once hugely popular and praised couple hunched over an open fire surrounded by the abandoned stone pillars where, a decade earlier, their lives changed forever and for the worse. Despite all that had happened, they still shared the feeling...

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“The Inside Out Love Life of Sherman Banks” by Paul Spreadbury

Submitted to Contest #286

Without going into boring details of the rumor fueled imagined plague that wiped out tens of millions of imaged people, let’s cut to the chase. So many people believed in the rumor and in the trumped-up photos showing persons with flesh eaten from their bones the nation turned into two groups of people; Insiders and Outsiders. Insiders stayed indoors, Outsiders dared to go out. Food, cloths, medical, legal and spiritual advice, any possible need an Insider may have was satisfied by delivery or through apps, including the need for female comp...

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“Living by the Thumb” by Paul Spreadbury

Submitted to Contest #286

It was 1972. I enlisted in the Marines after graduating high school and was now at home. I had no formal training in any trade nor any clue as to what to do with the rest of my life. So I decided on a whim to hitchhike across the country. I crammed my gunny sack and headed for the highway with less than $3.00 in my pocket. It was the best decision I ever made in my life. The early 70’s were times of adventure, revolution and experimentation in America. Of the three the one that most inspired me was, adventure.&n...

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“The Teenage Telemarketer” by Paul Spreadbury

Submitted to Contest #285

This story is a true. I’ve used creative license in the dialog and narrative and all of the names (with the exception of my own) are fictitious. There may be terms and subjects some might find offensive because, well, they are. It was 1967. I was a high school sophomore, summer break was coming up. I’d be getting my driver’s license soon and wanted to earn a few bucks to get a car. I answered an ad placed by a large, local cemetery or, as they called it, a ‘memorial park.’ They wanted someone to call prospective f...

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Author bio

For whatever reason I can remember events from as far back as when I was six. For the most part this is a good thing because I've chosen to live a very nomadic and adventurous life. After being discharged from the Marines in 1973 I simply didn't care if I had a roof over my head or money in my pocket. I stuck my thumb out and hitchhiked all over America for two years. I stopped after getting a job as an advertising copywriter at the largest ad agency in California. I had no formal education past high school but I guess they thought I could write well enough to get paid to do it. I stayed in the business for almost 40 years but kept moving anyway. I worked at agencies in 18 different cities, got married, had a daughter and now have a couple of grandkids. There are lots of things I wish I'd never done but don't regret doing. Every domino falls for a reason. Now I write short stories, children's stories, screenplays, TV pilots and am in the midst of my first novel. Thank you very much for your interest in me and my work. I hope it brings you pleasure.