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Pete Gautchier

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Feb, 2024

Stories (52)

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52 Stories

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"It's Time: 0600"

Submitted to Contest #297

Prompt: Write a story with a number or time in the title.Prompt: Set you story before midnight or dawn. “It’s Time: 0600” The day looked dreary and cold even as the sun had just lifted above the horizon. The thick air turned the sunlight into straw-colored clouds as I looked out my window from my bed. The weather outside really does not matter anymore as I have little energy to do anything now. My breathing has been erratic even with all the gadgetry and tubes running into me. I spend my days now lying in this bed at the rehabilitation cen...

4 likes

F&F

Submitted to Contest #296

Prompt: Center your story around a character who has to destroy something they love.F&F I am a farmer’s son from central Illinois. My playground growing up was acre upon acre of corn fields.To overstate the obvious, my father and mother constantly engaged themselves in the business of corn. They figured they would pass it all down to my brother and me after they left this earth. I guess one could consider it a sizable fortune as my parents’ barn and garage were filled with heavy equipment, like a multiple corn head harvester, multiple...

7 likes

Rain, Sleet or Shine; Where to Mr. Postman?

Submitted to Contest #295

Prompt: Write about a portal or doorway that is hiding in plain sight. Rain, Sleet or Shine; Where to Mr. Postman? When meeting someone for the first time a typical question is often asked about their profession or occupation. When I respond that I am a postal carrier I am usually answered with silence or an indifferent, grunting sigh. I unashamedly respond with the postal creed, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays the postal courier from the swift completion of one’s appointed rounds.” I then add, “You would be surp...

4 likes

Too Late

Submitted to Contest #294

Prompt: Write a story in which the first and last sentence are the same.Too Late“What was the owner of this red corvette thinking when he ordered a vanity license plate saying “Too Late?" Why such a nebulous and ominous phrase? I wanted so much to ask the owner but he quickly drove by me. That stingray corvette was a gorgeous piece of machinery. It was sleek and painted in firehouse red without a ding or scratch on it. The owner really knew how to take special care of such a prized vehicle. I figured ...

7 likes

E62

Submitted to Contest #293

Prompt: Write about someone who strikes up a conversation with a stranger during a flight.E62I held my breath. Although I travel for a living, I loathe airports and the congestion. I detest hordes of people in general, especially when it comes to close quarters. Either they are over perfumed or are significantly lacking in proper hygiene. There is no place to hide. There are no oxygen masks for clean air unless your plane is in a mid-air crisis. Let’s hope there is no crisis. For now, I just have to g...

8 likes

Blinded By My Favorite Colour

Submitted to Contest #292

Prompt: Write a story inspired by your favorite color. Blinded By My Favorite Color I grew up taking colors for granted. One never appreciates the world of color until it disappears from one’s view. I never planned for it to happen. It just did. One day I woke up and I was colorblind. My ophthalmologist was as much dumbfounded as I was. I had experienced no trauma to my head; nor did I have a familial history of color blindness. My vision was now a black and white movie with silhouettes of people blurred ...

4 likes

My Destiny-Not in the Hands of Men

Submitted to Contest #291

Prompt: Center your story around a character who successfully — or unsuccessfully — escapes their fate. My Destiny-Not in the Hands of Men“Run! Run,” I screamed. There was no way out in any direction I could choose. If I turned right there was a twelve-foot, solid brick wall. If I turned left there was a fence of impenetrable barbed wire. Going straight ahead I would fall into a deep ravine filled with sharp rocks and huge, thorny bushes. A body already laid lifeless impaled on the rocks. Heading ba...

13 likes

A Melodious Yearning of the Heart

Submitted to Contest #290

Prompt set your story in a world where love is prohibited.A Melodious Yearning The monotonous voice in front of me droned on… “After the global conflagration and incineration of millions of people caused by warring factions in 2666, the World Council of remaining nations created universal laws to eradicate hostilities to abolish individual freedoms that caused contentious behavior.” (Music played in my head…)War, huh, Yeah! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!Say it again, y’all! War, huh, Lookout! What is it good for?&nb...

5 likes

This is Who I am...A Glorious Open Book

Submitted to Contest #289

Prompt: Your character is getting changed in the bathroom of a nightclub or restaurant then emerges looking completely different. Why? This is Who I Am…A Glorious Open Book My cell phone flashed the time of 6:00pm. I was running late for my dinner engagement with a friend from college. I had not seen Pauline for over six years after we graduated from the university. We had taken a few of the same classes together. Afterwards we often exchanged our personal interests and life stories at the campus coffee houses.&...

8 likes

Court of Public Opinion

Submitted to Contest #289

Prompt: Write a story in which a character discovers that a truth they’ve believed their whole life is either false or not the whole story. Court of Public Opinion The phones were buzzing, lighting up the predawn night. Fingers moved deftly across their glowing tablets sending messages across the electronic skies. A great commotion interrupted the airwaves of daily life. An immense crowd gathered at the national courthouse. The morning mist covered the ground as the assembly continued to gather in the early sun. ...

8 likes

Unconventional Healing

Submitted to Contest #288

Prompt: Set your story during-or just before-a storm Unconventional Healing “Rain, rain go away. Come back some other day,” I murmured to myself. I recited the childhood rhyme using it as an amulet that would ward off the threatening clouds hovering above me. The ominous black skies evoked a warning inside me as I whispered “red in the morning, sailors take warning.” Today would be a day filled with tumultuous weather. The plump clouds had just begun to dribble their wetness upon me. Without warning more dark c...

6 likes

Going, Going and Really Getting Nowhere

Submitted to Contest #286

Prompt: Write a story about someone who must fit their entire life in a single suitcase. Going, Going, and Really Getting Nowhere I entered the lobby of the hotel to hear the melody of John Denver’s song, Leaving on a Jet Plane. I improvised the lyrics with my words “My bag is packed and I’m ready to go; leaving on a jet plane with certainly no place to go. There’s no one to wake, so no goodbyes. It is dark as can be in the predawn morn. My taxi driver obnoxiously blows the car horn. I am so depressed I look like the...

7 likes

The Bygone Days of a Cassette Music Machine (aka "Walkman")

Submitted to Contest #285

Prompt: Write a Story from the Point of View of a Now-Defunct Piece of Technology The Bygone Days of a Cassette Music Machine (aka “Walkman”) No longer do I hear the cries of revelers yelling “Party tape! Party tape! Grab the party tape.” I used to be in such great demand as an instrument offering musical bliss at party after party. My owner would take me everywhere: to the park, to the beach, to school, even to the bathroom while showering. It used to be that everybody whether young or old, had one carryin...

4 likes

Henny Penny, Alive and Well?

Submitted to Contest #285

Prompt: Write a Story about People Preparing for Y2K. Henny Penny, Alive and Well? My head was tilted up to the sky as I eagerly anticipated the ball drop in Times Square. The weather was typically mild for this December. I felt a mist upon my face as I continued gazing up to the heavens. Perhaps like so many others in the crowd, this was my first time to watch the spectacle of a large man-made six-foot ball of glass crystals plummet over 70 feet on a pole nearly 400 feet above my head. The frenzied crowd counted down the time...

10 likes

Down the Proverbial Rabbit Hole

Submitted to Contest #284

Prompt: Write a story that includes the line “I should have known better.”Down the Proverbial Rabbit HoleI consider myself to be a passionate person reveling in the opportunities to express my inner self. Right away one may think I am a painter, or a sculptor, or a musician. Frankly, it is none of those because my paintings look like stick figures made by preschoolers. Certainly not a sculptor because my objects end up as masses of clay as though they were formed by a ninety-five-year old with arthritic hands. And by...

9 likes