Ralph Emery Barhydt

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Sep, 2021

Stories (20)

20 Stories

334 karma pts

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“Raging River” by Ralph Emery Barhydt

Raging RiverRalph Emery BarhydtSeptember 21, 2023Caroline went down to the river to pray. The river was raging, roaring, rushing as she had never seen it. “Dear God, please come to our aid. Calm the river, restore it. Please make it gentle and helpful again. Please Lord, this is too much and I am afraid that it is going to get worse.”Hurricane Albert was just sitting off the North Carolina coast. It was a category five storm and fe...

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“The Devil is in the Deal” by Ralph Emery Barhydt

The Devil is in the Deal Ralph Emery Barhydt September 15, 2023 “Jenna, please, don’t do this,” Gary was on the verge of tears. In fact, he was crying. He had been up all night and was exhausted, he looked like hell. Jenna didn’t look so good either. They were in their marvelous suite at a five star hotel on Tahiti. They weren’t reall...

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“A Vacation to Die For” by Ralph Emery Barhydt

A Vacation to Die For Ralph Emery Barhydt "Woo hooo," yelled Karen. "Vacation time! Where are we going this year?" Karen had walked in from school, the last day of the school year, thrown her books on the floor and broke into the biggest smile you ever saw. Stanley, her younger brother had been napping on the couch and jumped about a foot. Sean, her older brother wa...

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“Jessica the Librarian” by Ralph Emery Barhydt

Jessica the Librarian By Ralph Barhydt Jessica was such a beautiful, warm, well-meaning young woman. If I had been a lot younger and if she weren’t engaged, I might have asked her out. What I did ask her to do is find this ancient text of witchcraft that focused on spells. I had solid evidence that it was resting in this particular library. Of course, with a book...

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“Little Guy” by Ralph Emery Barhydt

Little Guy Ralph Barhydt “C’mon Aaron, give the kid a chance. He’s little but I seen him run and there is no one faster on this team.” “Look Matt, I just don’t like shrimps. The kid is a shrimp. He’ll get hurt, his parents will be a problem and he will always be whining about something. Plus, frankly, I just don’t like little people. They are worse than blacks and blac...

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“Too Much Talk” by Ralph Emery Barhydt

Note: this story is about random sexuality, with a twist.“Take off your clothes.”“What?”“You heard me, take off your clothes.”“Who in holy hell are you?”“I am your next lover.”“Oh my god. Are you crazy? Go back under the rock you slithered out from.”“Am I good looking?”“Who cares?”“Just ask yourself, ‘is this dude good looking.’”“Why should I do that”“It’s important. Just do it.”“OK. Jane is this piece of garbage good looking. Hmm. Well, yes, he...

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“Please enter this in this weeks contest. I missed the timing. it's called Horgare and the Witches. Please. It's still Friday here.” by Ralph Emery Barhydt

Horgare rose up slowly. It had been a long successful night of burning villages, eating women, and taking more treasure. “In fact” thought Horgare, “it was a record night. “Three of those women were really tasty. Yum.” And. “Look at all this loot. I could barely carry it all home and it’s almost completely filled the room.” The cavern was huge, with lots and lots of smaller caves and nasty crevices that...

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“Midnight Luck” by Ralph Emery Barhydt

It was late on a Thursday night. Ralph had driven all the way to Santa Rosa earlier to buy this extra special rifle because he liked the gun shop. Well, and it was one of the very few left in the Bay Area, anti-gun buying capital of the world. The Bay Area had it’s share of random killings and had even started the trend of mass killings back in the early ‘70s when some lunatic took is automatic weapon into a law firm a...

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“Dad's Last Christmas” by Ralph Emery Barhydt

Dad’s Last Christmas My dad just died. He was supposed to die at Christmas, but things happened. Good things. He still died of cancer but he had an extra 9 months that was good for all of us. It was a bit bizarre and certainly unexpected. My mom, my sister, and I were all estranged from Dad and simply expected to hear that he had died in the VA hospital. Like I said, things happe...

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“Potion Fail” by Ralph Emery Barhydt

Hubert was a very bright boy, charming, gifted and ugly. It’s really hard to say that someone is ugly. You can call them “unattractive,” “a little rough,” “kind of plain,” any number of euphemisms; but, Hubert was ugly. The other kids called him “Hubie” and laughed at him whenever he came around, but they liked him. They laughed at him and he took it in stride. He did nothing to encourage it and he just let it roll off ...

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“Goodbye Jolly, Goodbye Karen” by Ralph Emery Barhydt

Goodbye Jolly, Goodbye Karen Jolly and Karen had an idea. They had been friends forever, but just recently, they had become lovers. Then, they moved in together. They were very happy, very compatible and quite a bit in love. They talked all the time and they had quite a few good ideas. Today, they had their best idea. They decide...

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“Oh, Thank You, Jeremy” by Ralph Emery Barhydt

Oh, Jeremy, thank you. It’s just what I wanted!” She pulled the gleaming, steel gun, a Glock G22, from the wrapping. It really was a thing of beauty no matter what the left-wingers say. She looked it over with great appreciation. After awhile, she ejected the clip. “Jeremy! You devil, you didn’t. This clip is live. So exciting. You really were a dear.” Then, inserted the clip and she shot me three times.

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“Mid Night” by Ralph Emery Barhydt

I am only thirty-five, but I have spent my entire life in service to the Amenophis III. My father was executed because Amenophis, the Pharaoh, wanted my father’s wife, my mother. Although my father’s father was named Yuya and was the Pharaoh’s top military commander, Amenophis killed my father to take my mother Tiy as his own. After my father’s death, mom went to serve in the harem of the sultan and I was brought up in court. She eventually became the “Great Royal Wife” in spite of the hundreds of women in the harem. My mother ruled ...

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“Happy Birthday, Susan” by Ralph Emery Barhydt

Susan let out a big sigh and sat down. She normally didn’t go to movies by herself, but it had been a long harrowing week at IBM. It was a great job, paid well, had lots of interesting, good looking young men and her boss was a good man. The heavy curtains in from of the movie screen were pulling back and she took some nibbles on her popcorn. She just had to have some diversion. Life with Stanley was good but she was be...

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“Quitting” by Ralph Emery Barhydt

“I quit.” “I quit. I quit. I quit. I quit.” “I am sending in my resignation this weekend and I will not go to the office on Monday. Never again. You may have to go in to pick up my stuff. In fact, you will have to go in to pick up my stuff. Don’t miss my yellow sweater.” “Ok, then,” said Geoffrey. “Is there anybody in the office you want me to bust up? Any windows or mi...

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Author bio

A Vietnam Vet older than time itself. A high tech exec from the glory days of IBM. Chilling in a small California town as close to paradise as it gets.