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Scott Christenson

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jan, 2022

Stories (143)
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477 Followers
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143 Stories

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A Quiet Weekend

Submitted to Contest #238

Giving me a conspiratorial smirk, Emma says, “If you are dating Jasmine, there’s something you need to know—”. “ — Shhh!” A Buddhist monk hushes her, a finger at his lips. Emma’s now strained smile hints at her want to have told me something of consequence. Under the watchful gaze of the monk, she drifts off toward breakfast. **Upon our arrival the prior morning, our devices and laptops were taken away by orange robed monks. Honestly, it felt as if we were in a Buddhist led mass kidnapping, rather than attending an expens...

31 likes 18 comments 18
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Running into a Revolution — Conversations in Hong Kong, 2019

Submitted to Contest #235

6:45am The AlarmI check the time, and try to go back to sleep. My legs are sore from yesterday’s 20 km hike (most of the trains in the city have stopped running), and I need to run again tonight.7:30am The Middle School GirlsA rumble from the girls' middle school beneath my 27th floor window jars me awake. In the school courtyard, I see 50 young girls in student uniforms standing in a circle. “Dirty police break the law! Dirty police break the law! Revolution of our time!” they chant-scream in unison, with a teacher joining them. After ...

12 likes 17 comments 17
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Breaking The Chain

Submitted to Contest #234

The scent of cedar shavings and feces infused the evolutionary lab with the unmistakable essence of life. It was in stark contrast to the sterile atmosphere of the rest of the Exodus Voyager. It was here that Jessica found herself drawn, spending most of her time. She scrutinized the 78 Djungarian dwarf hamsters that were under her care. The slightest difference in anogenital span–the distance between the reproductive opening and the anus–signaled their gender. She needed the make an accurate determination to ensure an equal distribution of ...

10 likes 14 comments 14
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Analogy Schamology - A Sobriety Play in Three Acts

Submitted to Contest #233

964 Boston Post RoadWinding my way through the suburban streets of Rye New York on the back of my DoorDash moped, I reach the Methodist church on Boston Post Road. I've been delivering pizzas to the alcoholics there on Friday nights and know the route well. Today is a Tuesday.Outside their meeting room, a poster on the wall features a lighthouse with the message: Sobriety is a journey, not a destination. For years, alcohol has been a heavy anchor around my neck, and it's time for a change. I take the first step into their meeting room.“...

12 likes 14 comments 14
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Red Dog Poker Mornings

Submitted to Contest #232

Within our tiny buzz of activity in the vast bleak landscape and never ending gloom of polar winter, I study my opponents. The four of them sit around the only table of the only bar in Red Dog. They’re each holding five cards. I could use a drink, but unfortunately the town went dry a long time ago—indigenous Alaskan territories often enact alcohol bans. But people still need to distract themselves. Tuesday mornings are poker “night” for the night shift. I sip my Coke Zero, longing for something stronger to numb the pain of last years b...

19 likes 8 comments 8
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Godwin's Law

Submitted to Contest #231

New Year’s Day 2035, in Charleston, South Carolina, Paul Tithers stood motionless on his electric scooter and was at a loss for words—or more accurately, at a loss for one word.With a hangover, still reeling from the loss of a real estate listings the week before, and having fallen over repeatedly on the new scooter his wife bought him for Christmas, he was in a foul mood.In front of him, a security guard stood blocking his way. “Electric scooters are not allowed in Ashley Park. I need to ask you to get off the scooter and exit the park,” th...

12 likes 7 comments 7
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A Christmas Day Heist

Submitted to Contest #230

“A grande whole milk latte and all the money in the cash register,” Bernie said to the cashier, while pointing the gun at the barista, “or the barista dies.”People usually value other people’s lives more than their own, or at least they should. The age twenties something cashier’s face was twitching. It was clear he had never been in a robbery before. Calgary is a safe city, or at least it was before the people from Toronto started showing up.“Is this for real? Are you actually robbing the store?” the cashier said.“Does this gun look real to...

11 likes 15 comments 15
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The Living Parents Literary Support Group

Submitted to Contest #229

At the Living Parents Literary Support Group, Rebecca regretted every dad that died. With each, she lost a member.“Roll call,” she announced. “Is everyone’s parents still alive?”“Yes,” the man sitting on her left declared.“Both Alive,” the next member said.. “Yep.” “Yessirree.” One by one, the dozen attendees of the 23rd annual LPLSG Christmas Dinner acknowledged the sad fact that their parents were alive and well.“Hmm…” Nicole Johnson mumbled, her voice barely above a whisper.“Nicole?” Rebecca probed.“My mother passed two wee...

15 likes 25 comments 25
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The Three Body Problem

Submitted to Contest #228

Lucas and Harper agreed on exactly one thing. Though they didn't know each other, and were currently refusing to speak to each other, and disagreed about everything else, they both agreed Isabella was an idiot. It was showing in their subtle head shakes and the not so well hidden eye rolls.The three of them were handcuffed together at the McCarren Park Greenmarket (a greenmarket is just a farmer's market, in New York, they need to give a special name to everything).It was a three body problem.They could escape if they agreed on which way to ...

19 likes 20 comments 20
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Two Million Scoville

Submitted to Contest #228

It turns out the way to travel through time was sitting in front of us all along. In the same way as water is a liquid that suddenly bursts into boiling steam; humans just needed the right jolt in their quantum energy to reach the tipping point. The one where time flows like water. And the Trinidad Moruga Pepper at a scorching 2 million Scoville units does just the trick.Not that I understand the science, and right now, I’m a bit preoccupied with my older brother Mike glaring at me like a maniac over the family dining table.“I hope you stepp...

21 likes 15 comments 15
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An Early Snow in St Petersburg

Submitted to Contest #227

November 1913 — St. PetersburgAn early flurry of snow that fell on St. Petersburg on a late afternoon in November 1913, would change history in unexpected ways.On that afternoon, Princess Irina Alexandrovna gazed at her suitor of the day, one of several who were regularly allowed into the Peterhof Palace.Felix Yusupov stood at an impressive height, his chiseled features and piercing gaze commanding attention in any room he was in. Well-dressed, he came from the wealthiest family in St. Petersburg. As the two conversed throughout the afternoo...

20 likes 17 comments 17
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Melanoma and Misunderstandings

Submitted to Contest #226

This satirical story is entirely fictitious. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. No animals were harmed in the making of this story.Sam hadn’t visited home for 5 years. Yearning for a moment of peace and quiet without distraction, to plot the future of AI, he had accepted his mother's invite. A genius searching for original thought needed a type of deep focus one couldn’t find in the Valley.“Samuel?” a voice called from below.“Yes, mom?”“Would you come downstairs for dinner?”“I'm vegetar...

19 likes 13 comments 13
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Reflections on Popular Literature

Submitted to Contest #225

[TW: fictional book burning]If a ticking bomb under the table propels a plot forward, so too will a deadline on the wall spur the creation of literary excellence, Keith Highfield thought as he signed the death warrant of the Highfield Library. The intricate interplay between danger and creativity is a delicate balancing act.After The Hobbit was published, J. R. R. Tolkien spent 15 years writing the Lord of the Rings. Keith would give himself the same amount of time to complete his own novel, High Tower. At the offices of his family’s le...

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Bull in a Coffee Shop

In a coffee shop in Hong Kong, corporate executive Peter Bainbridge peered down at his mobile, face twisted with disdain, “I can’t believe this App doesn’t use 2-factor authentication,” he muttered, as he navigated the XR Coffee app to enroll in their rewards program. Celine Tam regarded him calmly, “it does link with the British Airways Club.”Peter grunted in agreement, his attention still fixed on the app. Around them, customers came and went, young fashionable office workers, many of whom greeted the barista by name. At their own tab...

10 likes 8 comments 8
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Never Let Me Laugh

Submitted to Contest #223

“There was another life that I might have had, but I am having this one.”― Kazuo IshiguroMom killed Nicki last week. I heard the news from my younger sister. When something like this happens, I page through Never Let Me Go, my favorite novel, until the right line hits me. I’ve never had no one in my life I can truly rely on, so maybe being an outsider here is simply a continuation of that.I’m describing this to Oliver, my new roommate, because he’s been sobbing in the corner of our dorm room about missing his dog in New Jersey. “At...

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