Story Time

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2020

Stories (223)

223 Stories

10994 karma pts

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“Inconvenient Evolutionary Developments” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #83

When Ollie realized he had lungs, he was terrified to breathe. Having something is a problem, but using it is a much bigger problem, because use involves intent. He didn’t intend to have lungs, and so, he hadn’t done anything wrong, but one breath, and he’d be a criminal. Ollie was born in the Atlantic, before being sent to the Pacific by Bobbie, who explained to him that the Atlantic was now overrun with nymphs, whereas the Pacific was in dire need of more representation. At the time, he was mostly eel, with a splash of jellyfish, but...

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“If An Android Could Whistle” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #82

The day I was born, he handed me a script. He said—Read this. So I did. The script was very good.  Nice pacing.  Fleshed out characters.   Flesh was something I wasn’t aware of at the time, but I felt a real investment in the words in front of me.  The world that I was creating within the wires of my mind. And it never occurred to me that it was made up.  Fictional.  Imagined.  I thought I was reading about real people.  When I got to the end of the script, I asked if I could meet them.&...

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“No Strings” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #81

The truth is she found herself unable to throw the words much further. Oliver would sit on her lap, and in addition to keeping his mouth moving, she’d also be expected to say her lines, and his, and get his voice across the room without moving her lips. All of this was too much, much too much, and her sister agreed that she needed a break from Oliver to rediscover her joy of performing. Three days on the Midwest-to-Northern Canada circuit taught her that a ventriloquist without a dummy is a hard sell, especially when in place of a dumm...

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“Around the Barrel” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #80

My father told me to look down. He said, “Look down, and don’t look back up until I tell you.” So I feel at a loss, because when people ask what I remember, I have to say-- I remember dirt. I remember how my shoes looked that day. The shoes we had just bought. White when my mother swore that white shoes were bad luck, because how could you help, but get them dirty? I felt my father grab my hand and swing, and I didn’t understand. Not just the action, but the roughness of it. My father never laid a hand on any of his children....

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“Blood, Water, and Property Rights” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #79

To My Dearest Great-Great-Great Granny Fanny, Over these past five days, I have greatly enjoyed living in your old house while I recuperated from my recent separation. Though the plumbing is shoddy and the walls are thin, it is a beautiful piece of architecture, and something about residing in a home that has been in my family for generations has inspired me to explore all the branches and twigs of my family tree. So thank you. From the depths of my gratitude, I grant you my appreciation for welcoming me in with all the signs of your.....

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“All This and a Box of Matches” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #78

I skipped the seminar on plastic. I don’t like the way it smells when it goes up. Tight. Taut smell. The smoke billows in a way I can’t appreciate. They forgot to book one of the outdoor spaces, so they wouldn’t even be able to let the smoke go up too much before they’d have to put it out, or they’d tip off the hotel that we’re not actually a stamp-collecting convention. A thousand people and not one stamp in sight. You’d think somebody would be tipped off, but people avoid the boring the way they used to avoid lepers, and as soon ...

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“What I Found in My Manager's Office During the Blizzard” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #77

To Whoever Finds This Letter, Hello from Death. Or the Beyond. Or the Great Beyond. Whatever or Whomever you choose to believe in. I am not entirely sure I’m dead, but being alive would be a long-shot, since I am about to trek out into the snow after spending four long hours trapped in this bank. What, you may ask, were you doing trapped in a bank while the largest blizzard since the Tuscaloosa Torpedo sent frozen frogs and snowflakes flying around back in 1987? Well, it’s funny you should theoretically ask that, because as it ...

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“When the YouTube Haircut Video Radicalized Poor Phil” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #76

“The most important thing is not to be afraid.  Are you afraid, Phil?" “A little.” “It's okay to be afraid. Cutting your own hair can be very intimidating.” “Yeah.” “But not nearly as intimidating as knowing that the government tries to oppress our liberties every single day, right?” “What?” “What?” “Did you say something about the government?” “Of course not!  We’re just talking about hair. I was just giving you an example. I’m a YouTube video. I can’t even hear you right now. Did you ask me a question a second ago...

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“Nail-Biter” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #75

I stopped biting my nails by wearing gloves. I stopped biting my nails by wearing gloves taped to my hands, around my wrists, with duct tape, with the deep grey duct tape that you can only get at the hardware store, and as soon as I walked into the hardware store, the man behind the counter took one look at me and said-- “You need to stop biting your nails.” He offered to cut off my hands, but that seemed extreme to me, so I just asked for duct tape instead, and then I went back to the car, where my second wife taped the gloves we had ...

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“Discussion Questions for The Ten Commandments” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #74

We know religion studies can be boring, especially when you really just want to go outside and play, but before you head into the fourth grade, we need to make sure you have a solid understanding of some of the most important rules ever put to paper--or stone, as the case may be. A little Bible humor there for you, even though you should never ever joke about the Bible.  Ever. Please answer the following questions in three sentences or less. 1.  The First Commandment says that “The Lord is the Lord and that you shall have no ...

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“Chatty” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #73

Fran? Fran, it’s Cyn. CYN! No, not your sister. Your cousin. You don’t have a sister. Are you drinking that grass drink I bought you at the store near my house? Drink it, it’s good for you. CYN! Am I bothering you? Well, I know it’s 4am, but I had a feeling you’d be up. Especially if I called you a few times. What was it--six?  Six times?  You should really answer your phone as soon as you hear it. It could be an emergency. I could be dead. Imagine if your cousin was dead and you didn’t even know it, because you were ...

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“Tale As Old As Time” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #72

I’ll tell you what I don’t appreciate. I do not appreciate people telling me how I should or shouldn’t be feeling. It was not my--Let’s get this right--It was not my choice or of my choosing to come to the castle. I was placed in a very uncomfortable position, wherein, I was asked to come rescue my father, because he went somewhere he shouldn’t have. Now, yes, that was a bad choice that he made, but what I did was simply the result of a reaction to a bad decision. And so what happens is-- An umbrella forms. Once you are put in a ...

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“The Sacher Torte” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #71

My grandmother would make the sacher torte every time my grandfather created an infidelity. I must apologize for my English is not very strong. Though I am not foreign, I am quite pretentious. After years of boarding schools and backpacking trips in Europe with schoolmates who were vaguely related to the royal family of Hungary, I have found that my consonants are harder and my trust is soft as Swiss. The cheese, not the people. I always found them to be remarkably hard-hearted if you crashed through their living room window on a chill...

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“Like a Box of Chocolate” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #70

I was given no choice when you stop to think about it. The person who sold the most chocolate in the state of Idaho would receive a trip to Busch Gardens in Tampa, and once I heard what was on the line, things like “friendship” and “camaraderie” became antiquated notions of the Before Times, when you could afford kindness because chocolate was free and handed out to you by strangers on Halloween. Matty, I’m sure, disagrees, and that’s why he’s destined to be the employee and not the employer one day. He’ll most likely be my employee, sin...

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“Uncle Grendel” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #69

We’re supposed to call him Uncle Grendel, but my sister will not. “He is not an uncle. He is a monster who has taken over our house.” I tell my sister that while I am on her side, that doesn’t change the fact that our mother has fallen for a descendant of Cain, and we should try to support her. “I mean, we’re all descendants of Cain, aren’t we,” my mother asks me as I’m shoveling dead frogs onto a plate, Grendel’s favorite Thanksgiving meal, “So I really don’t think any of us are in a place to judge. You know, your Dad was related to T...

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Author bio

Stories and a few more stories. Write something everyday.

Winning 3 stories 🏆

Contest #137
The Boy in the Pink Tuxedo – read story
Contest #134
The Hovering Age – read story
Contest #116
Straw, Sticks, and Brick – read story

Shortlisted 5 stories ⭐️

Contest #209
Goldilocks Returns – read story
Contest #142
Looking for Mr. Darcy – read story
Contest #101
Today The Phone Won't Ring – read story
Contest #99
Dracula in the Morning – read story
Contest #87
Regarding the Meat – read story