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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2020
Submitted to Contest #190
Mother, I just know you’ll love him once you get to know him. Sulfur. My daughter smells of sulfur. Great fires have burned around her. I know this and I know to keep my mouth shut. I clutch my clutch. I avoid biting down on my lip, because I fear getting lipstick on my teeth. Howser should have come with me, but New York City is no place for a dog that wasn’t born here. That wasn’t born smelling the skyscrapers and inhaling constantly the fragrance of streetside hot dogs. Mother, don’t be too hard on him. He’s misunderstood the way all ...
Submitted to Contest #189
I had always found Saturday afternoons to be the hardest. Sunday afternoons were for cleaning and Saturday nights were for going out. Sunday nights you unwind and Friday nights you can grab a drink with a friend or see a movie. The Saturday afternoons were what got me. I never knew what to do with them once I was alone. Two days into October, and it felt as though there would be jack-o-lanterns decorating every door until the end of time itself. Kids ran by me in the drugstore to see what they could convince their parents to buy them f...
Submitted to Contest #188
Harriet Bowson would have had the perfect yard if it hadn’t been for the chipmunk.She had taken great pains in creating a wonderland for nature. Native plants and flowers sprouted throughout her little, fenced-in paradise. Consultants had been brought in when she first purchased the house to advise her on how to construct a sanctuary for both herself and whatever miniature wildlife might grace her with their presence.As the yard was taking shape, she found herself dreaming of butterflies. Monarchs and swallowtails, luna moths and red admiral...
Submitted to Contest #187
I see you all here begging at the foot of our Great Lotus. Lotus, Goddess of Fresh Fish from the Sea. Lotus, Goddess of Comfort on a Cold Night. Lotus, Goddess of the Hunt When the Hunt Involves Rather Small Animals Such as Mice or Things That Look Like Mice. I see you all here, but only on the Feast Day of Lotus. Only on this, the day of her birth, the day when all come to worship. But where are you the rest of the days? Where are you when Lotus fills up her defecation box and it must be changed? Where are you when her hair is matte...
Submitted to Contest #186
Where did I leave my keys?Where do people usually leave keys?How often does a woman in her mid-to-late forties lose her kids?Keys not kidsHow often does a woman in her early-to-mid-to-late forties lose her keys?Is losing your keys a sign of dementia?DEMENTIA HOME REMEDY CURES NO WESTERN MEDICINEWhat is a romantic dinner you can make for your 20th wedding anniversary?What is a romantic dinner with ingredients that cost less than $60?What is a romantic dinner with ingredients that cost less than $70?What are cheap restaurants near me that have...
Submitted to Contest #185
And lo they did come These so-called friends Of your good dragon, Magford Who never did bother a soul Now, did he? ‘A Dublin dragon!’ They all said When I first did appear Out of a November storm Wings never furling Fire through my teeth And down below The ministers and the holy people Cliffmongers to the village Of this and that Looking up at me With their bad breath And their fishy eyes exclaiming-- ‘Whomsoever heard Of a Dublin dragon?’ This was back When Dublin was a village And I could make my way As I saw fit Diving down to san...
Submitted to Contest #184
He threw his phone away on a Tuesday. By Thursday, he was crossing the second bridge leading into Delle Faire. The first bridge would bring you to a little island in-between the mainland and the big island. The little island was called Marco’s River even though there was no river, but there was a small town, and Scott could just have easily bought a house there and been a little closer to his old life. He could have done a lot of things that would have looked like half-stepping. He could have kept his phone. He could have left his social...
Submitted to Contest #183
The light entered the room before I did. A cavernous elegance to a spot unclaimed by dream’s worst reckoning. I hear the sound of my shoes as they touch the marble beneath them. Marble flooring and shiny blue shoes. I have a tuxedo fitted for me by Venus herself. She made me promise not to stain it with burgundy wine. The lapels were soft cerulean demigod dust that she’d gathered from her favorite myths. Venus was the only entity I knew who could dance through narratives at will. She was the one who told me about the ballroom. She was t...
Submitted to Contest #182
The one night I set the alarm, they show up. I think there are three. Three would be a good number. There are always three burglars in the movies. The smart one, the muscle, and the one who panics and dies at the hand of the protagonist--sometimes by happy accident. I shouldn’t project. I shouldn’t start all this by projecting. I’m bound to let myself down if I do that. They might run now that the alarm has been sounded. They might flee. I would flee if I were them. No point in dealing with the hassle of an alarm. Back when I was at the top...
Submitted to Contest #181
There is nothing irrevocable about getting on the wrong bus. The next stop offers you the chance to hop on the proper bus home. You get on the right bus and you’ll only be home fifteen minutes later than usual. The chicken will be defrosted. Matt will have finished his homework. Christy will still have hers to do, because she’s on the phone with Erica. You’ll have to chide her, but not by much. She’s a good girl. They’re good kids. You’re happy that they’re good kids. The other night you were laying in bed and Richard turned to you and sai...
Submitted to Contest #180
Bogart was sure this was the Sherwood Crime Family. They were known for making these sorts of statements. Then again, the Sherwoods now had an honest thing going with their frozen yogurt stands, and nobody had attached a felony to them in over nine years. Ah, but old habits die hard. Bogart’s mother, Tibbity (may she rest in peace), always told him that a wronged skunk never forgets. A raccoon, maybe, because eventually they’d want to get back to their trash, but a skunk? Nah, you ticked off a skunk and you were going to smell that odor arou...
Submitted to Contest #179
Resolutions for the New Year That Are Manageable and Doable and Stick-To-Able So Help Me God or May My Hair Fall OutDo not give yourself more than ten resolutions, Emeline. Last year you gave yourself eighty-seven resolutions and finished three of them, and one didn’t count. Let’s keep it to ten, shall we? That’s more than enough. If you do all ten, then next year, you can make more resolutions. Although, hopefully, you won’t have to, because you’ll have less wrong with your life. Won’t that be nice?Return all those books about bathroom reno...
Submitted to Contest #178
We just love seeing what they’re doing over in wind-up gadgets. The wind-up gadget department is killing it these days. The winding. The upping. The gadgetry. We’re amazed. We’re marveling. The rumors that we here at bathtime toys are jealous of the wind-up gadget department, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. We are honored and overjoyed to be working under the same umbrella as our wind-up gadget colleagues. We are all here working towards the same goal. We are all part of the same beautiful quilt. Our square on the quilt may be a...
Submitted to Contest #177
The first English word my grandfather learned was “sunshine.” He was six-years-old and standing in an empty apartment with his mother. She was wearing black, because her husband had died the year before of stomach cancer. She would continue to wear black until she remarried, but that wouldn’t be for another eight years. My great-grandmother did not love her husband, but when he died, her life was upended. Marriage was meant to be your security and your comfort. Her name was Dasha, and she was from Lida, which is west of Minsk in Belarus. ...
Submitted to Contest #176
The point is that I enjoyed sitting on the chair. I enjoyed it and I don’t get to enjoy many things in this life--or any of the other eight, for that matter. Nature has made me the greatest predator on the planet only to place me in a tiny body from which I can do no real harm to anyone other than a mouse. The last time we had a mouse, I wasn’t even allowed to chase it. Patricia caught it in a shoebox and then made a comment to Hudson that if he didn’t leave food lying around all over the place, we wouldn’t have an infestation. I wish I ...
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