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Tempest Phoenix Smith

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jun, 2023

Stories (52)

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19 Followers

8 Following

52 Stories

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Between Stations

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #271

"Never seen so many blooming sheep," the Londoner commented in a feeble attempt at a Yorkshire accent to his wife as the train rumbled onwards. "Must be more sheep up here than people." She provided the obligatory laugh, then both of them lapsed into silence for which I was grateful.Though tempted to tell them they should try travelling through Wales, I kept silent and stared out the window. Sheep and green hills here, of course, in Yr Hen Gogledd, the Old North, which had once, historians said, been part and parcel of Wales.Not that anybody...

14 likes

Taking in the Laundry

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #270

Early one morning from her kitchen window, Grannie Annie studied the storm clouds speeding toward the village. Next door’s clothes danced, pegged out on the line strung over the new family’s back garden. She only had a nodding acquaintance with them so far, but they seemed nice enough. The little boy had not come to Storytime at the library yet on a Saturday morning, but she expected he would in time. She knew she would tell the right story for him when he did. After a moment’s consideration, she realised that nobody would be home in ...

14 likes

Gleaming like a Drop of Blood

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #269

“I make the decisions for the business,” Nathaniel Benedict growled. “Remember that.”No expression on that poker face, of course. Nate didn’t give Tom any time to reply, but stormed out of Maggie’s kitchen and through the garden that surrounded the House of the Setting Sun under another blue sky over San Francisco. Driving north and inland since then had cooled his blood, though he preferred to sit in the back and let Tom drive as that is what a wealthy man would do. Nathan liked the look of Sonoma and besides, their argument derailed breakf...

16 likes

Marmalade Tiger

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #268

Sheila’s corner office, over the years, became a gallery presided over by photos of cats and kittens. Sibling kittens with bright eyes, a lonely oldie safe in the arms of someone who understood loneliness, a mama cat with her one surviving kitten adopted together. A number of photos lay stacked on the corner of her desk waiting for someone to venture up a ladder to affix them to the ceiling because every inch of wall space was covered, though she suggested they could adorn the corridor outside, so that discussion was still ongoing.Otherwise,...

8 likes

Nightmare

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #267

Imagination, the essential gift for anyone with magic in their blood, could turn against a witch if exhaustion fogged the brain so much that she utterly lost herself in the depths of sleep.And this nightmare made sense. The monstrous shadows jibbering at the base of the lighthouse tower, failing to gain entrance through the main door, crept and glided along the curving wall to attack the secret door which was nearly indistinguishable from outside, could well have travelled from beyond the seascape horizon.The muffled thuds and scrabble of cl...

13 likes

Over the Moon

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #267

On what was supposed to be the best day of her teenage years, Red felt lost in a sea of maroon graduation gowns that made everyone look the same. She watched and listened to the hubbub as parents and siblings joked with and fussed over the teenagers that she had spent four long years with at high school. Above the stage, the breeze teased a golden yellow banner with maroon writing which said: Class of 1978. It was going to feel odd to have her full name announced when she lined up on the stage with other students from her row ...

9 likes

Meadow

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #266

L’scariot stood hip deep among the colourful wild flowers, lifting the beautiful woman up, the summer breeze playing with her long dark hair, the glowing sun not as bright as her smiling face. He slowly turned, his strong musculature supporting her petite weight, holding her securely so she would not fall, letting her laughter completely fill his mind.That part of him that always questioned wondered why he did not know her name, but what did that matter when they were alone together and the sun was shining?Then, aware of stealthy approach fr...

12 likes

Meeting in Real Time

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #265

His journey of four thousand miles began with snow on the ground and more falling from a cloudy sky on Saint David’s Day in North Wales. The bulky black cab that would not have been out of place in London had a Welsh driver so the journey, though expensive, provided excellent conversation. This felt like a better sendoff than having to stay in Manchester overnight and risk not getting to the airport in time for any number of reasons. He felt convinced that he was taking the weather with him on the first of March because Philadelphia, too, af...

6 likes

L O L

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #264

Cheryl dropped her mobile on the sofa then plopped down after it, exhausted from another hectic day in what seemed an exceedingly long week. “T.G.I.F,” she sighed, glancing at the fluffy doughnut bed next to her crammed bookcase as if Nabisco would be curled up there signifying his total agreement with one look from under those floppy ears.Her throat caught at how much she missed the little mongrel. His presence in her life had outlasted all her relationships. In fact, if she had paid heed to the times that Nabisco didn’t warm to a few of th...

3 likes

Climbing the Ladder

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #264

McPherson took a satisfied drag from his newly lit cigarette before getting out of the driver’s seat. Despite the fact that the three girls he transported here wore black, he admired the alluring view as they walked to join the crowd waiting outside the church. Sex on legs. Sex for hire. Sex that he obtained for himself when the time was right. Risky because it was against the business rules, but so very worth it. And not one of them, so far, had dared try to get him in trouble. They probably enjoyed it though they pretended to resist. He kn...

4 likes

Fever

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #263

The dream of flying engulfed him. From the sharp points of his talons to the tips of his outspread wing feathers, from the delicate but strong skeleton to the piercing eyes that watched his shadow, far below, skim over field and meadow, aware of the rabbit who froze in its tracks before running for its life.To him, always, the earth was something to leave behind as often as he could, so the fantasy took him, not of plunging down to sink talons into warm fur so he could feast, but to fly higher, up above the clouds and higher still where the ...

3 likes

Thunder

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #263

I remember walking near the river on a summer day. Listening to the birds, sometimes watching them fly across the meadow or from one tree to another. Looking at all the flowers which the bees and butterflies visited. Looking was enough because mam was gone, so I had no one to bring them to who would care to have a bunch of weeds brought in from the fields. I had been told as much by the one woman who sometimes smiled at me since I came here after mam was gone. She wanted no more weeds from me.Besides, though they looked beautiful in the air,...

10 likes

Tiger Lily

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #262

Candis was the last of the gathered poets to stash her notebook and assorted pens in her capacious bag after everyone else dispersed. The highlight of her week always ended too soon.She abandoned the picnic bench outside Scripps Cottage to head back to the main campus of San Diego State University. Glancing down, she paused to adjust her bag so the mermaid portrait trimmed with sequins would be displayed to any passerby. The opposite side only showed a curling wave, frilled with a filigree of foam, not half as interesting.She glanced at the ...

3 likes

Wise Old Owl

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #261

Arthur Tomlinson dragged himself home from the bus stop after an unproductive visit to the doctor.He wanted to get back to his bungalow, slam the door on the world and lose himself in his latest library book. Not plunge into a bottle of his favourite tipple, not any more, but a good novel did the trick as long as it had plenty of action, suspense, and unexpected twists along the way.You could drown in fiction easily enough, forget your current circumstances, ignore the gloomy news which never seemed to get any better and, best of all, not pu...

6 likes

Being Polite

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #261

Thank you, Vicky, for sending me the woven mats Grandmother Victoria made. You won’t remember her, of course, but she was the sweetest person you could hope to know. I’ve never understood why your mother named you after her because she died before you were born.It means a lot to be able to display the weaving when we entertain family. Nobody realised that your mother took them away with her to California. We thought they had been lost in all the upheaval after grandfather died with the house having to be sold and Aunt Bogna moving into a muc...

1 like