Tempest Phoenix Smith

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jun, 2023

Stories (39)

39 Stories

697 karma pts

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“Wise Old Owl” by 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...

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“Being Polite” by 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...

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“I Blame the Squirrel” by Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #261

Before mobile phones or computers, back in the Twentieth Century which some people can still remember, a young woman boarded with her half-sister’s family.She paid a pittance to sleep in a postage stamp of a room high up in the attic of the big house but that was okay as she owned few possessions and was unlikely to gather more because she was saving up to own a house herself, though this would take many years if she remained single.The cheapness of the accommodation was not simply due to being a blood relation, but because she frequently he...

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“Marsh Walker” by Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #260

I had timed it right. As the twilight began to soften the sky after the sun vanished over the edge of the marsh, I finally walked on firm footing and could see my way clear through what I felt sure were the last patches of boggy ground.Of course, I still tested with my staff. Excessive confidence was a danger since the marsh had tricksy ways. I heard enough about that as a child to always heed my mother’s warnings, especially as since then I dragged more than a few people out of the quavering fen, though one of them I had been tempted to lea...

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“Refuge” by Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #259

The gray and white seagull ignored the buffeting rain and how much every muscle ached from the long flight. The storm wind under his wings was carrying him in the right direction at last. And, as twilight descended, he could see what looked like from this distance a straight white branch sticking up from the ocean.Light emanated from the vertical pole, ceased, then shone again.Although thunder cracked and lightning flickered between clouds and ocean, he felt his heart ease. Where there was light, there must be a keeper. In these changing tim...

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“Frame of Mind” by Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #258

It was the calico cat that started it all on a Saturday morning.Not even his cat, though he had let her inside a few times since moving to Old Town.Ambrose had stripped the king-sized bed first thing, taken everything to the laundry room, then brought fresh lavender-colored sheets and pillowcases. He had stretched the last corner of the fitted bottom sheet over the mattress corner when he noticed the calico cat staring in through the bedroom window.Taking the cat to be scanned for a micro-chip was on his to-do list as none of the neighbours ...

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“The Tempest” by Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #257

Luckily, she was good at focusing. In the bustle and noise of costume shop where the sun never shone in the basement of the Dramatic Arts building at San Diego State University, she threaded several needles with midnight blue thread and stabbed each of them into the enormous peach-coloured pin cushion which bristled like a porcupine with pins and needles. She appreciated her preparation, then liberated a needle and began to hem.The trouser press hissed. Costumers discussed last night’s incident when the shoulder of the leading...

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“The 497th Santa” by Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #256

Mabel patted her hair, fingered underneath the back, then switched the hairdryer off and set it down on the dresser. Silence rushed in. She put one hand on the wall to steady herself and bent over to turn off the mains before unplugging the gadget. She would let it cool down before putting it back in the drawer later today.When she stood up, she was eye level with one of the teddies perched on the long shelf above her daughter’s bed. She tried to read some message in those glass amber eyes, felt she might get some insight, maybe one word to ...

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“Sandcastle in the Storm” by Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #255

I remember standing on the pale sands in warm sunlight watching the boy who kneels near his sister. He is using the top of a red plastic shovel to shape each turret on the sandcastle towers with deep concentration. She is looking down at him and smiling. He is her best ever birthday gift as he was born on her birthday. Who needs a doll when you have a real baby to cuddle? Only, I don’t remember this at all. I never had children. I wanted them desperately, but never had even one. I didn’t even get so far as a miscarriage. Why does this scene...

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Author bio

Tempest Phoenix Smith loves to weave words into poetry and stories. Her first Read Aloud storybook will be available as soon as her website is up and running, so watch this space. If you like "Unexpected Guest", you might enjoy: "Refuge", "Fever" and "Nightmare" which are set in the same world.