Thomas E. Moore

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Apr, 2024

Stories (5)

5 Stories

55 karma pts

?

“My Favourite Tree” by Thomas E. Moore

Submitted to Contest #292

My favourite tree was in our front yard just to the side of our driveway. It was a Jacaranda. Jacarandas come from South America. My brother Jim and I nailed timber offcuts to its trunk for a ladder. We’d climb and swing from branches like monkeys. Jim loved to climb to the highest branches, however, just the first few were good enough for me. Jim had found some rope on a fishing trip, and he made a swing to play jungles. Rope was always a precious commodity due to its universal utility and scarcity. One morning, Patrick, my father, called u...

Read story

“The Subterranean” by Thomas E. Moore

Submitted to Contest #291

It was warm and snug underground. Some of the wooden trusses were beginning to crack overhead from the weaving tree roots. The ceiling in the south-west corner was dripping steady. The thaw of the frost above had begun. The potbelly stove maintained the heat. There were two seasons; cold and warm. The warm only lasted two months or so. Most of the paper stacked against the surrounding walls had turned umber. I knew paper well. The Historian dug his hovel some time ago now. His hand spasmed often. The cramps were from a perfec...

Read story

“The Nest” by Thomas E. Moore

Submitted to Contest #269

Just a small flight away, not a whisper from the wall, upon the fork in the brush, that can be the nest. We need a nest before the season is over, because we need hatchlings before the season is over. The nest comes first and needs to be a good nest. My mate is getting food. I shouldn’t mind the people inside as they never open the wall beyond a crack. The lady won’t have it. The man tried once, and she sang very loudly. They’re mates for three seasons now. Now, the man is breaking his nest down as he always does not a moment passed first li...

Read story

“The Man in the Ocean” by Thomas E. Moore

Submitted to Contest #267

The man stood trembling on a pale bank. A good twenty yards from where the tide lapped upon a steep wasted shore. He shook and shivered in a steady rhythm, squinting at the breakers beneath the grey overcast. Specks rained sideways, cutting at his forehead like needles. A light mist settled in. His stomach contorted and inverted inside. A pointless phrase from a pointless memory repeated in his head in step with each breath. A sudden thought offbeat had him choking his spit. His oversize boots laboured through the fine soft sand, that squelc...

Read story

“Escape From the Garden” by Thomas E. Moore

Submitted to Contest #251

She shuffled aimlessly here and there. Her arms hung by her sides, suspended at the elbows lifelessly like a somnambulist. Her skin was umber. Her shoulders were hunched up and inward, looking resentful. I turned my back to her, busying myself with my secateurs. I crouched in a ball like a primate, pulling weeds from the cracked pavement. I glanced over my shoulder now and again to check her wellbeing. She was petting the ornamental fiberglass rooster in the raised garden bed. The decagon courtyard was full of natives, overrun by weeds, some...

Read story

Author bio

39 | Tradesman | Aus