Timothy Rennels

“Overtime” by Timothy Rennels

Submitted to Contest #275

OVERTIME   A warm rain peppered the puddles scattered across the parking lot of the Savannah shipyard. The reflection of the lots security night lights was shattered into shards by the sudden squall. Carl Santos took a long last drag on his cigarette, rolled the driver’s window of his pickup halfway down, and pitched the butt onto the lot. He rolled the window up quickly and glanced at the watch he always wore. It had been a gift from his son, when he had a son, and had a leather band and glow in the dark hands. 10:55 p.m.  &n...

5 likes 6 comments 6

Read story

“A Love To Read” by Timothy Rennels

Submitted to Contest #251

   A LOVE TO READ Tommy McBrighter loved booksSince he first started reading at threeHe could lose himself in the storiesThe one place he really felt freeTommy’s books were his entertainmentEver since the TV’d been hockedAt night he’d read under the coversAt night he would keep his door lockedHis mom had a lot of “boyfriends”“It’d be best you stay out of the way.”So he’d hide in the books he was readingUntil the stranger would go away ****Margaret Baxter once worked in the libraryUnfailingly…every dayShe vowed to continue her ...

15 likes 5 comments 5

Read story

“Dead Mans Hand” by Timothy Rennels

Submitted to Contest #241

Dead Mans Hand  Chad McConnel slapped his cards down on the green felt tabletop. A small cloud of dust coughed in protest.  “Two pair. Aces and eights. Your hand’s like your ranch Creed. Nothing but bullshit!” The sheep raising farmer glared at the well-dressed cattleman across the table. “This is one fence you can’t cut!”  Connor Creed eyed his adversary with a thoughtful squint. Personally, he felt that 1848 would be a better year if Chad McConnel would be swallowed up by the earth, his sheep with him. For now...

19 likes 14 comments 14

Read story

“Crossing Turtle Creek” by Timothy Rennels

Submitted to Contest #237

Crossing Turtle Creek  I watched the straw dust falling through the gaps in the ancient grey floorboards of the hayloft above. Aroused by our intent, motes of dust, illuminated by the full moon shining through the barn’s open window, jostled for a better position from which to watch. Chickens in their coops tucked their heads beneath their wings in false modesty. I brushed a lock of hair from her face, letting the moon bounce back from her widened eyes. Her electric eyes, neither green nor blue, spawned incandescent sparks deep wit...

15 likes 6 comments 6

Read story

“Tecmo Fest 2024” by Timothy Rennels

Submitted to Contest #236

Tecmo Fest 2024Field Notes for S.I. article  I have come to this Minneapolis suburb to pursue a rumor, nay, a legend. My first inkling that I had arrived was the number of parked cars surrounding the quiet cul-de-sac. The second was the ten-foot inflatable Green Bay Packer standing outside the house, checking the guest list with every breeze.  I knocked on the thick wood door to no avail. I heard voices inside, so decided to persist. “Go away!” made me wonder if there was a secret knock that I hadn’t been taught. After a ...

12 likes 3 comments 3

Read story

“The Summer of '72” by Timothy Rennels

Submitted to Contest #235

The Summer of ‘72   My 12-year-old self tightened the laces on my dusty PF Flyers. I kicked the Ozark rocks stained red from the clay and there rose a cloud of dust that lingered in the air. I thought it could be smoke as hot as it was. I looked down the steeply sloped gravel driveway that brought travelers up, past the weathered barn, to the cozy house at the top of the hill. Grandma and Grandpa’s house. They had moved here from Indiana after their retirements, and fancied watching the rest of their lives pass by from that Ozark...

16 likes 10 comments 10

Read story

“Pastime” by Timothy Rennels

Submitted to Contest #234

PASTIME   I took my son to his first baseball game today. My Yankees, now his Yankees, like dreams manifested thundered into the colosseum to do battle with their opponents. I could see through his six-year-old eyes with a wonder that I hadn’t felt in years. He caught onto the rhythm of the game and roared his delight as a part of the throng, rising when they rose, cheering when they cheered, leaving him with a lingering hoarseness that could never outlive the images still dancing in his head. As I tucked him into bed that night,...

8 likes 4 comments 4

Read story

“The Alien Mandate” by Timothy Rennels

Submitted to Contest #230

The Alien Mandate   President Trenton Walters woke to the insistent shoulder shaking of a Secret Service agent. He struggled to focus his eyes but knew immediately the gravity of the red light flashing over his bed.   “Sir, we must go. There’s been a national security breach and the Chiefs of Staff are already gathering in the command bunker.”   The President dressed rapidly, peppering the agent with questions. Frustrated at his lack of information he stormed towards the emergency elevator. In moments the two ...

12 likes 5 comments 5

Read story

“The Christmas Santa Forgot” by Timothy Rennels

Submitted to Contest #229

The Christmas Santa Forgot Sometimes it was stressful being Santa Claus’ wife. She loved what he did but she wanted a life. So, on Thursday afternoons she went out with the girls, Had an eggnog or two and shook loose her curls. She would tell Santa stories and the girls all would laugh. She waved her gloved hand and said, “You don’t know the half! You may not believe it but once we were young. This giving presents thing had just begun. Santa was an athlete when he was younger, He missed competing because he still had that hunger. But as ...

27 likes 15 comments 15

Read story

“The Boy In The Woods” by Timothy Rennels

Submitted to Contest #216

The Boy In The Woods   Kane Cooper sat on a boulder surrounded by a carpet of yellow balsamroot blooms. He stared into the nearby forest guarding the edge of the Oregon meadow. The rise and fall of the insects’ droning cries set its own time. The seconds lingered, hesitant to let go of the moment; fearful that the next will be less. Kane remembered finding this isolated spot with his brother Kyle. One day they would be explorers scouting out the forbidding forest from their own mountaintop, the next pirates at sea riding their sh...

17 likes 7 comments 7

Read story

“Chips Ahoy” by Timothy Rennels

Submitted to Contest #206

CHIPS AHOY “Is not!” hissed six-year-old Hannah to her eight-year-old brother. “There is too! I read it on the internet. We’re camping right on the Ice Age Trail and look here.” Ethan held his tablet up for his sister to see. “Ice Age Trail Bigfoot Sightings” read the title of the YouTube video. Uncertainty clouded Hannah’s face. “There’s even one video that shows how Bigfoot,” Ethan leaned closer to his sister in the backseat of their parent’s car, “sneaks into the campground at night,” lowering his voice, eyes widening, “and kidn...

10 likes 3 comments 3

Read story

“SHOO FLY” by Timothy Rennels

Submitted to Contest #199

Shoo Fly    Logan Forsyth needed a break. His wife had told him, his Doctor had told him, and even his psychiatrist had told him. The stress of the job was catching up to him, and as CEO of Forsyth Industries he could not afford to show any signs of weakness to the vultures circling his corporate headquarters. The vultures were the consortium of competitors who had rallied their forces against him. He felt the pressure of staying in business as well as the pressure of keeping over 200 employees employed. After much persuasio...

16 likes 13 comments 13

Read story

“Mr. Woodrow's Senior Prank” by Timothy Rennels

Submitted to Contest #198

MR. WOODROW’S SENIOR PRANK      Harper Woodrow gazed at the vista provided for the graduates of Pacifica High School. A platform festooned with blue and white bunting was centered between the goalpost, and rows of white chairs filling nearly half of the football field were filled with black robed seniors. Seagulls rode the thermals over the beach in the distance, and on a quiet night you could hear the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean beyond. The puffs of white cloud against the clear blue sky accented the sc...

11 likes 4 comments 4

Read story

“Quiet In Their Minds” by Timothy Rennels

Submitted to Contest #197

QUIET IN THEIR MINDS The flickering shadowed light from the kerosene lantern danced across the page that lay on the lone table in the room. The quill pen paused above the parchment, then spotting its prey below, swooped down to the page. The frenzied scratches of the sharpened nib poured out words, demanding release. The script was wild and barely decipherable, mirroring the mind of the author. I lived an orphan’s life bereft of hope Resentful relations taking me in My thoughts spiraling downwards on a slope But then the voices came from d...

9 likes 9 comments 9

Read story

“Skinner's Ball” by Timothy Rennels

SKINNER’S BALL    The campfire hissed and crackled in indignation as a brown gob of tobacco and saliva landed in it. The spitter who had just moseyed up to the fire’s warmth was a hulking man, bare chested, clad in overalls with one strap down. He had a face full of red fur, yet his head was as smooth as a sparrow’s egg. Most whispered that he had to shave his skull, or his ever-present Tammany bowler derby simply wouldn’t fit. No one had mustered the nerve to ask Swede Berrigan if that truly was the case.   “What ...

4 likes 6 comments 6

Read story