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Trudy Jas

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Nov, 2023

Stories (23)

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294 Followers

138 Following

23 Stories

6596 karma pts

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Sugar and Spice

Trudy Jas

Submitted to Contest #306

Sugar and Spice Homemade Lemonade – Make a simple syrup by melting sugar into water over low heat. Add the syrup to fresh squeezed lemon juice, chill. Sweeten to taste. Serve over ice. This early in the season, the water is cool and refreshing. The lazy current carries Jo Anne along. She closes her eyes against the painfully blue sky and the fierce daylight that stabs through the branches. This section of the stream is secluded, well-guarded by trees and bramble undergrowth.Automatically, her thoughts drift to last summer.He had been new to ...

18 likes

Deadline

Trudy Jas

Deadline When you think back, you remember those Friday evenings, don’t you? The ones that were all fun and games. Your brother was an expert at Monopoly and usually took everyone’s money. Other evenings you spent peeking between your fingers, half scared, half thrilled by blobs from outer space. You always begged for five more minutes, one more story, one more hand of cards and depending on mom’s mood, extensions were granted.Later, Fridays meant a movie or parties with friends and curfew that were stretched to their breaking points. Then ...

10 likes

Any Excuse will do

Trudy Jas

Should you want to know the full background on this cast of characters, I refer you to Halloween Came Early this Year, contest #272.Any Excuse will doThis Sunday morning, I woke to the sound of chanting. I do not object to chanting. When the voices blend and the acoustics are perfect, it can be very peaceful, soothing to the soul. But this one raspy voice at 6:53 am was not sleep inducing. Soon, my bedroom became very cold, and I snuggled further under the covers, pulled the extra blanket over me.“What is that caterwauling?” Captain Heissen,...

12 likes

Busted

Trudy Jas

“Quick. Pretend to be my date.” A voice whispered close behind me. An arm wrapped around my back. A hand rested too familiar on my hip. I was pulled snug against a tall, lean body. “Finally! Jameson, did you not hear me calling you?”The cultured voice, though too loud for the small room, belonged to a skinny blonde woman, dressed in a deceptively simple black gown.“Hello Cassandra. I did not see you. How are you?”“Fine, … fine. Hello? Who are you? I don’t believe we’ve met.”Her perfectly landscaped eyebrows arched as she looked me over. Tryi...

13 likes

Princess Charmer

Trudy Jas

Princess Charmer (Title from Title Generator)This is (not) a fairy tale.Once upon a time, in a Kingdom far, far away, lived a Princess.Let me pause here for a second and tell you that when we write about Princesses, we must describe them as Beautiful Beyond Belief. It’s in the rules, large print, bold typeface. Everyone in the Fairy Tale Author’s Guild knows about it. Little girls will not sit still or go to sleep without hearing those words. For let’s face it, if Fairy Tale Princesses were meh, that would mean that all those magical th...

15 likes

Philosophy 101

Trudy Jas

Submitted to Contest #293

Philosophy 101"Are we there yet?"Bobby was bored. He had stared at SpongeBob all morning and there was nothing to see out the window. Just flat land, green grass, blue sky and cows. Big cows that mama said were buffaloes. But she was wrong. Buffaloes had wings. But she just laughed when he pointed that out to her.“Are we there yet?” He whined from the back seat for the umpteenth time. While swinging his legs he could reach the back of mama’s seat. She had asked him not to do it several times. But it felt so good. Thump, thump, thump.“Not yet...

33 likes

Riding in car with granddaughter

Trudy Jas

The radio is tuned to a classical station, Mozart. I let the music wash over me like a warm shower. The stunted knotty willows fly by unseen. The shoulder slopes down to the river where barges chug. Riding low, heavy with cargo, going to, or coming from the seaport. Small dogs, like yapping figure heads, share the latest gossip as they pass.The sun disappears, taking the sparkle from the water. More clouds gather; the wind picks up. The music swells and wanes and swells again like an incoming tide, adding to the tension in the car. I slow do...

13 likes

Sweet baby cakes.

Trudy Jas

Sweet baby cakes. It all started on a dare, like so many other spectacular fiascos or sensational triumphs. “You are such a bigot! How can you summarily dismiss them? What do you have against them? It’s prejudice, is what it is. There! I said it.” My friend Barbara scoffed, rolled her eyes, and leaned back; arms crossed over her ample bosom. But before I could defend myself, she resumed her attack. “I thought better of you. How can you say you are a liberal, openminded, free thinking person if you won’t even look at something as innocent ...

9 likes

Subtropical storm Wendy

Trudy Jas

Submitted to Contest #288

They enjoy planning. Debating where to go for their annual vacation. Agonizing over hotel versus B&B. Studying the map for the best and safest route. Calculating mileage against posted speed limits. Learning which rest stop has a gas station and clean facilities. Researching and rejecting sights, attractions, and possible side trips. All this is as much fun as the trip itself. More, maybe. Months ahead of the trip, they will make lists. Adding items, scratching off others, often adding them to the list again. They will ponder and worry, ...

46 likes

How I found my Poise

Trudy Jas

Submitted to Contest #285

I am about to run out of Poise, both the product and the attitude. So, I slip into my shoes, grab my keys, and make an emergency run to the store. To make the mad dash worth my while I reward myself with a bottle of wine.When I approach the diaper aisle from the dairy section, I see him sneak in from the opposite end. Being curious, I watch him approach, assuming he’ll stop at the small people diapers; he looks young enough. But he keeps walking and passes behind me. So, he is on his way to get milk, I conclude and forget about him till I re...

34 likes

Five against the wind

Trudy Jas

Submitted to Contest #285

Hello, copy desk? What’s your name, kid? --- Phillip, are you ready to take this down?Tuesday, January 30, 1940.Leeuwarden, Friesland, The Netherlands. 23:34.In the early hours, more than 3000 competitors and amateurs anxiously waited in the dark at the starting point of the Elfstedentocht (Eleven city tour). A 199 km skating race over frozen canals, rivers and lakes that connect eleven historical towns in Friesland, one of the two most northern provinces in The Netherlands.Yes, I’ll wait. --- Can I go on?Only when the Elfstedentocht Associa...

24 likes

Dora the explorer

Trudy Jas

This one is for Jed. :-)“Are you really going to do this?” Rebecca looks at her with big eyes. “Nobody has ever done it. Are you sure?”“If I want to have my name in books, then yes I need to do something nobody else has ever done. I can’t just repeat climbing the same mountain many other people have climbed. People will say, ‘sure, well done, kid.’ Then they’ll pad me on the head and move on. I’d just be an arm note. One of a few women to have done it.”“Don’t you mean anecdote? And you’d be the youngest. That should count for something, righ...

18 likes

Wicked theft. A cautionary tale.

Trudy Jas

Submitted to Contest #277

A conversation with my computer. Computer voice expertly supplied by Derrick M. Domican. Thank you, Derrick for your time, thoughts and words. Couldn't have done it without you.Here we go, new week, new story. I need characters, and a plot with a beginning, middle and end. Who'll be my main character, what about a side character, point of view. Shall I go with close narrative? First person narrative? Oh, how about second person, always a challenge. But what about the plot, plot, plot, plot.I can help.Sh. I’m thinking. Plot, plot …Theft.Huh?...

44 likes

Temporal Tempest

Trudy Jas

Submitted to Contest #267

Nothing happens in town before 7:53am.Until then the good citizens wait, sip their second or third cup of coffee, tighten shoelaces one more time, slick down Skip’s cowlick yet again, frown at Bobby as he slurps the sugared milk from the bottom of his cereal bowl.At 7:53 Ciril Presicz, CPA and Town Treasurer, who is so accurate one could, and many do, set their watch by him, passes by the First Marrien Bank. Up until this moment, the clock, perched on the bank’s facade, has confidently announced that the current temperature is 73 degrees Fah...

34 likes

Story's Mission

Trudy Jas

Submitted to Contest #266

Story’s MissionFinally, the library was one of the few places that offered any comfort in the old drafty Woodleigh Manor. The roaring fire was the main, though inadequate source of illumination in the cavernous book lined room. The light from the candelabra at Sir Percy’s elbow allowed for reading but did not reach beyond the well-worn leather club chair.Sir Percy turned the page of his book, pushed his half specs back in place and reached for the brandy snifter. Suddenly he paused in the lifting of the glass, his body at full alert. His bre...

29 likes