Vj Hamilton

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Feb, 2020

Stories (30)

30 Stories

947 karma pts

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“Thinking Ahead” by Vj Hamilton

After a mac-and-cheese lunch the children lay spreadeagled under the patchy canopy of plane trees. Insects droned and the smell of cut grass from a neighbor’s backyard mixed with diesel fumes from the construction equipment on the end lot. The children lazily wriggled as they imagined themselves a pan of cut-out gingerbread men browning under the enormous oven light of the sun. “But I don’t like gingerbread,” Tiggie whin...

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“Women, at That Time” by Vj Hamilton

Alice smooths the folds of her muslin apron over her calico dress. She can feel the dampness under her arms, where each gathered sleeve is stitched to the gusset. The high-necked bodice, lined with canvas for extra strength, is too warm and crackling stiff for this early autumn day. Alice says: “This three-legged skillet, also called a spider, was designed for open campfires,” as she gracefully lifts it from the other ...

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“Paper Snowflakes” by Vj Hamilton

Falynn dug the blade of her chisel into the wood, one chip at a time. Her brother Sammy, sitting on a crate beside her, snipped at folded paper. Bits of wood and paper drifted onto the scuffed concrete floor. In the room around them, shelves were attached to three walls, the boards so laden with heavy items they curved under the weight. Someone had tried to put order into the vast array of items, but it looked like the c...

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“Bewitched” by Vj Hamilton

“That’s it,” Joe thundered. “Final straw – I can’t connect!” He darted from kitchen table to rickety verandah, holding his open laptop: the dance of the fading WiFi signal. His stream of profanity trickled out when Griselda appeared. “Hello, sweetheart,” she crooned as she sashayed up the path to their cottage. In the distance two ravens cawed and a motorboat hummed across the wide blue lake. A bucket swung on he...

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“Fill Up the Empty” by Vj Hamilton

When Iris Lepinski walked into the elevator of her apartment building on a Tuesday afternoon, she didn’t look twice at the other person. A single glance told her that a young man in athletic garb, wearing his ball-cap backwards, was standing in the corner of the elevator. Minding his own business. He didn’t nod when she got on. She didn’t think twice about that either; this was the big city. A gray-haired white woman, es...

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“Blue Ridge Days” by Vj Hamilton

Nothing spelled dedication more than drinking the rotgut coffee in the common room. The coffee was made every morning by Horst, the research associate who’d provided continuity to the professor’s group for thirty years. He rinsed the pot but never scrubbed it with soap and hot water, hence the aftertaste. I was new to the coffee habit but determined to accept the challenge. Every morning, a few of us grad students, both...

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“Seven Reasons I Hate Mr. Magoo” by Vj Hamilton

So I’m watching Mr. Magoo on his tanning bed thinking how much I hate the creep. All stretched out there, dozing, his belly the biggest part of him exposed to the warmth of the light. He’s got the big black blindfold to protect his eyes. My phone pings – my agent asks when will I reach a decision? Mr. Magoo is set to ruin my world – and he has no idea. The ping made Magoo scowl – a brief scowl – and it bothered me...

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“All the Luck” by Vj Hamilton

“Some guys have all the luck,” says the man on the seat beside me. “Let me tell you, Vince, they have all the luck.” I swirl my frosted vanilla cappuccino and take a long pull through the straw. Around us the other Greyhound passengers are snoozing or gazing out the window. I’m glad I doctored my drink with a stiff shot of Grey Goose before I boarded. My seatmate Braydon is a tough-looking guy, with close-c...

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“Second Chance” by Vj Hamilton

One A grove of maple trees stood in a vacant lot across from his high school. How welcoming they had been, with low boughs and dense whispering foliage. No fruit, not like his family’s orchard in the place before, but still, it was a sanctuary. He spent lunch hours and after-school time in the maple grove, while American classmates rode around laughing and smoking in cars or gathered in basements with girls.

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“Popsicle” by Vj Hamilton

Blue was on the bottom. The popsicle was red on the top, pointed like a rocket; white in the middle, the cylindrical fuel tanks; and blue on the bottom, where its mighty boosters would achieve lift-off. Gigi’s tongue, that slick primordial muscle, rooted around for blue. She knew how red tasted, strawberry-raspberry-sillyberry jelly-candy red. And white was just sugar. But blue… Gigi had never tasted blue. Blue w...

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“Snow Globe” by Vj Hamilton

Zack was new on the staff at Pak-n-Save that fall, fresh out of high school, working part-time while he saved up for university. At the library or night school: Zack should have been studying, but instead he was clearing shopping carts from the parking lot. And wishing he could clear his head. Briana, the girlfriend who had welcomed him into her world of dance and Instagram teddy bears, had cast him aside the week before...

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“Cabbage Hill” by Vj Hamilton

Charlie checked his Rolex. An hour before his flight to Chicago, to make his connection home. He had one final pre-arranged stop. He drove the rental Camry down the street of stunted maples and shaggy bushes until it reached Perimeter Road, then went two blocks beyond. Here we are, he thought: The House That Time Forgot. The bungalow needed paint and the front yard was chaotically overgrown with tall, t...

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“A Decent Proposal” by Vj Hamilton

After Marta’s funeral, Stuart decided to look for a real wife. A kindred spirit. A soulmate. He had done his time, 32 years, counting the last two years of nursing her through her final illness, and now he was ready for romance. Marta had watched and re-watched dozens of rom-coms in her final year. At first he shunned such movies as treacly “chick flicks,” but soon he grew to enjoy the carefree concoctions, especi...

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“Those Who Wait” by Vj Hamilton

Bright azure skies and foamy flecks of cloud lured people, in ones and twos and threes, back to “ordinary” seasonal activities. Trevor, sitting in a restaurant patio, kept his eye on the gate. He powered his way through the small basket of individually wrapped breadsticks, cracking each one with grim satisfaction. The small bones of a big creature—or was it the big bones of a small creature? “Have you looked at ...

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“Thirteenth Labor of Hercules” by Vj Hamilton

There are always expectations, and Hercules hates to disappoint. “Oh crap,” he says to Jack as they are unpacking the camper van, a souped-up refurbished Airstream, “I completely forgot about the three-chilli guacamole.” Anxiety washes over him. What the hell kind of friend is he? He’d told Jack he’d bring the guac and yet here he is, empty-handed. Jack, the friend he’s known longest of all, who has stood by him ...

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