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Write about a professional who is called back to serve their community after retirement.

Posted in Character on Dec 2, 2022

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✍️ 17 stories

All I Want For Christmas is Fair Labor Practices

Winner of Contest #175 🏆

“I told you, Billy, I’m out of the game. Have been for a long time.” Gustmas Tinseltrolley took a long, slow sip of his hot cocoa as Billy “The Jingle” Bellringer stood in the living room of his cozy log cabin, deep in the Canadian Rockies. He knew the second the broad-shouldered elf had knocked on his door that, at the least, trouble was afoot. At the most? All of Christmas could be on the line. “The Big Guy needs you, Gus. The kids need you. You were the best gift wrapper the North had since tissue paper was invented. Besides, Claus said ...

103 likes 60 comments 60
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The Wizard's Tower

Submitted to Contest #175

Trandelomacus heard a commotion outside his prison door. He stepped away from his balcony, and the idyllic view of the rolling hills and lazy sheep on a fine summer’s day, and sighed. Outside the door, he heard the dull jangle of heavy keys accented by the pitched squawking of angry politicians. The iron-bound wooden door lumbered open with a groan. There was Hubert, the one soldier in town and his jailer and constant companion – and behind him was a crowd of aldermen. They were red-faced and growling, all struggling to fit through the doorw...

43 likes 44 comments 44
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The Legacy of Dr. Theodore Marten

Submitted to Contest #175

I am the best paranormal investigator in the world. You might call me a ghost hunter, but that would only reveal your own ignorance as to the subtlety of my work.My job requires a unique blend of skills that very few possess: an incredible amount of cunning and creativity, an unexpected volume of physical prowess, and a great degree of empathy.You see, exorcising a ghost is easy; the most common priest could do it. Catching a ghost on the other hand, now that, is a real talent, and of course, it’s one in which I have a one hundred percent su...

29 likes 12 comments 12
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Eye of the Beholder

Submitted to Contest #175

They looked like mugshots. And those were the best. Others looked like morgue post-mortems. June Tandy pointed to her first-grade daughter’s school portrait. In it, the girl looked like a refugee from a carnival freak show. “She’s six. What were you thinking? How do you do that to a six-year-old?” She stared darts at Carter Lee, the photographer. “The camera doesn’t lie…” Exasperated, June looked for support to Kirby Hudson, the principal, and to Oscar Pedersen. Principal Hudson responded. “You do understand, June, uhm… Mrs. Tandy, that Mr....

26 likes 13 comments 13
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Severed

Submitted to Contest #175

It was a severance that unraveled everything. What I mean by that is, it wasn’t a firing (according to Brad) and it wasn’t exactly a retirement, which is what I called it. It was more of a mutual parting between two parties who had outgrown each other—severance. Except one of those parties was a company I had dedicated my life to. The other was the version of myself I gave to everyone—Janice, the charismatic, efficacious businesswoman. “We’re just going different ways, Janice,” they told me, sitting in an office with placid, robotic face...

19 likes 6 comments 6
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Never Say Never

Submitted to Contest #175

At precisely 6 am, Yvonne Strong rose, opened the blinds and peered onto a garden shadowed by the night’s dark shroud. Shivering involuntarily in spite of the underfloor heating, it was only a matter of time before a frost wreaked havoc on all her hard work. Gardening which kept her going through the worst times was impossible now. She’d brought  the potted plants indoors, but others needed covering over with a fleece. The leaves of the normally hardy palm would have to be tied up. Winter, the colourless enemy truncated all that wa...

17 likes 14 comments 14
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Pocket Flowers

Submitted to Contest #175

Warning: Contains themes of war, violence, death, and gore. Ac Something crashed outside, the night sky filling with what looked like trillions of falling, flaming stars. An alarm blared, signaling another attack, the enemy was on their way. Screaming. Shouts and someone barking orders. Running. Fires crackled as the neighborhood ignited with pillars of fire. Explosions. More screaming.  “I-I’m scared, dad . . .” “Don’t worry son. I’ve got you, Koldan,” I whispered, holding my boy close. His body quivered with every gunshot outsi...

11 likes 0 comments 0
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Angel Wears White

Submitted to Contest #175

“Doctor, we need your help!”There was no way I’m stepping foot in that darn hospital again. Absolutely not. Was serving the community for more than thirty years not enough? Was all the night shifts and marathons of surgeries too little to satisfy? Was the heavy bags and dark circles under my eyes not prominent enough for people to care? Was my hands not bloody enough?“Go away, kid.” I slammed the door shut in his baby face.No more knocks were heard on my door and I knew he had given up. Of course he had to. Sighing, I went back to my living ...

9 likes 1 comment 1
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A Wise Woman Builds....

Submitted to Contest #175

Introducing Martha, the lady of the house. Martha had retired from her job as an events organizer when she was expecting. Now she was the mother of five year old twins, Beau and Celeste. Her sprogs were in their first year of primary school. One classic suburban night, Martha was still attending to her twins' whining needs at ten o'clock. She had got half her pyjamas on, before Beau and Celeste started their attention seeking competition. "Not one more drink of water!" she grumbled at her adorable offspring. "Yes, I know it is dark.Now go t...

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Call the Doctor

Submitted to Contest #175

For her last day on earth, she wished it was warmer.  Martha  hated being cold, and now that it was turning to winter the chill would not leave her bones. She rubbed the small metal pillbox in her hand, a talisman to allow escape from her misery. She twisted the dial on the small electric heater again, but it was turned up all the way. She pulled her thick sweater closer, tucked in the blankets wrapped around her legs even tighter, though it did nothing against the cold deep inside her. Today was her birthday.  “Today is...

9 likes 6 comments 6
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Back in the Saddle

Submitted to Contest #175

Standing over last night's carnage the plump woman shakes her head disapprovingly. As she steps over the tiny bodies of passed out elves she reaches her destination; slumped on one of the couches in the corner of the room is a young man in his early twenties. She walks up to the sleeping man and gives him a solid, anger fueled, thump on the back. “Chris Jr., what do you think you’re doing getting drunk before the busiest night of the year!” she spouts.  Chris rolls off the couch and awakens with a snort. His hands automatically go t...

8 likes 4 comments 4
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Over Their Dead Bodies

Submitted to Contest #175

Like every other staff of the civil service that had put in up to thirty-five years in active service, Dr. Newton had retired on the 1st of June, 2020 and was deservingly re-appointed as Managing Director on a substantive basis on the 1st of January 2021. His re-appointment came as a shock and thorn in the flesh for Jemima, Gordon and Sam Jay, but far from thus disposed were the rest members of staff of Root Crops Nigeria. It was more like a happy homecoming for Dr. Newton and the generality of staff, which to the trio seemed like a huddle, ...

8 likes 1 comment 1
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Humble Upbringings

N M

Submitted to Contest #175

She served her country during a time when it was in turmoil over a war that many did not favor. During a time when women were not recognized as being service members by the masses. During a time when many men of the country were burning their draft cards, running to Mexico or Canada. Yet here she was serving in the United States Air Force as a nurse. Her duty was not to only help her fellow service members but to also help the people of Vietnam. Upon returning home, she met the man she would later marry, also a Vietnam veteran, and have chil...

7 likes 2 comments 2
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Recycling Lives

Submitted to Contest #175

     Near the end of his trash collection route in the Gold Coast of suburban New Jersey Tommy Robinson stumbled over the doubled-packed trash bag–knocking its contents across the roadside on Commonwealth Turn.      For the third time that week the objects spilling out of the polyethylene garbage can liner stopped the veteran sanitation man in his tracks.       Of course, in his 30 years on the job, both in the most well-healed area of suburbia and in the most ru...

6 likes 1 comment 1
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Algerian Retirement

Submitted to Contest #175

Harry looked at his porcelain coffee cup and watched its brown contents break lightly with the drifting breeze. He drank from it intermittently, and only because it was habit to do so. He did not need the caffeine. The surplus energy would just make him nervous. In fact, in looking at the container critically, he realized that he no longer needed coffee as a whole. The drink was wasted on him. "Don't look so morose." His wife Sue said across from him. "You've been staring at that coffee for ten minutes now." "I don't need it anymore." ...

6 likes 3 comments 3
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