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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#121: Giving Thanks

Next Thursday marks American Thanksgiving: an occasion for people to come together, catch up, and enjoy large quantities of mashed potatoes. In keeping with the name, many also take this time to reflect on what they’re thankful for — whether that’s good friends, a great job, or the aforementioned potatoes.


This week’s prompts expand on the idea of thanks, exploring not just gratitude, but also recognition, perseverance, and shades of the phrase itself. Whether or not you’ll be celebrating on Thursday, we hope this theme gets you thinking (and in case we haven’t mentioned it lately, thank you for being a part of our amazing community!).

This week's prompts

Start your story with someone saying “Thanks a lot” (sarcastically or sincerely).

Fiction – 37 stories

Write about someone giving or receiving a gift.

Christmas – 50 stories

Write a story in which someone gets credit for something they didn’t do.

Thriller and Suspense – 13 stories

Write about a character who struggles to express their thanks.

Angst – 14 stories

Write about someone in a thankless job.

Teens – 33 stories

Stories

“Amazing Grace” by Melissa Place

Submitted to Contest #121

     "Thanks a lot." Steve stood and clenched his fists as he reached for the door handle.     "Wait man," said Martin.     "Forget it," Steve said, just before the door slammed shut. Martin broke loose from Sami's embrace and sprinted towards the door. He stepped out into the frigid night air, but it was too late. Steve was pulling out onto the highway at a high rate of speed.Martin shook his head. Steve had definitely gotten the wrong impression, and ...

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“Seriously, thanks, a lot!” by Karin Morley

Submitted to Contest #121

Thanks, a lot, for having access to every thing modern medicine and alternative medicine have to give but not succeeding in making it work for you. All I can think is that you must have drunk an awful lot of coffee, as you somehow got yourself a coffee shop for twenty years, one you hung onto with both hands, come hell or highwater. What do I know, though? The ex-best friend, who was deemed unfit to let to stay indoors, in your house, when you left the country. The betrayal, woman, woman corpse. I have no one to talk to about this. No one ca...

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“Thanks, Darling” by Tanya K

Submitted to Contest #121

“Thanks a lot for the ride!” I tell my taxi driver Gabriel. It was a lovely ride. We talked the entire way home as though we knew each other forever. At times, especially when he was laughing and I was getting glimpses of his beautiful smile and his mesmerizing brown eyes the colour of warm honey, I imagined us walking together, hand in hand, in the pale darkness of a summer night. The place is simple in my head: a path by a lake where sounds of gentle waves are almost tuned out by the noise of the people around us. There is an empty bench ...

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“The Sleeper” by Theresa Anna

Submitted to Contest #121

“Thanks a lot.” “Of course,” the bot replies with a tilt of its blank, feature-less face. “We aim to make our Sleepers comfortable.” Kora sips the glass of blackberry water offered and shudders as she glances out the glass wall to the seventy story drop. Silver buildings crowd the crossword of streets, huddling against one another for warmth. The river crawls between, lazy and black, a sheen of ice sweating on the surface. White air buses hover in the air like frozen coughs. An endless winter, a long and sunless scream, encapsules the city o...

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“Poppy's Locket” by Melinda Madrigal

Submitted to Contest #121

The locket, a heart shape locket has been in the St. James family for a generation, pass down from mother to daughter on the day of their 18th birthday. Today is Hailey St. James 18th birthday, the day she will receive the most special gift that has been in her family for a generation. Hailey doesn't know the back story to the gift, she only knows the gift is pass down from mother to daughter on their 18th birthday. On this special day Hailey's mother Caroline will tell her all about the gift and what it means to receive the gift. Ha...

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“The Pendant” by Paul N. Dobrescu

Submitted to Contest #121

I was born at 12:03 on a peaceful night. Four minutes earlier and I would have been one day older than I already am. My grandmother came to the hospital before I could even open my eyes. I wanted to listen to the sounds around me, so I wasn’t crying. She looked at me, looked at my parents and smiled. Her eyes were crystal clear, and tears of joy slowly gathered on the bottom of her eyes, blurring her vision. She reached for her purse, searched around for a few seconds but she couldn't find it. She sat down, looked inside and carefully took o...

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“A CURIOUS COMING OF AGE” by Mike Williams

Submitted to Contest #121

A CURIOUS COMING OF AGE          Edward worked at the auction house every other Saturday during the era of Prohibition.          His son, Bill, also worked at the auction house as a loading man. He wanted to help with the house expenses while he finished his schooling.          As a committed young man with developed muscles, he was easily the next new hire.      &...

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“Christmas present” by Marilena Alexandra Socol

Submitted to Contest #121

“It was Christmas morning, I woke up and realized there was a Christmas tree right in the hallway. It was all just fresh pine scent blended up with orange fragrance, hot gingerbread on the table and cinnamon hot chocolate flavor. Under the decorated there were 3 boxes, 3 gifts for 3 people, and a sock, that was for the dog, I assume. But who cared about those boxes, who? There was a bigger present, a present just for me. SANTA didn't forget about my letter, about the family I wished for. It was so real, a home where normal people sp...

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“The Big Event” by Pako Dunwhile

Submitted to Contest #121

Brenda sat on her newly acquired, penthouse balcony along the Brazilian coast. The spacious overview added to her sense of calm with its chairs, tables, and couch. She looked at her phone's stopwatch. An hour, fifty-seven minutes. The pre-programmed functions were all that now worked without any cell connection. Its battery clung to twelve percent with a red battery bar. Brenda rode out the battery anxiety that used to matter. The phone won't be a phone soon enough. There probably won't be much of anything to distinguish anymore. Brenda wond...

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“From a Gift Card's Point of View” by Dmitriy Galashin

Submitted to Contest #121

The owner, Mr. Kingitus, always carried some grandeur, towering above in his gray suit, hair dramatically disheveled, a modicum of madness in the eyes. But I guess everything looks grand from the bottom shelf of the gift card stand, the rack which I’ve occupied for six months, and frankly – I don’t think it will ever change, well, maybe only if Mr. Kingitus will have a mental breakdown and tear us all to tiny pieces and scatter those around the whole Mall. “All you need is right there,” he encouraged a newcomer, a dark-haired girl in ...

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“Gentle Droplets” by Dannel Evans

Submitted to Contest #121

The tenacious dewdrop has traveled solemnly across the foliage and is prepared to make a final descension; contemplating its dive into the pond, it anticipates leaping towards that glorious impact and initiating the most illustrious ripple. But it never comes. The droplet only gets as far as the brink of the leaf, never achieving the climactic finish it desired. This is the image I see when this wave of apprehension takes over. I’m not trying to bar its progress, I just can’t quite get there, no matter how hard I try to tell them.  Why ...

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“Grace to the small things” by Stella Martin

Submitted to Contest #121

“Marcus!”  God, give me strength. The piercing wail echoes through my eardrums in enough vibrations to both assault and effectively deconstruct my hearing for a second. Not that I need it. Most days I think being deaf would be a blessing if it meant having an excuse to feign ignorance to the world. The source of such auditory assault is coming from my mother, the woman who birthed me and the light of my life. Note the sarcasm.  “Coming, mom!” I yelled back in a tone that not only matched the irritable pitch but went as f...

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“All The King's Men” by Bernice Cabral

Submitted to Contest #121

Mary Ellen caught her breath sharply while making her way down the stairwell from the tenth story of the shabby apartment building. Her left shoulder rubbed against the hard plaster wall, as her left hand grasped the wooden banister. With each descending step, her short halting breaths became deeper and more relaxed. By the time she reached street level, her breath was normal and the butterflies that caused waves of discomfort in her solar plexus had flown off to wherever stomach butterflies disperse themselves. She felt conscious self contr...

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“Peaks and Valleys” by Omar Alvarez

Submitted to Contest #121

      “Thanks a lot… Mohammad...”          “You’re welcome, ma’am… Have a blessed day and a Happy Thanksgiving!”          The angry customer gave him a cursed and confused look as she walked out of the store.           “I think you made a friend, Raymond.” Quipped Alan.          “I’m not even Middle Eastern! I’m Cherokee!” &nbs...

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“The Lovely Things that Heaven Holds ” by Michele Cohen

Submitted to Contest #121

                    The Lovely Things that Heaven Holds I could remember nine times when he said thank-you during our twenty-year marriage. I counted them the day he left me when I needed reasons to rejoice instead of despair. The last time he thanked me was the day I had deep cleaned his study and made a delicious feast of roast beef, scalloped potatoes and blueberry pie, his favorite. In his study, I slammed down his books in ange...

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$250

Prize money

147

Contest entries

113

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 26, 2021 EST

Won by Deborah Elliott 🏆

Title: Onboard an Angel Flight

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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