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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write about a character sowing seeds for the future (literally or figuratively).

Posted in General on Mar 25, 2022

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✍️ 43 stories

“The Garden Oath” by Kendell Snyder

Bernadette's stomach churned every time she hugged her dad. She was revolted by the sticky suction of his sweaty arms on her skin. She despised the nose-scrunching sour stench of his morning work in the hot delta earth. More than anything, she hated being so close to the man who killed her mother. Standing at the edge of the garage she'd just entered, Bernadette watched as a strange woman carried her ...

9 comments 9 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Head Plant Supervisor ” by Sharon Hancock

He knew what they called him and he didn’t like it: Unemployed Lloyd. True, he’d been out of work for a while; but that’s no reason for insults. Besides, he’d sent out his resume. Even went on a few interviews. He knew his luck would change and they’d be sorry.     Lloyd scratched his butt and looked at the clock. He heard the stop-and-go hum of the mail truck and trudged to the door; not bothering to put on ...

29 comments 29
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“Camellia” by Jay Mc Kenzie

“That’s all it’s worth I’m afraid.” The estate agent, crisp in his pale grey suit, shrugs. “I mean, you could spend some money. Update it, landscape. You’d get more then. But no-one is really looking for fixer uppers at the moment.”They’re crushed, my sisters. I see it in the uplift of their well-shaped eyebrows and the downturn of their glossy plump lips. I mask my own smile. “What now?” quivers Poppy.Rosa shakes her head, glossy ponytail rippling. “Well,” I chance, “I could move in. Care for her. Yo...

16 comments 16 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Minu Ga Hana” by Shea West

The war meant nothing to the diners that leaned into one another, shoulder to shoulder spilling their sake as they clinked their glasses together with great bravado. Inside the walls of my Otousan’s Tachinomiya the men worried not about war, rather they gorged on good food, drink, and loud company. The watercolor samurai toads and posters of carmine-apricot carp, wallpapered the walls around them, busying the space.I think of the first time I saw the bright-eyed American crowded in the shadows of the bar. The ...

21 comments 21
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“THE ETERNITY SEED CO.” by Annie R. Mc Ewen

Maureen Patrick                                                                                                           3000 words 3411 W. Bay Ave. Tampa, FL 33611 813-464-9577 yazpatrick@gmail.com THE ETERNITY SEED CO. By Maureen Patrick <...

4 comments 4
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“Adam and Evelyn” by Zack Powell

Content warning: Child lossAnother apple disintegrates under the weight of Evelyn's boots. It is the third one in the five minutes that they've been in the orchard, and it does nothing to quell her nagging suspicion that this whole excursion is a mistake. The mushy fruit clings to the sole of her shoe like a beggar, but she refuses to fall any farther behind.Already ten paces ahead, her wife, Gloria, whips through the row of apple trees with the same pinballesque efficiency she uses when stuffing bills ...

28 comments 28
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“The Acorn” by Peyton Scheller

The acorn jostled around in the bottom of a knapsack. Scooped up from the dark Illinois prairie soil, the acorn was on its way to the Palouse. Carried by a man with heavy eyes and a pioneering spirit, the small acorn would soon bear witness to hundreds of seasons, gatherings, and coming and goings of family farm life. Planted in a ground warmer and drier than where it came from, the white oak acorn shoul...

4 comments 4
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“Come Back” by Kelsey H

Three years later the boy came back to him. Ghost of the boy in a man’s body. Grown hard, but what other way would there have been to grow?When the end of his sentence came near Ron wrote him in the place where he was. Come back up here. A card with a bus ticket in it. Maybe he should have written more, but it took time enough to get the four words out. Pen clenched in his left hand because the right wasn’t good for much at all anymore.The day in spring he went out to the car and pulled the cov...

14 comments 14
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“The Tragedy of the Seed Sower” by Becca Ward

"There you are," The woman One murmured as she bent down to sow her seed. Her chances were better with seeds than babies; fewer of them died after touching her. She thought maybe murmuring helped. "You'll be fine."His blade glinting in the sun, her male guard stepped closer. The stick in his hand also held promise, though not an immediate threat. Unlike some, he didn't seem to be the violent type. He'd never hit her for the fun of it, like some. Glancing into his face, she glimpsed his eyes observing her. Light brown, th...

4 comments 4
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“El Jardín ” by Jessamie R.

Childish giggles and soft gasps of awe filled the hushed quiet of the morning and my aching heart. Wide blue eyes gaped up at me, framed by lashes so thick even a mare would be jealous.“Can I plant the seed Mamá?”I smiled down at her, tousling those silky blonde curls that glinted molten gold in the morning sun. “Por supuesto puede, mi amor.”Isabella patted the damp soil with chubby fingers, flattening and smoothing it until it was what she deemed perfect. With a giggle at her dirty ha...

8 comments 8
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“The Ever-Endless Earth” by Abigail F. Taylor

At last, the sun dipped bellow the scattered, brown horizon. Skunk Lowery raised his hand to it, curving his calloused fingers and cupping the orange shine, as though it were the pomelo he'd received for Christmas as a boy. The wild citrus smell was so beautiful that he didn't dare break open the skin, and he hid it under his rope bed like a buried treasure. Over time, it had turned rotten and bent in on itself, like the earth seemed to be doing now. Skunk dropped his hand and rubbed it against his trousers to clean the dirt off. He worri...

2 comments 2
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“Ghost Seed” by Davie Mc Guinn

1907 The ground shook, and the burlap bag of seeds flew out of her tiny hands. The seeds scattered around her bare feet as she caught herself mid-fall. For a moment, the earth stood still. No sound of birds. No wind whispering through the ridges. Bewildered, she collected herself. She would have to wait for the mud to dry to collect her seeds again. That, or she could just leave them be. ...

2 comments 2
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“Beach Fairies Afoot” by John Hanna

Mickey is Irish although he lives in the United States. His name is Michael O’Connor but his friends call him Mickey. He can trace his heritage back to Paddie O’Connor who married Emily MacMullen on a steamer bringing starving Irish, sold into indentured servitude, slavery, during the potato blight of 1847. According to Paddie, taken directly from his journal written in broken Gaelic, he missed the connection with their...

6 comments 6
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“Beauty for Ashes ” by Cindy Strube

Beauty for Ashes Dry lightning cracks the brooding sky, pointing sharp fingers at parched earth. A tiny spark, skipping to a clump of scrubby, desiccated vegetation, ignites the tip of a woody stem - transforming drab, grayish brown to deep, glowing orange. The pungent odor hanging in the air is sweet, with a tang of metallic sharpness.##########“It’s so peaceful up here,” Bonnie sighed. “Aren’t you glad we came?” She set two plain stoneware mugs carefully ...

10 comments 10
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“Nurture and Nature” by Clare Knock

"Congratulations! I can't believe after all these years you're both finally going to be parents! I'm so super excited for you both." Mum was clapping her hands like a cymbal- banging monkey and uncoordinatedly jumping up and down- until she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. "I just peed a little!” And with that - she ran out the room laughing. Half the family gathered around the lounge room hun...

2 comments 2
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