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Contemporary Short Stories – Page 718 of 734

The Grinder’s Café

Submitted to Contest #63

My small-town coffee shop is on the verge of closing due to the endless pandemic lockdown. I want to support them, but they may have crossed the line with their new autumnal offerings.  The Grinders Café is decorated with the usual hipster blackboard and curvy lettering. The new seasonal menu is highlighted in a special section. Someone broke out the 5 additional colors of chalk and drew a fall leaf and pumpkin border to accentuate the changes. I did not read it carefully, knowing what is likely to be there.  I p...

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never ending story

Submitted to Contest #63

I’m Klepetan and you may have never heard of me, it doesn’t even matter, now I’m going to tell you my story. I am a stork and I do not bring children as many people say, I just live an ordinary family life. Like so many other storks. Maybe now is the time to hear what I want to tell you, because I’m pretty old. Just last year I thought it was over, but here it wasn’t so I got another chance to get back to my nest. But this whole story of mine would make no sense if there was no Malena. Now you wonder who she is? She is my whole world. St...

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An Apple Fritter Toast

Submitted to Contest #63

The trees were a blur of orange, red, and yellow that burned bright against the dull, withering grass. London held a hand over her eyes to dim down the brightness of it all. The apple farm was packed—families and long-time friends gathering around for pictures and scrambling on top of one another to grab the ripest apples located at the top of the trees. London watched as a young girl hoisted herself onto her father’s shoulders and snatched a bright red apple dangling from a branch. She held it over her head like a trophy and the rest of the...

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I Picked a Peach

Submitted to Contest #63

Rudy and Celeste woke early in the frigid house, on an icy bed. He leaned over and kissed Celeste on the cheek and quoted one of his favorite films, based on a Waltons’ Christmas. “I picked a peach when I came a courting you girl.” Celeste smiled at him but hurriedly whipped out of bed. She had planned this trip early and could not stand for delays. This morning, they were going to pick up her niece Natalee and carry her around the famous apple orchard they had heard so much about. Apparently, Stephen King’s family owned it and Rudy, having ...

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‘Swallows, Swallows Poems Are Not the Point’

Submitted to Contest #63

A Short Story from the Perspective of a Bird Migrating for the Winter Title ‘Swallows, Swallows Poems Are Not the Point’ My name is Sean and I am a swallow. Each spring I fly from Africa to a little farm in County Derry, in the North of Ireland. I don’t want to sound dramatic, but I am just about 18 centimetres in length, and weigh 32 grams and I fly six thousand miles from Africa to reach Ireland each spring. I travel 200 miles every day and I begin my 6,000-mile journey in the middle of March. I fly back at the beginning of Septem...

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Falling Fruit

Submitted to Contest #63

He kept picking up apples from the scrubby grass, taking a single bite, and then tossing them back into the dirt under the trees.“That’s rotting fruit,” she reminded him for the millionth time.“They’re fallen apples,” he said for the millionth time. “No one is going to eat them just because they touched the ground. But they tugged themselves off the branches because they’re ripe.”She shrugged with absolute neutrality. This was meant to be a fun day out, not a fight or a nag.“I’m going to pay for whatever we actually pick, Alana.”She scanned ...

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Oops

Submitted to Contest #63

Phillipa and Roy whizzed on their way to this weekend date event: apple orchard adventure. As if they starred in a reality programme, each Saturday and Sunday involved their car, credit cards, and a plethora of social media documentation. Once acclamation rushed in from their legion of nameless fans. With the music floating out of their convertible coupe, two travel mugs full of soy lattes, and Phillipa's golden tresses protected from the wind's fingers in her Hermes scarf, how perfect this morning began. Blossoms Vineyard signage raised the...

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Mildred's Morning Brew

Submitted to Contest #63

           Mildred’s Morning Brew was a welcomed new addition to the small downtown of Cherry Clove. The mild-mannered citizens of the quaint New England town had spent generations of having little more to do than go from Church, to the movies, to the bars. That was, until the opening of Mildred’s earlier in the year, which created a space for artists to display their drawings, for writers to manufacture tales for hours, for musicians to hold open mics. Most importantly a place to grab a...

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Summer was Over

Submitted to Contest #63

Summer was over. Leaves started to yellow significantly in the sun. The wind blew off falling leaves. As far as the eye could seen, there was only seem the brown leaves. Why did leaves change color? Yeah, autumn is coming. This story isn’t tell about how wonderfull the leaves falling in the autumn. This story is telling about a coffee shop and it owner, and also their waiters who confused about a new menu of autumnal drink. What should they serve later? “Our coffee shop just opened since summer, and we have not any problems about that.” Gre...

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The Fall

Submitted to Contest #63

Between the burnt orange and deep reds of the leaves were a handful of green leaves, hanging on to the last moments of summer harder than we were hanging on to our marriage. I thought this might be a fun outing, maybe reignite everything that had been missing in the last couple years. He reluctantly agreed to go, but made it very clear that he wasn’t happy about it. Big surprise.            We walked through the gates of the orchard seeing row after row of trees and adorable little bas...

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Fire

Submitted to Contest #63

"By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire."Lucas looked at me in shock. "FIRE?!" he yelled, "She set the leaves on fire? She's three?! There's no way her laser powers have developed yet. Mallory's boys have laser powers and she told Samantha, who told my mother, who told me, that Asher and Blaze developed their laser abilities at four, and just how proud she was that they developed so early.""Well we can hardly gauge power development on the Flame family, now can we." I snorted at the memory of watching Mallory Carson spending ...

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Apple Cinnamon Pie

Submitted to Contest #63

“Anna, how does this one look?” Minerva said as she thrust her hands in my direction trying to show me what she was holding. “It looks amazing, all juicy and ripe,” I replied. “You should try making an Apple Cinnamon Pie. My kids love it. I add just a little bit of peanut butter to give it that creaminess. Oh wait, Craig's allergic to peanuts, right? Damn! Well anyway, Craig will still love whatever you’re going to do with it.” She didn’t answer, just shrugged and looked down at her feet, refusing to make eye contact with me. She knew that I...

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Dinan, a French Fairytale

Submitted to Contest #63

Today is my seventh anniversary. Not at marriage but divorce. I look forward to this day, not because it reminds me that I hoped something better for myself but because it taught me that I needed to stop. I am sitting at a coffee shop in Dinan, Brittany which is the north of France. It's called Clafoutis and it serves the best Kouignn-Amann, a delightful mix of butter and sugar: my tertiary reason to come here. Dinan, as by locals and tourists is considered a village celebrating French fairytales unlike my failure of 'they lived together, ha...

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The Bonfire

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. It was pitch black save for the bonfire, and it was only a moment ago I had stepped into the nearby house for a bathroom break, but as the one in charge of the flame, I suppose I shouldn’t have left the work to others. There was something serene in the dry leaves, dancing with their newfound flames, but I knew I couldn’t let them continue to dance. We were too close to the farm and already I could hear the animals protesting. Grabbing one of the prepared buckets, I threw the water onto ...

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One mind, different people

Submitted to Contest #63

POV: Girl: Autumn is a hit or miss. I can never tell whether I hate it or love it. In my case, as I grew older I progressively started to dislike fall. For starters the climate is numbing, the weather is already a reason to dislike the season. As time progresses it becomes unbearable for me to take a step outside. Although the color change of the leaves and the migration of animals is an enticing glimpse, it draws you away. Fall leads to the beginning of school, and work for some. Holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving are the only days th...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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