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Mary Bendickson

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Feb, 2023

Stories (148)
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501 Followers
612 Following

148 Stories

11179 karma pts

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Way-Back Machine

Submitted to Contest #317

Way-Back Machine Was it my imagination or was it real? Was it truly him or did I only want it to be him? No. I didn't want it to be him. That would be too embarrassing.It was a casual shopping day so long ago I've forgotten many details. A common, at the time anyway, name brand large department store. Not even there anymore. Turned into a health clinic, I think. Not important.I was there alone. Where were all my kids? In school, I suppose. Who can get any serious shopping done with four kids in tow? Not me. Anyway, there I was in the drug st...

4 likes 5 comments 5
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Quiet Hero

Submitted to Contest #316

Quiet Hero The DiscoveryThe unlikely hero was only acting as a temp, filling in for the regular comptroller/treasurer (C/T) of this small city/ big town who was on an extended vacation. Her full-time position was as a municipal clerk (MC). This in-depth bookkeeping work was above her pay scale but with budget cuts and deficits she was forced to do double duty. She'd been wrestling with the numbers but being under time restraints she finally gave up trying to remember the names of all the accounts and simply requested statements on all of the...

17 likes 25 comments 25
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Sailor With a Secret

Submitted to Contest #316

Sailor with a Secret After checking over my shoulder I steered my 30-foot sailing yacht into the small, safe looking harbor. I hoped it would be a big enough to provide all I needed. Finding an empty slip in the public sector proved easy enough. Question was if they had a refilling/dump station. It was standard at all but the tiniest ports. At least I could restock a few items and be on the open water again until I found a bigger port of call. I noticed a bar-restaurant nearby so decided to tie up and go ask some questions. My charts, GPS an...

17 likes 17 comments 17
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1987 Loopty-Loop

Submitted to Contest #315

1987 Loopty-Loop I looked up at the moonless sky. Well, I supposed the moon was there, it was simply obscured by wish-washy clouds. The laden clouds couldn't make up their minds whether they wanted to rain, sleet, snow or any combination thereof. They only knew they had to weep. Weep all over the sensitive e-field warning system and therefore all over me, a lowly security watch person sent on the task of keeping my eyes on the space between the double defensive fences since the questionable weather prevented the cameras from performing their...

26 likes 34 comments 34
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Smell of Death

Submitted to Contest #314

Smell of DeathTW: True account of multiple deaths. Plans change. I heard my best buddy, Lefty, say so as he went down on one knee (he didn't even fall!), and said something like that to pretty Miss Claire, our new friend. And, boy, have they been changing around here lately!It started one evening as I was getting the cattle herded back to the pen when Good Ol' Simon, our neighbor next door whom we watch over and help out sometimes suffered some kind of set back. He was hurtin' bad so Lefty drove him away in our truck and left me in charge. H...

20 likes 21 comments 21
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Alfie

Submitted to Contest #313

Alfie Ariel felt his titillating caress as if he was wanting to make love to her. She leaned into his touch willingly and...nearly toppled off the bed!What? Where was she? Where was he? Oh, yes! The horror of reality set in.She's back in her home town after being gone for twenty-five years ready to collect her father's remains. When she was notified of the discovery she hadn't waited for the local sheriff to tell her it would be a few days and he would let her know when to come. No, she rushed immediately across country to deal with it. Now ...

33 likes 36 comments 36
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Town Without Pity

Submitted to Contest #312

Town Without Pity Ariel Izzard arrived at the only hotel in the small mountainous town, a long single story with doors of the rooms opening out to the parking lot in front, late in the sodden afternoon. The dreariness of the old place matched the depressed mood the whole trip back to her roots took on from the beginning. She didn't want to be here. She swore she never wanted to return to this, her home town, twenty-five years ago when she was forced to leave. 'Forced' may be too strong of a description. 'Highly encouraged' or 'not given any...

45 likes 39 comments 39
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Here Comes The Judge

Submitted to Contest #311

Here Comes The Judge The judge banged his gavel repeatedly. “Order! Order in the court, I say!”The unruly din continued for another minute or two until the command took root. A woman shrieked loudly and ran across the courtroom. Giggles were heard in the gallery as peanuts get passed around. Playful hand clapping rhythms drummed out. Someone sang 'Baa, Baa, black sheep. Have you any wool?' The prosecutor adjusted his ill fitting suit and emitted a low growl.The gavel pounded again. A kind of hush fell all over the room.The owly judge pronoun...

21 likes 29 comments 29
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Thick as Thieves

Thick as Thieves What do you expect when you unite with killers, thieves and other heavy-handed criminals? White lace and promises? A kiss for luck and you are on your way?No way, Hosea! You are in it to win it. Or die trying. Don't expect to sacrifice your morals. You have no morals left to sacrifice.You hoped for chills and thrills. It's bound to be a struggle of wills.Will you make it? Will you survive? Will you be accepted? Will you rise to the top or be rejected? Again and again. Will you finally give up, become independent and have to ...

21 likes 23 comments 23
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Maybe One Day

Submitted to Contest #309

Maybe One Day The drive home was devastating. Seeing the man that crashed into her sister's car killing her all those years ago brought up all those painful memories again. Memories Thel thought she put behind her long ago. As shaken as the chance meeting left her feeling it became obvious the loss was still fresh in her mind or at least hovering right beneath the surface ready to haunt her unmercifully. A new revelation struck her. The shock of losing her sister she was so close to in age and companionship had negatively affected her abilit...

28 likes 19 comments 19
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Unforgetable

Submitted to Contest #308

'Memories,Like the corners of my mindMisty water-colored memoriesOf the way we were...' No radio but the song kept recycling in her mind. 'Of the way we were...' She clenched back the tears. Couldn't cry now. Would never be able to see the road. The glare of the setting sun was already blinding her as it fried every June bug, cicada and firefly splatting itself on the muddy windshield of her pint-sized pick-up. If she turned on the wipers what chance enough washer-fluid was in the tank to make a difference? No, with her luck it would only so...

31 likes 39 comments 39
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Recipe for WOW: Writing Off Wounds

Submitted to Contest #306

Recipe For WOW: Writing Off WoundsFamily wounds cut deep. If not treated they fester and may never heal. How are these wounds created and how can they ever hope to be written off and forgotten? Here is an old family recipe not recommended to be followed:Start with an elderly man, not quite at his expiration date, finely aged to the point of crotchety. Make sure he is left alone a lot to pursue his own interests. These interests usually involve tinkering with his antique vehicles. Best if he has been neglecting his health.Stir in plenty of gr...

38 likes 43 comments 43
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Keep My Word

Submitted to Contest #306

Keep My Word ACT I: Genesis 11:1-9 ESV The Tower of Babel(Scene opens with crowds of people dressed in rough hewn garbs milling about excitedly babbling to one another.)Narrator: These are God's people after the time of Noah. They have not been following God's demand of going forth and multiply to cover the earth. They have decided to take matters into their own hands.Self-declared Leader: Come, let us make and settle here on this wide plain here in the land of Shinar. We have migrated far from the east.Worker 1: Yes, let us make bricks and ...

15 likes 8 comments 8
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Lola

Submitted to Contest #305

LolaTW: Includes sexual innuendo. “T'was the third of June another early summer typical Tuesday in Dullsville. Mom and Dad were off to work already but I hadn't lined up a summer job yet so I decided to take a run.Clad in my slick Nike's from gym days, knee-high striped athletic socks, short silky running shorts and a happy face t-shirt I'm the height of jogging fashion. I take a well-worn path but when I come to the intersection where I could turn right and head home or left and end up ...where ever, I get a second wind and turn left.Hey, I...

31 likes 39 comments 39
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Fever

Submitted to Contest #304

Fever Fever. Feel it in the air. Lawd! It's hot. Louisiana hot on a summer Saturday night. Not a breath of a breeze. Sultry. Like trying to inhale a sponge.Gossamer iridescent wings of dragonflies helicopter above clouds of gnats hanging low above the muddy waters of the wide Mississippi. Mosquitoes hatch and blacken the tall marsh grasses in the ditches still sodden with flood waters from the last downpour. Bullfrogs croak as if they are dying, poisonous snakes slither unseen, gators lie in wait with only their beady eyes peering above the ...

42 likes 36 comments 36
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