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David Nutt

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Feb, 2021

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97 Stories

1440 karma pts

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The lonely clown

The lonely clown On an early spring evening it was a good crowd for Thursday. I had positioned myself outside the station. It was late afternoon. I was entertaining the people coming from work. They needed a few minutes of amusement to decompress themselves before opening their front doors and being faced with all the emotional baggage of family life. Through my face mask I could see the people were enjoying the show. I saw numerous people throwing notes and coins into my bowler hat. My act today was the result of three years of working the ...

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I found out who I am

Weekly Contest #296

I found out who I am. I was born into a working class family. My father worked as a machine tool operator in an industrial town in the North of England. My mother had married below her station in the town’s social world as she was a teacher. In marrying my father she stepped down to his level of a working class member. All this at birth and for several years after meant nothing to me. It was in my early teams that I started to understand the complex undercurrents of living in a structured and closed community. Father was a good looking man. ...

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From churches, graveyards to funerals

Weekly Contest #295

From churches, graveyards to funerals I was fourteen when I had the pleasure to start accompanying my father on his various road trips. In my mothers mind school was always a priority whereas father thought missing the occasional term time day to travel with him on his sales rounds was an educational lesson in the real world. Also it had a geographical aspect to commend it. My father was the senior salesman in a company making hoovers that sold their product range through home demonstrations. It was a young company with limited production fa...

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Dying with peace of mind

Weekly Contest #294

Dying with peace of mind Daniel Summerfield to Harold Ffinch……14 june 2024 My dear Harold, I am writing this letter from a small isolated village a few miles from the Salange National park in the Republic of Congo. You find me on my deathbed with a severe attack of yellow fever. Although before leaving England a month ago I took the precautionary measure to take a vaccine against this life threatening disease the vaccine is not proving strong enough. The local medicine man attending me is trying his best with various herbs that seem to hav...

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Bewitched and bewildered

Weekly Contest #290

Bewitched and bewildered He lay on the floor in a semiconscious state. He had fainted, but why? It had all begun three weeks ago. It was Monday morning he sat at his usual place 426 in the New York Public library on 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue, a daily habit he enjoyed. He recalled he was studying the life and works of Theodore Roosevelt. For a minute his mind focused on place 426. He remembered the first time he started going to the New York Public Library. He was immediately struck by the magnificence of the building, and surprised to...

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When you are handed a losing hand

Weekly Contest #288

Content Warning: This story contains themes of stalking and marital conflict When you are handed a losing hand I gently pulled back the curtain so that I could look down at the street without being noticed. There he was standing near the lamp post on the other side of the street. It was raining quite hard but that didn’t seem to disturb him. He wore a heavy macintosh with a large hat that covered any chance of seeing his face. I let the curtain fall back into place. “Harold, it is bizarre and frankly scary. There is a man standing across ...

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It was no ordinary Cafe

Weekly Contest #287

It was no ordinary cafe The two brother’s sat there discussing politics over a glass of whiskey. I was half listening while thinking about my pending marriage. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, the conversation changed to detailing their plans for a visit to Cairo in ten days time. They turned to me and my father said. “Come with us, it’s probably the last chance you will have to enjoy your bachelorhood”. “Father, as you were for many years the senior partner in the family’s law firm, can I rely on you to persuade the partners to give me a...

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Desperate measures

Weekly Contest #285

Desperate measures Hi, Joe it’s Richard. Can I call you on your secured line? I want to discuss something with you. Sure, just give me ten minutes. Richard, go ahead. The line is fully secured. Thanks, Joe. I want to discuss a problem I have at my law firm. You sound very stressed out. I am to the extent that I am preparing myself to take a dramatic decision. Let me give you a quick overview of the situation. As you know, being one of our clients, we are a small firm with ten lawyers.The firm’s partnership ownership is shared 75% to ...

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Extraordinary happening when traveling alone

Weekly Contest #284

Extraordinary happenings when travelling alone. I sat there at the head of the table. I was about to say grace and quickly realized in our family this touching act was a thing of the past. In fact even in my childhood my parents relegated grace saying to past traditions. At that moment it did cross my mind that many commendable and worthy traditions were being shelved in the world’s leap forward to explore and institute new standards of living. In front of me at the other end of the table was my wife, two young teenage daughters on my left....

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One year, one month, one week, one day, one hour, one minute, one second

Weekly Contest #283

One year of tragedy, one month, one week, one day, one hour, one minute, one second. I was born into a military household. My father was a well known and respected General. My mother was the chief administrative officer for pensions concerning officers above the grade of Major. I was their only child. The household was run like a well oiled Swiss watch. Attention to discipline, high standard of moral and ethical behavior with a sense of duty and respect for your parents and the common good. After a first class education at West Point I was ...

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The Tortoise and the Badger

Weekly Contest #281

The tortoise and the badger I am beginning to feel old. At my age I suffer from the inevitable morning pains in certain muscles. I cannot tell you how old I am. I once heard somebody calculate my age by looking at the rings on my carapace. So without being able to see the top of my carapace I will never know my age. But I feel quite content with my life always carrying my home on my back. It's so convenient at the sign of any danger I just curl up in my protective house. Shush, I hear something approaching. Suddenly I find myself flying t...

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Talk...just talk

Weekly Contest #280

Talk….just talk Excuse me. Can you please tell me the way to the pet shop? A hundred yards down the road to your left. You're a handsome bird. I know, but thank you. Can you talk? Yes, I can talk, but be quiet. The shop staff don’t know. Please, how much do you want for the parrot here next to the front window? Wait a minute. Bob, what are we asking for the male African Grey parrot in the entrance. As It doesn’t talk, 125 euros I ‘ll buy it. Do you want a cage? At present they are on sale. Wait a minute I will go and ask the bird...

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Search and you might find

Weekly Contest #279

Search and you might find I am an independent journalist living in a world of news spilling out at an unprecedented rate in the history of mankind. Much of it was false without any factual evidence, lies and untruths seem to be the norm. Each morning when I opened my computer or picked up the mail it took a good hour to sort through the garbage. Today I had a pleasant surprise. An invitation from an old friend to spend a quiet weekend in his country manor. It was about two years ago since I last saw him at Penelope’s wedding. We had a bet t...

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A shameful death

Weekly Contest #278

A shameful death We lived in a large house with a big garden next to the vicarage.The house was situated in a charming village in the south of England. My father was the local doctor and my mother ran a small business selling her imaginative and unusual sculptures. Our home was always a hive of activity. My father had his surgery there and mother a large artist atelier at the back of the property. I was an only child. Both my parents were fervent protestants.Their belief imposed a presence at the Sunday service in the local church. My paren...

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Friendship is but fragile

Weekly Contest #277

Friendship is but fragile The opening scene is a Wednesday afternoon in the British house of commons. Sir Richard Ffinch was about to speak for the conservative party on defending the British hunting laws. I sat opposite him on the labor benches as the agriculture minister of the opposition party. As Sir Richard stood up to talk, all the memories of our friendship came flowing back to me like the tides cressing the beaches.That friendship formed years ago when we were in our college years, never lasted more than a year. Today I saw him as a...

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