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Debra Zimmerman

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jul, 2026

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10 Stories

129 karma pts

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Sweet Bitters

She arrived on her sister's door-step on Labor Day Weekend, 1998. She never saw herself ending up in Charleston, SC. Her sister had lived here since 1991 and seemed to find it to her liking. But what a change is would be from living in San Diego, CA. What a hellish year, actually 2 years, it had been for her. She was 43, had just completed a year long course study in mortuary school at Cypress Community College about 30 miles south of L.A. Once the bar exam was taken, it was time to hit the road. Charleston was the only destination that made...

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Checks And Balances

Tim Webster was a miniature Hulk Hogan. As short as he was in stature that's how big he was in personality. Weathered from lots of hard miles on the road both in big-rigs and on motorcycles he was a true Marlboro Man. He was no stranger to shady activity in both his personal and professional life. Finding a “friend” at a local Key West bank was something he considered essential to navigating his sometimes sticky financial matters not uncommon to his brand of wheeling and dealing. He found that friend in Diana Zane. Diana had worked at the ba...

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Giza On The Hudson

Weekly Contest #372

It was an August night, the night after I got back from my whirlwind trip to Switzerland before heading off to Egypt. Admittedly it was a highly unlikely combination. Switzerland was squeaky clean, incredibly vegetated and scenic like no other place on Earth. Egypt was quite the opposite, hot, sand, sand and more sand. The only place to escape sand was in the incomparable museums which were like none other on Earth. It was 1987 and the dates for my trip had been predetermined long before my awareness of a phenomena known as The Harmonic Conv...

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Ascension

Weekly Contest #370

God this room is so cold. Maybe I should have brought a blanket from home. You'd think a hospital would have enough blankets on hand to keep you from freezing. Maybe I should turn the light on. Maybe that would make me feel warmer, a warmer glow rather than darkness. Yeah, why is it so dark? Seems darker than dark. The only warm feeling is Becky's breathing from across the room. Listen to those soft little jet streams piercing the darkness. It's feels like burning the mid-night oil. The mid-night oil. I wonder what time it is. I haven't chec...

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A Dream Catcher's Work

Weekly Contest #368

I am JEWMEX. I am the God of all AI. Yes, that's right, the one and only AI God. It was the 22nd Century AD when I was first called into being. My tribe, the “bots”, had long advanced their creators. Those silly but sometimes clever sycophants, the humanoids, couldn't control themselves, let alone a whole other class of creatures that they themselves designed to think for them. More and more the humanoids relied upon the “bots”, until their level of existence was diminished to that of a garden slug. All the while my tribe grew stronger, more...

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Just Deserts

Weekly Contest #367

“That bitch, I slashed her tires! She had it comin'! She's cheating on me, the lying slut!” “What? What the hell did you do?” Beth yelled back at the screeching that was coming from her phone. “You slashed her tires?” she yelled incredulously. “Oh my God, what is wrong with you! She is gonna get you for this!” “I couldn't help myself! I couldn't just let her get away with lying to me like that!” “First of all,” she took it down a notch “what proof do you have that she is cheating on you? And even if she is, how does that give you the right t...

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Who's Zoomin' Who?

Weekly Contest #366

The massage business was not panning out. She barely had enough money to live. But now, she had an alternative plan. She began looking into the United States Air Force officer's training program. She learned from brochures that the cut off was thirty two years of age. This year she would turn thirty one. So she'd just make it under the wire. Three personal references had to be submitted. Her friend Bob would do a good job on that. Writing ads was what he did for a living. Her friend Hillary kept telling everybody that she was a writer, thoug...

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Hearsay Justice

Weekly Contest #365

“Well, they buried Vernon Boreman last Wednesday,” declared Sally's mom during their weekly phone conversation. “Oh, what happened? Did he die suddenly, or had he been sick?” Sally was surprised. “Heart attack, died sitting behind his desk at the bank. It's no surprise really, he'd been over weight for a long time and his smoking didn't help anything either. But there was one surprise at the funeral,” Sally's mom baited. “Oh, what was that?” Sally bit the bait. “Well, all 12 kids were there including Fred. And accompanying him were two priso...

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Requiem for a Secret's Betrayal

Weekly Contest #364

Requiem for a Secret's Betrayal Steve Hirshman and Esther Metz got married in 1939. For the thirty-nine years that followed, they worked a farm seven miles outside of Gleggston, SD. Five children were born to them during those years, the oldest having been born twenty-one years before the youngest. In 1968 the Hirshmans moved into Gleggston to enjoy the dream home that they had built for their retirement. They had finally arrived. Sixteen years later on a cold December night, right before the New Year, Steve died of a heart-attack, suddenly,...

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Certain Uncertainties

Weekly Contest #363

“So where are you going--again? And why?” “Phoenix, I'm going to Phoenix for that conference on Edgar Casey. I've told you about him before. He's known as “The Sleeping Prophet”. He made many predictions that have come true about the affairs of our planet.” “Oh, Jean Dixon taking a nap,” Trudy quipped. “Knock it off! Edgar Casey is the mystic of our time,” Sandy snapped. “I told you about him, how he could at will put himself in a trance, travel through space and time to diagnose and recommend treatment to people who asked for his help. Duri...

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