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Elizabeth Rich

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Nov, 2024

Stories (57)

Comments

Library

76 Followers

22 Following

57 Stories

1480 karma pts

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Bess

Submitted to Contest #327

She rode into town on 25-year old mare, given to her on the occasion of her sixteenth birthday. Bess never was a rough and tumble kind of gal. She rode Sal everywhere the day the horse came into her possession, and Bess never seemed to mind that Sal went one speed--slow, with a slight limp. It turned out that if a horse lived long enough, there might be some hip dysplasia, or one leg might just be a little shorter than the other three. Bess eschewed the car, the bus, and she would have turned up her nose at the subway if she had lived in a l...

11 likes

Last Dance with Mary Jane

Submitted to Contest #326

Margot bent over to pull her running shoes on. They were, perhaps, one of her best finds. Light weight, wide toe box, cushioned support in the heel. When she laced the shoes, she felt a poignant sense of achievement for having found these shoes in a sea of shoes upon shoes upon shoes. They weren't the first or last shoes she tried but somewhere in the middle. She knew as soon as she tried them they were perfect, but, still, she persisted in trying on more shoes before coming back around to settle on perfection. A woman could go a lifetime an...

5 likes

The Truth of the Breeze

Submitted to Contest #325

Mother and I sat together on boulders on the edge of the field. We grew wheat this year, covering the land, a canvas of wheat for acres and acres, the golden chaff blowing gently in the breeze. From where we sat, it looked like sand shifting in a desert. The wind raced across the crops toward us, caressing our cheeks, kissing our foreheads, invading our nostrils with the slightly sweet scent of wheat and a mild undercurrent of decay. The sun warmed our scalps and faces, and I took a hat from the bag Mother had brought with her. Mother drew h...

12 likes

Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble

Submitted to Contest #323

"Double, double, toil and trouble. Fire…" the three sisters chanted in unison until Jasmine broke the flow with a sneeze that had her doubling over. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me. Fair is foul and foul is fair; Hover through the fog and filthy air," she said, lapsing into a cackle heavily laden with labored breathing and the sound of phlegm-filled lungs." "Jazz," Ariel said, "you need to get to an apothecary or a shaman or a wizard or someone for a breathing treatment." "Ariel's right," their oldest sister, Tiana, responded. ...

7 likes

King Midas

Submitted to Contest #322

"Man, you're not digging down on the vibe," Levi said. "There's something missing. It's the vibe, you know? Can't you feel it?" Levi covered the head of the microphone and shook his head in exasperation. He did exasperation well with his rats' nest of naturally curly hair that he couldn't be bothered to brush or comb or style."Robbie, man, are you listening to me?" Levi said while snapping his fingers as if to bring him out of a trance."Dude, I don't know what 'digging down on the vibe' means. Like, I mean, what?" Robbie said. Robbie had rec...

8 likes

Stop 8

Submitted to Contest #321

Virgil was very, very tired. Each morning, he rolled over, groped for the button on the alarm clock, sat up in bed, stretched his arms toward the sky, and let out a yawn that did not sound like a lion's roar. The sounds that came from his mouth while he yawned were a moan. This moan was a lifetime's worth of dissatisfaction jettisoned each morning into the ether, and no one beyond Virgil would ever hear his unhappy braying. No one would ever rush to his side to offer to make things better, to make him better, to make his existence on this pl...

9 likes

Not a Very Good Idea

Submitted to Contest #320

The Field TripI acknowledge now that it was not a very good idea. In fact, in light of events, I acknowledge that it was a very bad idea. When I was planning the field trip, though, it seemed like the perfect way to capture the curiosity and imaginations of the children. It seemed like a beautiful way to teach them the wonder of natural science in a way where they could be part of the spectacular nature of, well...nature.The PlansAll of the planning followed the usual procedure, involved completing the usual forms, and ended with the usual a...

7 likes

The Current Under the Cloth

Submitted to Contest #319

Doing the right thing was sometimes the easiest thing but, often, though, the hardest thing. "If left untended, things invariably tend toward chaos," a professor explained in a biochemistry class. This professor was the essence of what happened when something was left untended."Class, look at my eyes," he said. "Can you see this cataract on my left eye? Look at my arms. Can you see the misshapen veins protruding from my forearms?" He wore an unfortunately out of date golf shirt, but proved his point by turning his forearms toward the class t...

11 likes

The Little Bear

Winner of Contest #318 🏆

My parents loved me. I knew they did. However, in their quest to remain young and relevant, they failed spectacularly to embrace that I would, inevitably, grow older. At some point, they would have to acknowledge the chubby toddler fat would give way to sprawling, awkward limbs, the dawning muscle of youth, the sinews of which would become the solid flesh of adolescence. From there, we were but the briefest amount of time away from when adolescence would become the teen years. I don't think they thought much about how my growing up would eve...

125 likes

Dan: Act One

Submitted to Contest #317

When he was an adolescent, he was incredibly reckless. He treated each day like it were no more than kicked up dust on the toes of his shoes. And he didn't feel any compulsion to give them a rough tap to dislodge the dust. It simply wasn't worth his time, and truth be told, it wasn't worth his effort either.He had a strut to his walk. He had seen "Saturday Night Fever," and he liked how John Travolta commanded the scene any time he entered. Whether it was a sidewalk or a dance floor, every eye looked his way. On the cusp of being a high scho...

3 likes

The Mother, the Boy, the Bugs, and the Truth

Submitted to Contest #316

It was oppressively hot. The kind of hot that immediately melts the ice in your iced tea, skipping from cold directly to lukewarm. It was the kind of hot that rendered many a young lady's face a seeming rictus of pain not long at all after melting off every last molecule of makeup. It was the kind of hot that made the gnats leave their nests to find somewhere with water where they could dive-bomb for respite in exchange for their brief lives. Something about the heat woke both the cicadas and the mosquitoes. The mosquitoes could be diverted ...

12 likes

Get in the Ring

Submitted to Contest #315

[NOTE: there is arson in this story.]"Happy birthday, motherfucker!" she screamed into the garage, pausing momentarily to toss a Zippo lighter over her shoulder. Out of spite, she had sown the floor with butane and sparklers because…why not.Earlier in the evening, she took her time dressing, getting ready for the main event. Black tank top, leather jacket, black leather mini-skirt, thigh high stiletto heeled boots. Lipstick the color of blood, anger, vengeance; glossy like the irresistible candy apples in the county fair. Eyes lined with bla...

7 likes

John and Gretel

Submitted to Contest #314

[Note: There is an allusion to some disgusting murder of an old woman and violence toward children. Heads up.]Once upon a time, there was so much magic in the world and so much time! A person could sit and take in every atom, molecule, cell, and being; we could see the sky, the heavens, the earth all around us. We felt and heard every tree, every shrub, every leaf, blade of grass, even the tiniest creatures occupying the most minuscule places in the foliage. And in every moment of experience, we could always find magic.The magic was so loose...

5 likes

The Midas Touch: The Gameshow

Submitted to Contest #313

"Where is the Love! The answer is, Where is the Love!" I shouted."Very good, Emi, but what's the name of the singing group or artist?" the host wanted to know. He was a fill-in host, and I didn't catch his name. Being called to the stage enthralled me to the point of almost wetting my britches. Oh, lordy. I could not wait to call my sister. She would be green as a grinch with envy."I know this," I yelled. "You're going to be so surprised when I nail this answer. By the way, can you tell me your name again? I was so excited to get on the show...

11 likes

The Readers' Club

Submitted to Contest #312

The InvitationIt was buttery smooth to the touch. Thick. Substantial. The sender spared no expense. The envelope was not addressed to me, Tommy Branson. It must have been meant for the apartment's former tenant, Andy Semple. But there was something about the envelope that begged me to open it, to see what was inside.The content of the envelope was a single piece of card stock, but calling it card stock shortchanges it. The card stock had the same buttery smooth feel as the envelope. The edges came to sharp corners, and the words printed on t...

11 likes