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Frances Goulart

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jul, 2024

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33 Followers
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62 Stories

786 karma pts

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HONEST TO GORKY

“You, whoever you are, are standing on Gorky’s doorstep!” I said “ And I am Gorky.” “Gorky? You’re a ladybug and you're named after the Russian socialist novelist Maxim Gorky?” Of all things on an early Monday morning in the Wild Wild Woods, what should I find standing outside of the paperbag that is my house and home, but a brown bear creature with big snowshoe-sized feet, “Gorky’s my undercover name. I saw the name on a paperback in the library's trash bin. What’s your name? Are you a grizzly bear ?” “No,I’m a desert kangar...

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ALL THAT GLITTERS

Weekly Contest #356

“Maddie, look! Down there, “ he said, excitedly pointing at something in the lower depths of the leaf- covered pond at our feet. “Something glittering. Like gold. But it’s so far down. What do you think it is?”“Glittering? Maybe it’s a big fat good luck goldfish. Duffy, you are the eternal child. How can you see through all the gunk and muck in a pond that hasn’t been properly dredged since, I don’t know, the Neanderthals were stomping around Franklin County .” “Neanderthals? Don’t make fun of my rustic pond, and by the way, Maddie,...

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LEAVING MY SWEET BEAUTIFUL HOME

Weekly Contest #354

LEAVING MY SWEET, BEAUTIFUL HOME There are untold numbers of very famous people whom I am not. For instance, I am not Emily Dickinson, although I think Emily and I could have been friends over her edible flower-decorated gingerbread and tea. I am not Georgia O’ Keefe, although I can imagine sitting on one of her flame-red couches and watching her sketch gorgeous fruit bowls and shimmering sunsets. I am not Jane Austen, although I can summon up the image of me, listening in on her 18th-century gossip girl commentaries over a tureen of Mr ...

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COLOR ME GREENBACK

COLOR ME GREENBACK “Mmm…“It smells like yellow. Mellow yellow.”“Get your nose out of the bowl, Craig. It’s just a bowl of ramen noodles..”How can it smell like a color? Colors don’t have smells.”“They do for me, Max. You see that little robin’s egg blue tea cup over there on the next table. Next to the cute little blonde in the pinafore? I can hear it. That blue cup. It sounds like D minor, the chord, D nor.”“Craig, that's looney tunes. That’s just a coffee cup and this is just a bowl of noodles. And now you’ve spoiled my appeti...

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THE LITTLE RED BOOK

Weekly Contest #351

“Everything you can imagine is real”---Pablo Picasso “Take it back!” Sam shouted at no one in particular, waving the gift book over her head. Everyone had left the room anyway. Everyone, being her mother, her stepfather, her clueless friend Angus from next door, and baby Linus (what good was bringing a baby to a birthday party? A six-month-old who pooped his diapers right in the middle of the cake-cutting?) Sam reflected on how much she hated babies, starting with her little brother. Babies were so worthless. They couldn’t eat cake or brin...

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DEXTER, GOOD DOG!

Weekly Contest #349

Their car backed out of the garage and headed down the driveway. It was early morning. There was still a sliver of moon in the sky. But I could see Alison’s little pink face pressed against the rear window as it drove away. Then they were gone, and I was alone again, just like that time long ago. What did I do wrong? My name is Dexter. You can call me Dexter. I am just a dog, but don’t call me Doggie or Rover or Paws, because you think that I don’t care what you call me, because you think I am a mutt. I do care. I am just a dog, not a ...

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WHO'S CALLING?

Weekly Contest #348

“Who’s calling?” Who is this?” There was silence at the other end.Well, not total silence. Someone was breathing into the receiver. The mouth(his, hesr, or its) creepily close to the receiver.But there were no wordsThen the breathing stopped. And a muffled voice mumbled “203” enunciating the two, zero, and three. As though it might mean something to me? “Speak up or hang up!” I shouted into the receiver of my landline.Silence again.Why didn’t have caller ID ? I wondered, besides wondering what I was still doing with a landline in 2026, a...

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THE FLASH AND THE KID

“Call me The Flash, kid.” Sure. The name fit. In fact, I knew the first time I met Ezra Garfinkel outside the Three Squares Diner that Ezra wasn’t the kind of guy to be taken for granted. Or to get taken. Not even once. You only had to take a good look at him to know you weren’t going to squeeze an extra nickel, word, or favor that he didn't owe you out of him. I may be a high school dropout, but that much I knew that first rainy afternoon I ran into The Flash. I wasn’t dressed for the encounter. Seventeen-year-old me, knockabout Lonnie G wi...

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2,342 WHAT?

2,342 …..WHAT?‘ What does it mean, that number, right above your head, Cat?’‘ I don’t know, maybe it’s a model number? Maybe it’s the number of days until the apocalypse.’ ‘Eve, what does it matter what it means? And you're sitting on my ankle. ‘‘ Sorry. Can you shift over to the left more? What kind of sneaker are you wearing? Why is the sole so hard? I was just trying to lighten things up a bit. I mean, we’re both number nerds, even here, aren’t we? ‘‘ Eve, seriously. You picked this moment as the perfect moment for a little Number Wor...

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DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN

Weekly Contest #344

I have only been dead once.But once was enough since I am only ten years old, and being in that dead place, Deja Vu, even for a month was a month too long. It was empty and darker in there than the darkest night you can imagine, listening to my heart beat thump, thump, thump all day and all night. And when I wasn’t scared, I was just real bored, not being able to eat or play my flute or run outside with my dog, Socrates. Remember in the old times before 3000? They used to say that you only live once! We know that isn’t true, of course. ...

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SWAK1762

Weekly Contest #342

The guardsman took my hand and lifted it to his lips. I lowered my gaze. His lips were soft and warm. The skin on my fingers tingled slightly as though a butterfly had landed on them ever so lightly and then lifted off and flown away. I made a slight curtsy. And hoped I was not blushing. He gave me what seemed like a sly smile. He was rugged, tall, dark, and handsome, and smelled vaguely of vanilla and metal. Would I ever see him again? I sighed. If yes, it would probably only be to kiss my other hand. What was his name? He knew my name, P...

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THE BIRTHDAY GIRL

Dear Nancy,Yay! You opened my letter. That means a lot to me because it's August 5, and you know what that means. It’s my birthday! I’m eighteen today! And you'll always be the most important person in my life, no contest! Can you remember how special it felt, being eighteen? I am hoping you will sit down and read this letter all the way through, just like it’s a homework assignment, just like we're sitting next to each other. I mean, I hope you don’t just skip through it. Please take the same amount of time to read this as I am taking to wr...

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a life of crime

A LIFE OF CRIME “Good morning. I’m looking for Miss Kendall, Miss Cynthia Kendall. I’m….” “Of course, of course. I know who you are. Why did you use the buzzer? Most people can’t resist using my gargoyle brass knocker. It’s a beauty, isn’t it? Gargoyles were said to ward off evil spirits in the 1890s. Not that I need that kind of protection these days, not a simple middle-aged homebody like me.” “ Well, you never know what you’ll be facing, do you, Miss Kendall? Not that a gargoyle would be much help.” “Oh, call me Cynthia, or Cindy, if y...

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NOT A MONSTER

NOT A MONSTER “Purple Blob”. That's what they call me. It’s what they call us! I don’t like that name. It’s not a name at all, it’s an insult, it’s bullying! But it's what I hear whenever I leave the woods where we all live (or is “hide” a better word? ). I am not safe outside, with the other Purple Men, with the other, in their unkind words, with the Purple Blobs. Whenever I have to come to town on some mission, I hear those cruel words shouted at us by the townsfolk. Mostly from their children. “Purple Blobs !! Monsters.” They yell. ...

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THE LETTER

Weekly Contest #335

THE LETTER“Open it, Glenda. It’s been sitting on the table for almost two days. For godssake, It makes my fingers itch just wondering what’s inside! It must be something important, something serious. I mean to use old-fashioned snail mail. Old-fashioned registered snail mail. Let me get my old-fashioned letter opener. ““No! Keep your hands away from my mail, Cat. Remember, we may share an apartment, but the letter is addressed to me. ““Maybe someone you know died? If you open this too late, you’ll miss the funeral. Or the memorial or wha...

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