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Jethro Pili

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2021

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150 Stories

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The Case of the Dreaded Tiramipoo

There were many ways to lose credibility in front of one's friends.You could accidentally wave back at someone who wasn't waving at you.You could confidently tell your history professor that Napoleon lost at the Battle of Watergate.Or...You could stand in the middle of a crowded Italian bakery and loudly announce:"I don't eat tiramipoo."Silence.Utter.Silence.Every conversation stopped.The espresso machine hissed like it was embarrassed.A little old Italian grandmother looked up from her cannoli with the expression of someone who had just wit...

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The Resistance

The world did not end with fire.It ended with empty clothes.The Resistance of the SaintsSam IhleSamuel Ihle had spent fifteen years disproving everyone else's certainty.As an investigative journalist, certainty was dangerous.Politicians lied.Corporations lied.Witnesses lied.Sometimes even photographs lied.He had built an entire career on asking one question."How do you know?"The newsroom smelled like burnt coffee and printer toner when it happened.One moment Michael Simmons was laughing over some ridiculous cat video.The next—His chair rolle...

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Not What You Were

The first time Jesus announced the pairings, the camp went silent.The Twelve had gathered beneath a cluster of olive trees just outside a Galilean village. Morning light painted the hills gold. Birds sang as if the world had never known hatred."...Andrew with Philip."Andrew nodded."James with John."The brothers grinned."Thomas with Bartholomew."A shrug from Thomas. A smile from Bartholomew.Jesus continued until only two names remained."Matthew..."The former tax collector looked up."...and Simon son of Zebulun."Silence.Not Simon Peter.The oth...

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The Empty Room

The room was empty.Not merely vacant. Not abandoned.Empty. As still as the Empty Tomb.Detective Tristan Lyons stood motionless in the doorway, one boot resting on a twisted piece of steel that had once been part of the lock. Behind him, the remains of the double steel doors hung crookedly from their hinges after the Emergency Service Unit's hydraulic ram had persuaded them to surrender.The echo of the breach still lingered.Silence answered it.Detective Lance Shields slowly lowered his Glock. No use for it now. Or the vests they were wearing ...

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Ananias

Father Galen Hadaway had always believed that the hardest lies to uncover were not the loud ones.The loud ones announced themselves with contradictions, impossible alibis, and nervous eyes.The dangerous lies wore innocence.Morning sunlight poured through the stained-glass windows of St. Augustine Parish, splashing crimson and sapphire across the marble floor as Father Galen finished counting the previous Sunday's collection with the parish secretary.He frowned.Again."Three hundred and twenty dollars short," he murmured.Mrs. Alvarez checked t...

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What You Have The Power To Do

The campfire had burned down to glowing coals.Above them, the stars stretched across the Gilboan sky in impossible numbers, unchallenged by city lights. Towering pines whispered with the wind, and somewhere deeper in the forest an owl called once before silence reclaimed the night.Jesse Carpenter leaned against a weathered log, turning a stick over the fire.Once, people had known him as the man who built bridges.Before that, simply another construction worker.Now...Now newspapers called him the Traveling Teacher.The title embarrassed him."I'...

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Seal of Confession

TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNING: Mentions of euthanasia and murder. The confessional at St. Augustine's was never entirely silent.Old wood creaked.Candles hissed.The ancient building settled with tiny sighs that sounded almost like whispered prayers.Father Wayne McKnight had heard thousands of confessions over the years.Children confessing stolen candy.Teenagers confessing lies.Teachers confessing pride.Parents confessing neglect.Some came weeping.Some came numb.Some came because habit had carried them there long after faith had gone quiet.When t...

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Storm on the Sea of Galilee

The first clap of thunder rolled across the hills just before Compline.By the time the final Amen had faded from the little chapel, rain lashed against the stained-glass windows hard enough to make them rattle in their lead frames.Sister Magdalene Mary smiled despite herself."It certainly has opinions tonight," she murmured.The elderly superior beside her chuckled."The Lord sends rain to the just and the unjust alike. Tonight He appears to be especially generous."The sisters laughed softly before dispersing.For Sister Magdalene Mary, life ha...

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Close The Distance

Father Lance Lake had learned, in five years of priesthood, that the hardest confessions were rarely spoken aloud.They were carried in silence.They hid behind practiced smiles at the parish picnic, behind steady voices during Sunday homilies, behind the calm assurance of a priest who knew exactly which page the funeral rite was on without looking.Everyone believed Father Lance was unshakable.Everyone was wrong.The parish of Saint Michael's settled into quiet after the Wednesday evening Mass.The last candles burned low.Mrs. Donnelly waved as ...

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The Old Lie: Dulce Et Decorum Est

The rain came down in cold, slanting sheets, turning the cemetery paths into ribbons of black mud.The man standing among the graves did not bother with an umbrella.Water soaked the collar of his century-old greatcoat. It streamed from the brim of his campaign hat and dripped soundlessly from his fingertips. He neither shivered nor blinked.He had forgotten how.A meadowlark landed atop a granite headstone a few yards away, studied him for a moment, then flew off again.Animals always knew.He stepped closer to the monument.It was simple gray gra...

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Kahu

“Kahu”The Pacific stretched to the horizon in quiet bands of blue and silver, breathing in and out against the black lava rocks. The trade winds carried the scent of salt, plumeria, and rain that hadn't yet arrived. A pair of green sea turtles floated lazily beyond the reef, and somewhere farther down the shoreline a child laughed while chasing retreating waves.Noah Kealoha sat alone on the rocks with an old canvas leash looped around his hand.The leash no longer had a dog attached to it.Three months.Ninety-two days.He hadn't meant to count....

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Camp Bear Point

Randy noticed the silence first.Camp Bear Point was never truly quiet. Even before registration, there were birds arguing in the pines, squirrels racing through branches, and the distant splash of the lake against the docks. But this was different. It was the sort of silence that made every snapped twig sound like a shout.He shifted the duffel bag on his shoulder."I still can't believe we got here this early."Esther laughed."My dad wanted to beat traffic.""He beat it by almost four hours."James checked the paper map they had been given after...

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Remember Me: An Allegory

The second floor break room had once been a cheerful place.At least, that was what Jesse Carpenter imagined.The faded walls still held the ghosts of motivational posters. Rusted lockers leaned against cracked cinderblock. Someone had painted a smiling coffee mug near the microwave decades earlier. The microwave itself was gone, stolen long before New Rome swallowed the former Kingdom of Gilboa whole.The vending machine stood like a museum piece.Empty.Broken.Its cracked glass reflected thirteen tired faces.Outside, rain drummed against shatte...

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Tea and Cakes

It was Eleanor Ashcombe's third Thursday in the parish before she discovered that churches had a remarkable ability to invent jobs no seminary had ever prepared anyone for.Peter had warned her."They'll ask strange things of us," he had said as they unpacked boxes in the vicarage kitchen. "Not bad things. Just... unexpected things."She had smiled while wrapping plates in newspaper. "Such as?""Oh, you'll see."Now she stood in the parish hall staring at six elderly women who regarded her with expressions usually reserved for royalty and compete...

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Where Everybody Knows Your Name

The Brass Longship was loud in the comfortable way only a favorite pub could be.It was June 30, the end of another frantic day at Viking News, and every booth seemed occupied by regulars escaping work, tourists admiring the carved dragon heads hanging from the rafters, and locals debating baseball, politics, and whether the fish and chips had somehow gotten even better since last week.The bartender, Liam, looked up as the newsroom crew filed through the door."Here comes trouble."Patrick McKean, editor-in-chief, grinned."You say that every Tu...

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