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Jill K

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Nov, 2021

Stories (9)

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8 Followers

12 Following

9 Stories

168 karma pts

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Escape from East Village

Jill K

Submitted to Contest #325

Anna contemplated the mold that the realtor had failed to mention to the young woman who dreamed, apparently, of owning a railroad flat on East 9th Street.The fourth floor, one-bedroom walk-up was part of a tenement building built in the 1850’s that had once offered a housing solution to overcrowding in the East Village, but now presented the twin challenges of adequate ventilation and centuries-old decay. A coat of white paint had been slapped around the bathroom window where fuzzy black spots had grown, and again behind the aging commod...

7 likes

Remembering Henri

Jill K

Submitted to Contest #317

(Newark International Airport, 1990...) Lingering over bad coffee at Joe’s was going to cost him. Henri had found many things to like about the United States during his gap year, except for the coffee. He’d given it one last shot that morning at Joe’s Diner, at first lured by the giant neon coffee cup that had blinked invitingly in the window, and then by the chatty, red-headed waitress who’d called him “sweetie pie” and “honey bun.” Alas, it had been just another sad cup, and now … Henri glanced at his wristwatch. Already nine o’clock! His ...

2 likes

The Passenger

Jill K

Submitted to Contest #293

I live in rural Maine, where the nearest commuter rail is three hundred miles away. And since my pharmaceutical employer declared that remote work is “no longer an option” (and I have bills to pay), I climb into my car each morning and drive an hour to work. Admittedly, it’s not a stressful drive. It’s mostly fields, a stretch of wood, a Circle K, the local Tractor Supply, more fields, another wood. Bang a right at the stop light, go twenty more miles, then turn left into the parking lot. If I’m being honest, I mostly zone out during the dr...

4 likes

The Invitation

Jill K

Submitted to Contest #291

I snatched the grinning skull out of my mailbox. Even before reading the scroll wedged tightly in the plastic mandible, I knew it was an invitation to LA’s pre-eminent Halloween party. It had red wax tears dripping out of the eye sockets and a jaunty gold ring clipped to the nasal cavity. With shaking hands, I pulled out the scroll and read: Have a blast at our Monster MashOctober 31, Ten o’clockThe Orlock HouseCome dressed as your favorite monster(You, too, Jeremy!)Prizes for best costumes     I suspected that my invitat...

14 likes

Her Majesty the Queen

Jill K

Submitted to Contest #290

“Shame, Tom!” William Berger frowned at the tollkeeper’s outstretched palm. “This is highway robbery!” The tollkeeper shrugged and silently re-counted Will’s head of sheep. “No getting around it, Will. Unless you are attending to Her Majesty?” He squinted at the large flock, pretending to look for royal guards. Will snorted. Queen Victoria, having ascended the throne less than three years ago, had not yet graced Telford with her royal presence. Were she to visit, she would cross over the Severn Gorge via the Iron Bridge, same as Will and h...

4 likes

The Christmas Incident on Mount Major Highway

Jill K

Submitted to Contest #283

There are bluffs along Mount Major Highway where you can pull over and admire the Ossipee Mountains and the deep blue waters of Lake Winnipesaukee, a vast freshwater lake formed at the end of the last ice age. There are other places where the road twists and narrows, and your eyes dare not leave the road, not even for a second, no matter how thrilling the view.   The week before Christmas I was driving along this highway toward my sister Julie’s house. I was thinking about the holiday itinerary we had planned, much of it involving old m...

4 likes

Harrisburg

Jill K

Submitted to Contest #279

I wandered through the empty shopping mall. It was decorated for Christmas, but the all storefronts were dark, the security gates down. I looked for other shoppers, a maintenance worker, anyone who might help me exit the building, but the mall was vacant. Save for my own footsteps, the only sound I could hear was the worst holiday song ever recorded, on repeat. I concentrated on finding my original entrance point. If I could find that, I could locate my car. I walked quickly, lapping the mall several times, only to find JC Penney in a diffe...

10 likes

Mrs. Esposito Says Hello

Jill K

Submitted to Contest #218

Mrs. Esposito Says Hello  Could I please, the realtor’s voicemail urged, have the house presentable and smelling good by Saturday? The Esposito children want it sold lickety-split. No need to knock; the home is unoccupied – just push the front door open and start clearing up the junk. The children don’t want any of it.  The realtor’s message made me sad, but I am a cleaning professional, and arrived at the house double masked with a trunkful of cleaning supplies. I’d cleaned enough hoarders’ homes to understand how the job a...

5 likes

The Lesson

Jill K

Submitted to Contest #119

“Listen... PORT-smith. PORT-smith.” I pronounced it slowly, then rapidly, the way you’d hear it in ordinary conversation. I pointed to the sentence I’d written on the board. “I’m currently living in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.” To a person, my adult students frowned. I could tell what they were thinking. “It’s spelled MOUTH. How can it be pronounced SMITH?” And, “Have I really been saying the name of this town wrong for the last three months?”   My Taiwanese student cleared his throat. “Teacher,” he asked car...

14 likes