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Joe Swanson

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2020

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150 Stories

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Hello

Hello! “Welcome to the grand opening of the Alcatraz Dinner. First meals and last meals are 20% off today. Well, actually today and until the grand opening is over; who knows when that might me. My name is Fonz, and I’ll be your server. Please this way; now sit. Best seat in the house. Would you like sometime to look at the menu or do you know what you don’t want to have, and would prefer to think only about what you might consider ordering? Some people put fate to the wind and forget their doctors orders and just live as if there will...

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Thief River

Thief River It seemed like yesterday; the heat, humidity, the sun beginning to disappear behind a veil of ominous clouds. The blankets spread along the river, tables filled with assorted summer staples; potato salad, cheese, sandwiches, fruit; the 4th of July once again had descended upon the town.Porches and doorways display the patriot fervor that continued to grip the community and country after the war finally ended. The boys who left returned as men to take up where they left off tending the fields.The corn was knee high; a gage of how ...

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Obit

Obit “You want me to do what?”“I’m pretty sure you heard me, you haven’t lost your hearing have you?“Look, it’s one thing to write about a person who has crossed over, but what you are asking?”“I realize it is not easy, but death is not easy. It is extremely difficult on everyone. Even though it is inevitable, we tend not to believe it could happen to us, at least not in the near future, which puts it into a realm of another dimension. So, just do it. It is your job after all. You don’t want me to get Mortimer to write the obits do you?...

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Asleep At the Wheel

Asleep At the Wheel “They are asking us to write a short story about someone who shouldn’t have made it out but did. Out of what, for what purpose? Are we supposed to write a story based on hypotheticals? No direction, no advice, no reasoning behind the question? I’d like to know who made up this question and why?”“All stories are hypotheticals unless you are writing a biography and hopefully telling the truth. Look at it this way. If there were not hypotheticals where would we be?I’m sure we can agree that hypotheticals imply an uncert...

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Where The Twain Shall Meet

Where The Twain Shall Meet The wind blew through the open door of the church as the pall bearers assumed their positions alongside the glistening wooden casket. “Go in peace,” the words of the minister echoing off the walls and becoming lost in the murmured prayers ascending into the frescoed dome above the alter.“Go in peace? How else is he going to go? Does the minister think we are going to riot because Harry won’t be joining us at the luncheon? I know that is not a very charitable thing to think as he is being carried from our sight ...

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Alone?

Alone? Are we ever really alone? I feel as though running away from myself is a trick I have yet to master. No matter where I hide, my memories find me. Perhaps it is not a mystery we attribute to our lack of invisibility but a solution to eroding companionships, as time marches toward its destination, wherever that might be.I went deep into the woods, dark with seemingly foreboding despair, until I took the time to sit on the remains of a fallen oak, whose bark had long since relinquished its purpose. Fronds were poking their furled heads...

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Earth Day

Earth Day “The earth remembers what we forget.” Tell me in your own words what you believe these words mean. We have been exposed to the life and times of Jane Goodall, who you know worked with primates. These words however were not written or spoken by her, but by her protégé, Wilhelm Brick, an integral figure in the “Monkeys Are Us” program at Florida’s astronaut training center. The apes are attempting to teach astronaut initiates how to be human once again, as many involved with the NASA program have noticed over the years a sense of...

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Blue Moon

Blue Moonsmiling at me“I believe most people have heard of the colloquial expression, “once in a blue moon.” I assumed it adopted the moniker because it was a rare occurrence. Most expressions that gain traction in a culture are those that relate to something people don’t understand; a blue moon being one of them. Blue skies smiling at me and the delta blues, being other examples of what has happened over the centuries to anything touched by the light of a blue moon. Superstitious? Some people were, while others continued to believe the...

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time of love

Love of Time “You sit there contemplating concentric circles, as if they are important, the most important thing in the? … you make me so angry, I can’t even think of the word. Any suggestions?”“You could use the word World. It would work precisely as your previous words have worked, but with less drama. But then it was you who preferred to add emotion to the plight of an already overused word, which represents the reason gravity must exist. In a concentric world, there would be no need.”“No need of what?...Hopefully, concentric circles?...

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Ole Times

Ole Times,new beginnins I sat watchin the wind out of the north starchin the flag hangin off’n a pole on the house across the way. They had predicted snow, but so far we got nothin but the prelude; ominous lookin skies and the bitin wind. The clouds was tumblin like spilled popcorn and the movie hadn’t even begun. We was under a red flag warnin which meant the conditions were cooperatin with danger, and somethin big was bein cooked up by the two of them. The last red flag warnin brought the bald to Eagle Mountain, leavin only the twisted ...

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Miles From My Heart

Miles From My Heart “Do you hear that? Sounds like someone tryin to dribble a ball lacking air.”“Yes, kind of… maybe? Sounds like a drum beat from another planet.”“It is! It is your heartbeat.”“If it’s my heartbeat am I supposed to believe I’m on a different planet?”“Believe what you like. But that is your heartbeat, I guarantee it.”I found it to be one of those situations where you don’t know if you are dreaming or having another bad experience with a neighbor. The one who knows everything about everything and is not shy about sharing hi...

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Compromise

Compromise “You said you would never compromise your principles. And now look what you have done.”“What have I done? Think about it. Would you rather have nothing or what we can get? What is it you believe I am compromising in order to adhere to a pledge I made when I knew little of how the world works, and even less about people.”“You once said that once you deviate from an ethical code, you become the very thing you are attempting to eliminate. You must remember saying, “lies become the origin of more lies, distortions of facts, and th...

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Anything But That!

Anything But That!or maybe the other thing “And it was over, just like that.”“What was?”“What were we talking about?”“I don’t know, I don’t keep track of things like that. I put you in charge didn’t I?”“You may have, but I can’t remember. What was I supposed to be in charge of?”“If you don’t know, I’m not going to tell you. What would be the point? You’d just forget.”“I see your point, but you don’t have to be uppity about it. Someday you’re going to be old too.”#I have no idea what they are talking about. They are both old and alone, ...

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Talking to Yourself

Talking to Yourselfabout yourself-try it Aberdeen is in South Dakota. It is extremely hot in the summer and exceptionally cold in the winter. It is nobody’s fault, God made it that way for some reason biblical historians have yet to determine. They are not convinced God had not made a mistake; He is after all getting up there in years; which is what they all believe when being honest with themselves. The reason I raise this point is that Michael Shanahan, my son’s barber, had decided he did not want to cut hair for a living. He was a bart...

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Inspiration

Interpretation “A question has come to us this morning, and we are K-A-T-Y radio o o o o o o o. It is in response to our weekly Idiosyncratic Challenge. The question asked is, what is “Déjà vu, how can it affect me, and which foreign country is responsible for infecting us with it?” We’d appreciate only well-reasoned answers, Though the question is intriguing, it seems to cast aspersions on those who think outside of the traditional electro-magnetic field that we navigate daily. The first answer deemed appropriate, that touches on all th...

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