Menu

More apps built by Reedsy

Assemble a team of professionals

The writing app for authors

Writing courses, events and memberships

Get your book reviewed

Weekly writing prompts and contests

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog

Joe Swanson

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2020

Stories
Comments
Library
287 Followers
0 Following

150 Stories

4113 karma pts

?

Spoons

Spoons I pushed the door open and the bells attached to it began to shimmy, but no sound was emitted. I walked to the desk which was covered with note cards so numerous they obliterated the glass; “No Checks-Cash Only.” I read the words out loud, which is a habit I’ve been attempting to break; but In this day and age, who carries cash? I hadn’t come to purchase anything but return something I had purchased a week previously.  I rang the bell advertising service. No sound registered. I listened intently and could...

0 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

It May Be True

It May Be True…Or? “Do I have to decide?”“I think it would be a good idea?”“Who cares what you think?”“I think, maybe you should!”It always seems to be about the choices. When I was five it was, in the mud puddle, or around the puddle, jump off the garage roof, stay on the garage roof; why is life so difficult? Self-imposed challenges change into different choices, but choices all the same. It seems like it is just one choice after the next, and it is never going to end.Good and bad, right and wrong, up and down, in and out, o...

1 like 1 comment 1
Read story

When It All Started

When It All Started…And ended It all started last Christmas. We were at a church social, when Effie our next-door neighbor slipped up behind my wife and just stood there. I knew who she was, everyone did. She was usually the squeaky wheel that got all the grease, leaving everyone else wondering why? But that was fine, as long as she went away and did whatever it is she does. Roy, her husband, I assumed he was her husband but was afraid to ask. He’s a nice enough guy; actually one of the unrecognized saints that walks amongst us. Of cou...

0 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Lies, Confessions, and Us

Lies, Confessions, and UsAn interview of a memoir “You lied to me!”“Not exactly; I told you what you wanted to hear.”“Shouldn’t you tell someone that is what you are doing, before you do it?” We can’t all keep track of what we believe and what we don’t; beliefs can change daily, sometimes by the hour. Everything depends on timing, you should know that. I am supposed to keep track of what you believe I believe, for how long? You’re a big boy, build your own mouse trap.”“What is that supposed to mean?”“It means it’s time to start taking r...

2 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

A Dent In a Cloud

“What do you suppose that is?”“I don’t have to guess, I know what it is.”“Well, then what is it?”“Why do you want to know?”“Why wouldn’t you want to know?”“It’s just a cloud. You are supposed to tell a cloud what it is, it isn’t supposed to be telling you what it is, unless it has a good reason; tornadoes, hurricanes, white cap festivals; things like that.” I could see where this conversation was going. Some people are naturally curious, while some don’t care unless it affects them directly, and of course by that time it is usually too late...

1 like 0 comments 0
Read story

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...

2 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

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 ...

1 like 0 comments 0
Read story

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?...

2 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

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...

0 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

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 ...

2 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

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...

0 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

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...

0 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

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...

0 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

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?...

0 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

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 ...

0 likes 0 comments 0
Read story