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Joe Swanson

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2020

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150 Stories

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A Nice Man

Weekly Contest #102

“Have you noticed how the mail delivery just isn’t what it was. That guy who wanted to ruin it so we couldn’t vote; I hear is still there. I’ve noticed the same thing is happening to the paper delivery business too. Our paperboy, or girl, can’t say I ever met which ever one it is, but which ever one it is, is a terrible shot, and is always late. I find the paper most days not on the porch like when old Mr. Henry used to deliver it, but in the bushes. Once on the porch roof. Too bad he died, I bet he was a nice man.&n...

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My Hill

Weekly Contest #102

It was surprise. My parents thinking back on that time, were struggling financially. My father’s construction job left holes in our stability; weather and economic circumstances drove the need for his ingenuity. My mother worked fashioning furs taken from the captive exploitation of animals kept for their resource, regardless of their compliance. The bicycle had been a dream I kept under my bed, as to let it out could only mean disappointment. That day changed my pessimistic realities of reality, into the supposition that...

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Darkest Before the Dawn

Weekly Contest #102

“Who comes up with these saying? Darkest before the Dawn. You ever attempt to analyze any of these “sayings?” It never rains but pours, a picture is worth a thousand words, the grass is always greener. They are such nebulous terms, and yet we understand the inference they are attempting to make. I wonder is that possible for other things? Urban legends, rural generosity, melting pots, that kind of thing. Is there someone who sits around making these observances into universally accepted allegories?” When he...

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Trusted

Weekly Contest #101

“I would like to thank all of you for coming tonight... today. You’ll have to excuse me; I’m somewhat disoriented by the latest events to descend on our community. Professor Brown, although a man of few words, did utter some memorable ones. “Insane Sanity,” if you remember any of his lectures, was a topic he enjoyed, I believe more than any of the other topics he explored. He never however actually explained what the term, or expression, “Insane Sanity” actually meant. He was of course adept at using that technique to mak...

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When In Doubt

Weekly Contest #101

It started out, the questions about the monotonous repetition of doing everything, anything. Eating, working, even sleeping, same dreams, nothing changes, always the same. I found myself counting my actions. Winding up the electric chord or hose; one, two, three, thirty-three. I realized that was, is, one of the cautions attributed to insanity. It has to do, or so I remember, with allowing yourself to be lulled by repetition into a state of subservience to routine. The less one objects to repetition the easier it is ...

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Caterpillars Tale

Weekly Contest #101

“You are telling me that I got it wrong.” “No, not that you got it wrong, it’s just that you didn’t get it right?” “You lost me. I didn’t get it wrong, but I didn’t get it right. Where does that leave me then. Which way is the needle tending to point if you don’t mind saying.” It is difficult at times talking to someone who has made up their mind about something, and you are attempting to change it. I’ve attempted to use logic, coercion, diplomacy, everything but outright force to get him to see that you can’t always do t...

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Play It Again

Weekly Contest #101

“Where did you get this?” “Where did I get what?” “This oval mirror, with the wood frame. Some kind of bird carved on the top. Looks like a black bird, raven, one of those strange birds. And here on the bottom some kind of plant. A vine of some kind, but the leaves appear to have faces.” “It belonged to my Grandmother. It was in the basement of her old house. The silver backing is starting to go so the reflection is a bit cloudy, but it’s the sentiment that I enjoy.” “You remember this mirror being in your Grand...

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Play It Again

Weekly Contest #101

They were twins. They weren’t identical twins, physically lookin, but in all other ways one could be exchanged for the other and no one that can’t see could tell them apart. One of the things, and there were many, that could drive you to distraction, was their ability to echo one another’s thoughts. Robert having been born first I believe inherited the predominant quality that goes with those that are first, and Roger always the echo, the shadow, a faint breath behind his brother where speech was concerned, a close second.  So...

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It's On Me

“Hey! It’s you.” “Well, yes it is. And it’s you.” “I should apologize; I can’t remember your name.” “Don’t be foolish. Half the time I can’t remember it either.” We laugh. He believes most things these days. I told him I owned the diner and do all the cooking. I pretend I can’t remember either. It seems to make him more comfortable. I don’t run the diner or cook anymore. Only cooking I do is in my mind. Just this morning I made eggs Benedict. Tasted just like I thought it would. I used to coo...

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Purpose

Weekly Contest #100

“We are gathered here today to attempt a new approach to weight loss. Many of us have over the years grown more than fond of ourselves, if you know what I mean. Eating disorders come in all shapes and flavors.” That is when everyone laughed and I began to dream about the days when metabolism could be blamed for everything. No longer an option for weight loss, weight gain, weight manipulation, all are fair game when it comes to indoctrinating us with the notion we are not perfect. We of course know we are not perfect and that i...

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Difficult

Weekly Contest #100

It’s difficult preparing a meal for someone you don’t know all that well; actually at all. I met her quite by accident. Well not quite as you might imagine. She ran over me with her bicycle. Nice bike, older Schwinn with balloon tires. Said it was her mother’s when she was herself. I let it go at that. It was all her fault. People on bicycles believe they have the same rights as cars, which I get. But then cars don’t usually drive on the side walk.  I was waiting on the corner, looking up the street to see...

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Alfonse

Weekly Contest #100

I was supposed to meet him at “Randy’s,” a bar restaurant kind of place. Mostly neighborhood folks. Once in a while some wayfarers, bikers, those passing by and seeing the sign and figuring, “Why not!” There is this cowboy, like the Marlboro man type you see along the road on the building’s roof. A silhouette of a figure cut out of metal just standing there head down, as if waiting for the hangman to show up and read last rites. It has a revolving thing like we used to have on our Christmas tree that splashes it with the color...

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Difficult

Weekly Contest #100

It’s difficult preparing a meal for someone you don’t know all that well; actually at all. I met her quite by accident. Well not quite, she ran over me with her bicycle.  It was a nice bike, older Schwinn with balloon tires. Said it was her mother’s when she was herself. I let it go at that. It wasn’t all her fault, but then of late people on bicycles think they have the same rights as cars, which I get. But then cars don’t usually ride on the side walk.  Anyways, I was waiting on the corner, looking to see...

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Remember When...

Weekly Contest #99

“Well, do you?”“No, I try not to remember, it is easier that way.”“Do you remember the time we went off seeking to be lost? Escape the implied pressures; jobs, family, us?”I did remember, but couldn’t, no, didn’t want to admit that the past makes me nostalgic for something that may never have existed, except in my mind.“Yes, I remember falling up.”“Falling up? What does that mean?”It is a feeling. We take memories from our past and purposely embellish or detract from their reality to make them acceptable for our needs. Th...

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Road Trippin

Weekly Contest #99

“Where are we to go? Every year it becomes the question I fear, as there is no agreeable destination. Planning has a way of destroying the very thing you wish to accomplish. Spontaneity is one way to invoke the intended hope of something poignant, interesting, different than last year, or the year before that…but it always seems to end with having forgot something. Or something happening you hadn’t anticipated, which of course you would have had, had it not been for the newly acquired spontaneity. Then there is the c...

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