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Joel Swanson

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jan, 2021

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9 Stories

46 karma pts

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U Turn

U Turn There are always choices, always decisions; leave early, leave late, don’t go at all. The questions are never ending, and the decisions are never forthcoming until it is too late to reboot your existence and take on the persona of a…a… what? Superhero? Antagonist? Most hated person in the world, most loved? We, however, know ourselves well enough to dismiss any notion that would require us to leave the security of our cocoon and spread our wings in search of a different life.I walk to school every day to avoid the entanglements inh...

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Elmer

Elmer Brighton When Elmer Brighton asked to be excused, he had no idea it would be the last time he would remember asking anyone for anything. It was not that he disliked asking for help or being told what to do if it was beneficial to him, but when he found himself faced with a seemingly impossible situation, he would freeze. It is a way your brain stops communicating with your body. You can no longer run, jump, hide, or pretend to yourself you don’t exist. You are forced to face the reality that there are times when you must face up to...

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Getting To Know You

Getting to Know You The subway car screeched to a stop several hundred yards from the platform. Hiram Lebowitz sitting in the lap of an elderly woman.The abrupt stop had caught him off balance and as he careened forward he grabbed for the vertical rail and to his surprise swirled like an aging ballet dancer in an arc. His momentum and the additional 20 pounds he’d accumulated while recuperating from what turned out to be a benign investigatory surgery, to determine if he would most likely reach or exceed his shelf-life.The felt hat he wore...

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Melding of Minds

Melding of Minds “Horace Anderson had dreamed of a fine car, a big house with a back yard, an apple tree, and a swing for the children. Horace had no children, was allergic to anything imported, the mere thought of an apple caused a dark cloud to descend and darken his spirit, as well as everyone Horace would come into contact with that day.” I read the words without emotion, as if reading the back of the ticket I’d just received for parking illegally so I’d be on time meeting with my agent. He sat like the proverbial bump on a Wonderland...

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The Corner

Weekly Contest #339

The Corner of 34th and Vine Standing in line behind 10 people mentally reviewing their days schedule, I am witness to their grimaces, half smiles, and raised eyebrows, evolving in a rotating environment of sounds and smells, as the word “Smith” echoes about the room of muffled rumors. The same people today as yesterday, and the day before, a choros line of discontent waiting for life’s U turn. The green tiles now a canvas for arriving snow, waiting for its masterpiece to be painted; its various stages of transformation becoming remnants o...

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The Question

The Question Questions are always being asked In hopes of an answer I suppose. But not everyone thinks like you or me, they do not necessarily ask questions in hopes of obtaining an answer, that is not their purpose. I know a man, well, don’t really know him, but have been hired to keep an eye on the whereabouts of someone I know of. Why? I didn’t ask, it is not the type of question you should ask; nor would he have told me had I asked.Sometimes it’s best to not know the business of another; safer that way. I knew a few things about Abe Du...

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Whether, or Weather?

“It was terribly cold, snow was falling and it was getting dark. Do remember those days? I do, but they are slipping into a reality that no longer belongs to the present.It’s a line from a story by Hans Christian Anderson. It was a good thing for Hans he became a writer; people expect names like Hans and Christian on books and stories, I wonder what he’d have done if he’d been a tram driver or stable boy? You ever wonder about things like that? Some names inspire, while others call for tomatoes to be thrown. Eggs are better though; th...

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Don't Forget the Milk!

Weekly Contest #333

Don’t Forget the Milk! “And don’t forget the milk.”Why does she think she has to remind me of everything? I’m not a kid anymore, although you’d never know it by the way she treats me. I feel like I’m at work, but not getting paid.She acts like I’ve never been to a store before. I go every week! I live here; I guess I know as much about what we need as she does. I do the cooking, so I know when I’m running out of something I need, but that don’t count I guess. Every time I’m getting ready to go to the market, out comes the list. She c...

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Holocaust of Souls

Weekly Contest #328

Holocaust of Souls He was perched on an apple crate like a pigeon standing above a recently discarded chilidog, His eyes bulged; reminded me of a frog I once knew. The words erupted from his mouth tinged with molasses. He held a book in one hand and an old copy of Gideon’s bible in the other. He was dressed in bib overalls, his plaid shirt tucked neatly under its shoulder straps. The collar, although stained with the remnants of a hurriedly eaten lunch at Saint Abagail’s Mission on 135th street and Clandestine Avenue, adequately encompas...

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