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John K Danenbarger

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2019

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7 Stories

128 karma pts

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Grieving Julia Engelhardt

Weekly Contest #354

The woman on the dock is not what Jeffry expected, though he isn't sure what he expected.His handwritten ad posted on the dock house said, “”Taking a yacht up to Bar Harbor. Looking for a crew member. No experience necessary.”“Randy Hart, journalist,” she had said. Short greying hair under a black newsboy cap. A strict white blouse and black pants. Red sneakers. The one thing about her that doesn't fit. She holds a grey canvas bag against her side as if someone might try to take it."Randy Hart?" he calls down.She looks up at him without smil...

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Sister Sister

Weekly Contest #297

She can’t know, of course, that on a Tuesday in the near future, Juju’s phone will ring a guilty death knell in dark minutes before midnight.Juju's windshield wipers slap against the October rain. Paula, better known as Mother P, sits beside her, hands folded over her purse, staring out the side window at the colorful wet blur of New Hampshire maples. The heater hums, pushing back the damp chill that settles into Juju's bones during their brief walk from the hospital entrance.Paula says in a whisper, "I don't see how you know where you're go...

3 likes 1 comment 1
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“What happens when you get to the end of things?”

Weekly Contest #271

1.     The Hotel Room at the ArtisanEmma was in the bathroom, meticulously applying her makeup. "I'm curious, David. How many people do you know that are going to be there?" she asked.David had been breathing in the feeling of the understated luxury of their hotel room at The Artisan. He supposed he should feel guilty that she had paid for the room, but she had offered, or rather insisted, after he had suggested a less expensive inn further away from the auction.He leaned against the door frame, his eyes now followin...

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It Means A Lot To Me

Weekly Contest #267

The first time I was ever invited to Benny's house, he was dead. Now the farmhouse loomed before me, a place I had never been, but one that held a broken piece of my life. I had pulled up the gravel driveway in an old green '53 Chevy I had borrowed. Not air conditioned, of course, but beggars can’t be…you know. Feeling I was late and being apprehensive about meeting her, I drove too fast. The car had kicked up a dust storm behind me, and now, as it caught up and flooded in the open windows, the dirt stuck to my sweaty face and arms, and the...

7 likes 1 comment 1
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Death of Angst

Weekly Contest #243

When my eyes have the ember slits of a viper, some humans think I must be plotting death and murder. Although it happens, most of the time, out of necessity, I am merely researching, scrutinizing, and processing feline perfection, because I was found as an orphan under a box. I know now that I must have been in severe pain from having survived an attack by a thug, a ruffian tomcat that wanted to breed with my mother. I remember the sharp claws digging into my fur, the putrid breath hot on my neck. So, no wonder I am skittish; it just does no...

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The Genesis Story of Adam and Steve (Oh…And a Few Descendants)

Shortlisted for Contest #197 ⭐️

A newly translated story, made up by Oscar Genesis, who witnessed The Creation.  Lo and behold, in all of the endless universe, God picked one of the tiniest specks of dirt in the corner of one of billions of galaxies to experiment secretly in order to look perfect in later public performances. And God called it “Earth.” After God created seven days and nights and bunches of plants and animals, He created Adam out of dust as a teeny tiny miniature image of Himself. And God was pleased. God dropped Adam into a sort of paradise ca...

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Julia Engelhardt

Weekly Contest #51

At midterm, when Hugh Clarkson had slipped in as the new Hainstown High art teacher, Jeffry Grant, then in his winter torpor, hadn’t paid much attention. However, when someone whispered to Jeffry that the teachers’ lounge gossip centered around this guy, a little peaking of curiosity woke him. Then in May, after a blustery weekend of contention, Alyson, Jeffry’s love, ultimately convinced Jeffry that for her twenty-eighth birthday, their colleague, Hugh Clarkson could teach the two of them, us lowly cretins, how to paint. So, begrudgingly,...

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