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Kendall Defoe

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jul, 2020

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1421 Followers
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150 Stories

6031 karma pts

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Throwaway

The summer heat was not a heavy blanket over the town yet when the garbage truck came down the street. In the neighbourhood where Mr. Davis had his home, the truck began its Tuesdays and Thursdays with multiple stops and blasts of an air horn that woke him up long before the vehicle appeared at the front of his driveway with a kid hanging off the back in an orange-yellow day-glow vest. Usually, Davis would begin his working day at seven with a cup of coffee, an open laptop, and all the time in the world (his wife had her own half of the hous...

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The Pilot

When he saw the tail of the jet sink into the ocean, he knew that he would have to settle on the island for a while. The weather was still rough, but he was able to guide the parachute towards the breakers on the shore that already had some of the wreckage. With a quick flip, he fell forward onto the sand, detaching the parachute before the wind pulled him into the ocean. It caught on the rock that kept a wave off of him, flapping in the air as the sky darkened and rain pelted his uniform. Well, that was an interesting end to the day, he tho...

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Visiting Hours

Weekly Contest #366

She reached for it… But she had one final thing to say first… “Darling, I know that this is probably the absolute worst moment to end things with a speech, but the doctors say that you will not remember this tomorrow, and I have so much that I still want to tell you before I leave. So…let’s start at the very beginning… “I’m still so happy we grew up on the same block as kids. My parents moved to that neighbourhood when I was very young, but I still remember that your family was the kindest one to us. You were a little older than me and I ...

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Practicing

Almost… Almost. You have been practicing. I can tell now. From our last talk, you have actually learned something. Not just listening to what I say and then off to TV and video game land. Once again… I am saying the same thing to you once more again: fingerwork, fingerwork, fingerwork! You don’t just read the notes; put your fingers into them. Like digging for money you have put in some private place and cannot find because you have not written it down. That is what you have to do on that part. Yes, in two weeks. You will be on display in tw...

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Our Recipe

Weekly Contest #306

Ingredients: Salt Pepper Spinach Eggs Milk Garlic Sun-Dried Tomatoes Bread Mustard (Dijon, perhaps) Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Coffee Alcohol (choice left up to you) * Instructions: 1. Realize that you have woken up on the first day after it ended – truly ended – with no food in the house. She was the one who always cooked on weekends because you spent all of your time at her place when you were not busy with your concerns about your career and deadlines. She told you that you needed to eat properly and that was the reason why she...

28 likes 16 comments 16
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The Nobel Prize Speech

Weekly Contest #306

The following is an official transcript of the Nobel acceptance speech given on Dec. 10, 20--: Ladies and gentlemen, members of the press: I must say that I still feel as though I have been having a long and beautiful dream these last few months. Nothing can prepare the writer for the moment – a vivid point of realization - when he discovers that his chosen profession was not a mistake or a whim that would have been best left to adolescence. For that, I thank the academy. I thank you all. If you will permit me, I will spend some time discus...

18 likes 11 comments 11
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An Important Decision

Weekly Contest #305

“You know what? I quit.” No, of course, no one could hear me. I was alone in my office – shared, but pretty much my own – and it was only 9:46 in the morning, so we would have a meeting in less than fifteen minutes and I did not really want to see Mr. Roleiman’s face again on a Monday morning before I had my first cup of coffee and he told the staff all about how so-and-so did such a great job with sales (clap clap clap) and then the other person got a dozen clients to sign on for things that they could not afford (clap clap clap clap) and t...

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The Gnome

Weekly Contest #302

What do you do when you want to get away from it all? Take a cruise! Yes, you take a cruise to get away from all the stress and nonsense of your daily life, like that neighbour who hates what you have added to your own home (the one that is fully paid for and owned by you). You are proud of the aluminum siding, the flamingos (only three), and the decorations that are seasonal and tasteful. But most of all, you are proud of Norman; your Norm. It is your tasteful and special garden gnome…whom you could not stand to leave behind. * What do you ...

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Are you ready?

Weekly Contest #299

Hey, honey, I’m home! I know it’s late, and you are probably wondering what happened. Let me explain. We had to have a meeting today about the number of workers who would be let go by the end of the month. Now, you know that my ass was on the line as it is, so I did not want them to think that I was getting soft on company policy. I had to go out there and actually meet with the crew and tell them that despite all of their hard work, the company would be downsizing and then, wouldn’t you know it, they got pretty angry with me and told me to ...

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Poor Mr. Whiskers

Weekly Contest #299

Poor Mr. Whiskers… My mom said that every time I tell a story, start from “the big beginning”. I will try to do that now. Mom said that we were going to take a very big trip and I got excited and she said don’t be excited because you will have to go to the bathroom and I just put you in your favourite coat and hat with those boots (my feet hurt). I did not get that excited, but I was happy that we were taking the trip, but where was dad? Dad had to work that week and we could not take a trip with him so we should just enjoy it and maybe not ...

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The Hill

Weekly Contest #294

The sun was a hot stone in his eyes for a brief moment, even at this early point in the morning. He had just climbed up the small hill to the place where he was supposed to wait. It was always at this same time; always on a weekday. He was no longer new to this, but the light and the heat left him slightly dazed and sweaty at the same spot on the sidewalk where he would always have to wait. And here he was, waiting again for the exact same thing. After two weeks, he had some thoughts about all of this, even though he would not share it with ...

18 likes 4 comments 4
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The Tea Break

Weekly Contest #294

“I never take sugar with my tea, Mary…” She had been saying the same thing for ages, but the tea set came with the sugar bowl and creamer, and she was always going to make sure that her friends knew this. The table in the backyard had all of the necessities Andrea would use as a guest (napkins, multiple spoons and forks, saucers).She knew that her friends would be there with one making a specific request, and Mary had the tray ready for them, and nothing that Andrea could say would prevent her from her little routine. “I know. But Aldous mig...

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Train Number 0ne

Weekly Contest #293

The first problem was waking up in bed. It had been a beautiful morning while he waited in line for the bus. Will was expecting to take a very short nap before getting back to work. But he would also have to call them. That was the deal. Family is family, and we don’t get to choose them, do we? That was his thought as he put his knapsack on the floor, closed his eyes, and let the articulated city bus rock him gently into sleep in his seat. So, why was he in a bed? The bed was gently rocking as he woke up and looked around. It was the type th...

21 likes 8 comments 8
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Light

Weekly Contest #291

He could not believe how disorganized things were in their offices. From what he could tell after a short tour of the different areas on their floors, Claude thought that Hikari and Co. were used to just throwing everything everywhere at any time. They did have one system that worked: the garbage disposal. But even this was slowed down by the fact that there was only one set of plastic garbage cans on wheels. These were taken down to the dumpsters every other week so that the city could handle that mess. It was almost hard to see why he was ...

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How the Man in the Room Found the Right Place and Nothing New Happened Now

“The room is unfamiliar. I don’t know how I got here.” I wrote that down and I knew that I had to because I had my red pen that always went with the reporter’s pad that said, “Reporter’s Pad” right on the front. It is the same red colour as the pen and I know that I can make notes now even if this is very strange and I do not like this place and there is no carpet here and I wonder if I am going to be in trouble because I did not show up for lunch and I am not hungry so should I worry. “I don’t know why am here.” That is true that I do not k...

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