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Kendall Defoe

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jul, 2020

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150 Stories

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The Ten-Percent Trip

She noticed the grey clouds crowding out the hills behind the lot as she walked to her car. After fifteen years working for the company, Laura knew that what she was doing was the best for her, and for some of the others who wanted to advance. At least the weather had been nice when she went in. The rain would take her home. And what was the day all about? Change! Innovation! Renewal! It was partly her fault that the company had all these plans. For several months, there were discussions about what “we” needed to do “in a demanding and chang...

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World Peace Is None of Our Business

Note: the title of this piece paraphrases the title of a record by the singer Morrissey. This is not an endorsement of his recent political statements or thoughts; I just liked the title. She was standing at the dais when she thought about the Sunday when everything changed. With her mortarboard on and her most recent speech finished, Jessica looked back at everything that changed around her. The governments that hated each other announced that they would no longer be “pursuing interests in detriment to our citizens” (that was verbatim; sh...

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Eat at Joe's

Blink and you’ll miss it, she said. It’s more like…Spit and you’ll miss it, he thought. The dust was still thick in the air when she stopped the Jeep in front of what looked like an abandoned train car. He spat out dirt and wiped off the dust in his eyes and hair as he looked around. Abandoned? Yup. Like most of the area around it. He could see that the bush would take over this area one day and he thought that would be a fair deal. There were no other cars in the small lot, but he could see that there had been several abandoned across the r...

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Nursery Rhymes

Weekly Contest #109

No one is too happy about working at that time of night, but at least the job pays well. And the other thing – the thing that I do not share with any of the other ones here – is that I get to work alone. No one to bother with about birthdays, how their kids are doing in school, what did you think of that show last night (the one that I did not watch and never would). No, I liked it up there at night. At least I did for a while. Let’s see if I can paint you a picture. We are a tech company. We handle assets and sensitive data for many Fortune...

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#Truth

“Are we really gonna do this?”Donna’s camera was finally on, and everyone could see that she was still finishing up her lunch in her kitchen. David had decided that he missed his friends too much not to continue with his old habits; their old habits (he did not forget that). Both Sally and Mark were ready – appropriate since they were married – but in separate cities. David did not bother to try and get in touch with Lisa. That was over, right? Could he…?“Hello, Earth to David. Are we doing this?”“Yes, we are. Everyone up and at ’em?”“Yeah, ...

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Front Seat

Weekly Contest #106

This began on a Tuesday; must have been a Tuesday. The only reason why I know this is because of the sick kid. If I had not seen it with my own eyes, I would have ignored the signs. Five years on this route and not once did I ever pay attention to a passenger until some mother took her son out of a stroller and let her little brat get sick all over another passenger who was just trying to get to work. You may wonder why I noticed this one passenger. Mr. D., I called him. He looked a little like David-something-or-other (that actor in those m...

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Passion

Weekly Contest #103

“Do it or don’t. There is nothing else.”                That was good; really clever. He heard it on a bus ride between two friends who were trying not to be quiet. Two sentences that worked so well together just came to him. They belonged there. He could not get past them and really did not want to; he needed them.                It was another personal project for him...

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Fat Head

Weekly Contest #102

(Author's note: I have decided to use my real name after this story, since I have now reached fifty stories on this page. xox) My house is at the end of the street, really a cul-de-sac, so when I used to play outside we were surrounded by all of those neighbours we knew for years, and the kids were all the ones who lived around there and knew each other. It was perfect for all of us and then it was not. It all got ruined and I better tell someone why it happened (why I am telling you, I do not know, but…) So, it was a cul-de-sac for all of...

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Entomology

Weekly Contest #101

They were back in the trees, and this time, he did not care. He had seen them over the course of five summers and still knew very little about what they were, why they gathered among those leaves, and why he was so fascinated with them. Every spring and summer, they were there. They never went away. They were a certainty. It was a pleasant thought that day. It was too hot for the suit, he thought, but he knew why he had to wear it. He grabbed at the black tie and loosened it a bit. The jacket was already on the picnic table ...

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Serves Two

Weekly Contest #100

She woke up smiling.It was a beautiful day, and she had to decide on the evening meal before she went shopping. Some of the old cookbooks were already open on the dusty counter, but they really did not offer any advice. Italian? Indian? Greek? Maybe it would be better to choose something that was closer to home. Her dinner guest would not want to be too surprised when he came over that evening for their yearly get-together. Yes, something close to what they already knew would be best.So, she made her list. In her notebook, she had ...

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Gourmet

Weekly Contest #99

Well, welcome on board… You here for the summer? Cool… I’ve been on for three years now and it ain’t so bad on the night shifts. You get people who are chilled out and there’s less to clean up. Actually the best time to be here; just don’t say anything to anyone about it. Keep that a secret. We don't want to let too many people know about it.           So, this is it. The Palace. Don’t really know who thought of the name. Think it was a video arcad...

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The Fishing Trip

Weekly Contest #98

They picked a beautiful day for it. On that weekend, the weather was perfect for anyone willing to spend their time on a body of water that shimmered like a beautiful mirror, under a sun that was not too hot in a bright blue sky, and with hardly anyone else willing to travel out that far to go fishing.  It was a small vessel, running with a motor but with an option to use sails when the need to save on gas was high. Today, the wind was very light and calm, so George made a point of having extra fuel available when the vessel was being p...

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The Broken Window Theory

Weekly Contest #97

* The following notes were taken from the writings of Professor N. A. Neon:The “Broken Window” theory argues that the length of time taken to repair a damaged or broken window is directly proportional to the decline of a home or neighbourhood. Simply put, the longer a broken window is allowed to remain broken, the more likely it is that it will never be changed and the home in question will be allowed to rot.But for most of the arguments in favour of this theory, the owner of the property is not available due to reasons of abandonment, ...

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See-Saw

Weekly Contest #96

If you really want to know what I think… Well, I did not think much of them when they showed up. A whole family come in to take an old home that I had almost forgotten about; they were gonna take the barn next to it as well and then, well, that was none of my business… None of my business… Y’see, I think that was the problem right there. We were a small town and did not ever have to deal with anyone wanting to move in. Sure, you got your occasionals; I mean tourist, y’understand? Nothing wrong with that when the weather is nice and yo...

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Waiting for the Sun

Weekly Contest #95

Gork and Slarb, who had not yet become beloved among the Gitfangula – that happened much later and in a better story – were about to receive a very exciting assignment. The psychic projection hit them both in their neural feeds while they were trying to smuggle food objects over the border and pay back a former acquaintance. It sounded very urgent and possibly lucrative: “We send out this message, oh citizens of Gitfang, to request one of our kind to take on a mission that will save our quadrant of space and many lives from terror ...

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