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Mary Bendickson

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Feb, 2023

Stories (157)
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535 Followers
637 Following

157 Stories

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To Smell A Rat

Submitted to Contest #326

To Smell A Rat Nothing but eerie, unnatural silence greeted Nellie-Rae at her usually cheery homestead when she arrived home with her cart full of butchered deer meat she'd spent the day hunting, field dressing and dragging back through the forested Georgian acreage her family owned. She even needed to salvage her share back from the greedy, drunken neighbor, Otis Crawford, when the buck wandered onto his property before it died from the injury she inflicted. She was exhausted and needed her mom to help her hang the bounty into the smokehous...

18 likes 14 comments 14
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Silence Is Golden

Submitted to Contest #326

Silence is Golden Nellie-Rae hustled as quickly as she could away from the grip of her disgusting smelly neighbor, Otis Crawford. Ducking under cover of the woods before slowing to take a breath, she continued to clutch two heavy bags of deer meat she managed to carve off the carcass of the buck she broad-headed on her property before the injured animal crossed the boundary line and died. If Otis's son, Cody, hadn't interrupted him, the greedy man would have taken a piece of her hide for claiming her own game. Nervous energy made her chuckle...

20 likes 20 comments 20
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Wind Beneath My Arrow

Submitted to Contest #325

Wind Beneath My Arrow She silently raised her bow and took aim. The arrow took flight at the same time a stiff October gust brushed her cheek whipping a wayward strand of dark curly hair into her eyes at the same instant it spooked her target. The young buck flinched as the arrow pierced his rear flank far from the intended kill zone. All her carefully laid plans of scoring a winter supply of meat with a single shot close to home slipped away as the dear panicked and skedaddled, limping deeper into the forest.Nellie-Rae sighed as she grabbed...

31 likes 29 comments 29
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A River Runs Through It

A River Runs Through It It looks...muddy. Rough and muddy. Why would anyone want to get in it? Certainly not to swim. Intentionally.I've been contemplating a move. A big move. A life changing move. Why? I'm peacefully retired. Content with my life in almost all ways. Only one or two nagging issues. Nothing I can't live with yet they persist to tug at my mental well-being. Even made a list of pros and cons. Cons won out. Still I look at alternatives. Do I truly want to sail away into uncharted waters this late in life? Yet, they say you only ...

13 likes 23 comments 23
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Age-Old Ritual

Age-Old Ritual Buckle My Shoe One, two buckle my shoeThat is what I used to do.Three, four not so anymore.Five, six the Velcro sticks. When Things Fall I hate when things fall on the floor,It is hard to get them anymore.It didn't used to be any trouble at all,But then I didn't use to be this tall.Short Poems by my sister, T.T. Ah! Yes! The Age-Old Ritual. Or should I be more realistic and call it what it is? The Old-Age Ritual.ADLs (Activities of Daily Living) essential tasks like bathing, dressing, eating, and toileting necessary for main...

20 likes 22 comments 22
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Battle to End All Battles

Note: Story is nearly a repeat of one from May 2024, #249. Anyone on this site then may chose to skip. Battle of the Sexes So does this mean it has finally been settled? Once and for all? Considering the debate has been raging since... well, since the beginning of time really! Who believes Adam fully forgave Eve for offering that piece of fruit? Even if they managed to populate the world nearly single-handed afterwards don't you think he harbored a little resentment for making him work so hard to feed all those hungry mouths? Must have been ...

11 likes 10 comments 10
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Twisting In The Wind

Twisting In The WindTW: Sexual activityThe senior executor held his face in his hands. Troubled he couldn't think straight. What was wrong with him? He made one more important phone call before standing to stretch. He paced his luxurious office a few times then stood at the floor to ceiling window blankly staring out at the penthouse view. In a city of eight million why did he feel so alone? Or was he too crowded yet feeling lonely? He decided he needed space. Lots of it. Turner pressed the button on the intercom. “Cancel the rest of my appo...

16 likes 22 comments 22
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Woods, Weeds and Words

Woods, Weeds and Words There's a growing darkness abounding like deep shadowy woods sucking out the light of day leaving lifeless, dank dreams devouring common sense. Thistles and thorns planting other peoples' insidious ideas choking out truth and consuming reasonable thought. Enveloping today's youth causing brooding feelings to take root. Transplanting dastardly opinions formed into words meant to maim. Devious ideologies turn into deadly actions. The time has come to confront the demonic existence, break away if being overcome by it and ...

16 likes 21 comments 21
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Iam in Charge

Submitted to Contest #318

Iam In Charge I'm in charge! Ask anyone. Everyone knows I'm in charge. Why else would all my loyal subjects answer to all my needs? They treat me as the most important being that exists. All I have to do is complain a bit and a solution is immediately provided. Heck, sometimes I only have to look like I'm about to complain and the problem is solved. They realize I'm the one running everything around here. It's a very lofty position to hold so I do try not to take advantage. I do at least try to show my appreciation.Let me go back to my earli...

28 likes 39 comments 39
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Way-Back Machine

Submitted to Contest #317

Way-Back Machine Was it my imagination or was it real? Was it truly him or did I only want it to be him? No. I didn't want it to be him. That would be too embarrassing.It was a casual shopping day so long ago I've forgotten many details. A common, at the time anyway, name brand large department store. Not even there anymore. Turned into a health clinic, I think. Not important.I was there alone. Where were all my kids? In school, I suppose. Who can get any serious shopping done with four kids in tow? Not me. Anyway, there I was in the drug st...

32 likes 20 comments 20
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Quiet Hero

Submitted to Contest #316

Quiet Hero The DiscoveryThe unlikely hero was only acting as a temp, filling in for the regular comptroller/treasurer (C/T) of this small city/ big town who was on an extended vacation. Her full-time position was as a municipal clerk (MC). This in-depth bookkeeping work was above her pay scale but with budget cuts and deficits she was forced to do double duty. She'd been wrestling with the numbers but being under time restraints she finally gave up trying to remember the names of all the accounts and simply requested statements on all of the...

19 likes 25 comments 25
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Sailor With a Secret

Submitted to Contest #316

Sailor with a Secret After checking over my shoulder I steered my 30-foot sailing yacht into the small, safe looking harbor. I hoped it would be a big enough to provide all I needed. Finding an empty slip in the public sector proved easy enough. Question was if they had a refilling/dump station. It was standard at all but the tiniest ports. At least I could restock a few items and be on the open water again until I found a bigger port of call. I noticed a bar-restaurant nearby so decided to tie up and go ask some questions. My charts, GPS an...

18 likes 17 comments 17
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1987 Loopty-Loop

Submitted to Contest #315

1987 Loopty-Loop I looked up at the moonless sky. Well, I supposed the moon was there, it was simply obscured by wish-washy clouds. The laden clouds couldn't make up their minds whether they wanted to rain, sleet, snow or any combination thereof. They only knew they had to weep. Weep all over the sensitive e-field warning system and therefore all over me, a lowly security watch person sent on the task of keeping my eyes on the space between the double defensive fences since the questionable weather prevented the cameras from performing their...

26 likes 34 comments 34
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Smell of Death

Submitted to Contest #314

Smell of DeathTW: True account of multiple deaths. Plans change. I heard my best buddy, Lefty, say so as he went down on one knee (he didn't even fall!), and said something like that to pretty Miss Claire, our new friend. And, boy, have they been changing around here lately!It started one evening as I was getting the cattle herded back to the pen when Good Ol' Simon, our neighbor next door whom we watch over and help out sometimes suffered some kind of set back. He was hurtin' bad so Lefty drove him away in our truck and left me in charge. H...

19 likes 21 comments 21
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Alfie

Submitted to Contest #313

Alfie Ariel felt his titillating caress as if he was wanting to make love to her. She leaned into his touch willingly and...nearly toppled off the bed!What? Where was she? Where was he? Oh, yes! The horror of reality set in.She's back in her home town after being gone for twenty-five years ready to collect her father's remains. When she was notified of the discovery she hadn't waited for the local sheriff to tell her it would be a few days and he would let her know when to come. No, she rushed immediately across country to deal with it. Now ...

32 likes 36 comments 36
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