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Michael Jefferson

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Feb, 2022

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150 Stories

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That’s the Spirit

Weekly Contest #325

“You need to come home. She’s only got a day or two left.” “Who is this, and who are you talking about?” “I know we haven’t spoken in five years, Ellis, but you don’t recognize your sister’s voice?” “Piper? This must be an emergency.” “It is. Mother had a stroke. And God knows why, but she’s asking for you. So, bring your sorry butt home.” *** Outside of their mother’s hospital room, Piper circles Ellis like a starving vulture zeroing in on roadkill. “Your hair’s gone silver, but at least you...

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She’s Not Dead Yet

Weekly Contest #324

CW: Corpses, the devil Nurse Sharon Hacker looks up from her station, smiling at Pauley Gates.“Well, if it isn’t the Robin Williams of the undertaker sect.”The good-natured, slightly balding, paunchy mortician gives Sharon a flirty grin.“Are you implying I’m funny?”“And just as crazy.”A gurney passes, transporting an old man nervously looking around the busy hallway. His frightening expression and the downcast look on the doctor reading the old man’s chart dampen Pauley’s playful mood.“On to business. Where’s Vanity Vontobel?”“Downstairs in ...

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As Long As Praxis Doesn’t Show Up

Weekly Contest #323

“King Galen the Good is dead? Seriously, he ate himself to death?”Counting out a stack of money, Queen Mariposa barely looks up at her foreign minister.“Yes. You know how much Galen liked cherries. This year’s crop failed due to the harsh weather, so we imported them from Alsace-Lorraine. By the time they got here, they’d been sprayed with the Gods know what to keep them fresh. Galen had ulcers, and he did himself no favors by overeating and chasing the cherries with cold milk. Basically, his stomach exploded. I’m devastated. I’ll miss his s...

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The Animal and the Choir Boy

Weekly Contest #322

One of baseball's premier hitters, Slade Stonehouse is a barrel-chested braggart who “talks the talk and walks the walk.” Bascom Plume, owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, tolerates Slade’s unrepentant partying because the left fielder’s prodigious home runs bring fans to the park. Despite his gaudy statistics, Stonehouse has yet to lead the team to the World Series. “We’re going to change that,” Manager Porter Hodge says to Slade during spring training. “You know somethin’ I don’t?” Slade asks. “You see that man in the batting cage?” “Yeah. Ai...

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The Ragin’ Cajun Rages No More

Weekly Contest #321

I received the phone call every ex-boyfriend dreads. “Mike? This is Carrie. I’m at the boutique. Veronica needs your help!” “We’re not dating anymore, Carrie, remember?” “Then I need your help. Get down here quick!” To the casual observer, thirty-year-old Veronica Rennie and I were opposites, Beauty and the Beast. Veronica was one of the few women I dated who was a friend, not just a girlfriend. When she smiled, her eyes smiled, and she said I was the only person who made her happy. Veronica was one of the most beautiful women I’d eve...

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From Now On, You Ride in the Trunk

Weekly Contest #320

The flashbulbs from the paparazzi’s cameras go off as rapidly as machine gun bullets as Novella Divine poses on the front lawn of her Beverly Hills mansion, looking dramatically distraught in a form-fitting, short white robe. “We found her running up and down the driveway,” Detective Moe Fine says to his partner, Detective Leo Dorsey. “She didn’t start screaming until the press got here.” “Right on cue, like a true actor. Any sign of Maury MacDonald?” “Nope. All signs point to an abduction.” Leo looks at the corner of the roof of the sprawli...

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Bessie Needs To Be Fed

Weekly Contest #319

Bronco Bratkowski is at it again.The six-foot, seven-inch biker looms over a bulky man wearing a greasy cowboy hat.“I say John Wayne!”“Eastwood,” the man in the cowboy hat says calmly, sipping his beer.“You don’t know what you’re talkin’ about, Duff. The Duke’s the greatest cowboy ever!”“Oh yeah? How many Oscars did Wayne win? One! Eastwood’s got six!”Bronco grabs Duff up by his collar.“That’s how many times I’m gonna slug you, buckaroo!”Bronco catches a glimpse of a man sitting at the end of the bar staring at him. The man’s face is a mass ...

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Mr. Mustache

Weekly Contest #318

Cam Collier shields his eyes against the glare coming off the Sinclair Building.He checks his watch. It’s almost noon.On the roof of the skyscraper, Dickie Diamond, a light-hitting, tiny infielder for the Texas Rangers, is preparing to drop a baseball four hundred feet.Smiling at the curious crowd, Rowdy Robinson pats a first baseman’s glove, confident he’ll catch the ball. If he does, he and The Coogan Kid’s Memorial Fund will receive $25,000 from Pastel Aeronautics.Known as Mr. Mustache, the 6’ 2”, thirty-seven-year-old, seldom-used utilit...

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I’m Not Heartless, I Just Use My Heart Less

Weekly Contest #317

Nigel pats J.O.N.I. like an obedient dog.J.O.N.I. (short for Journey Operation Nebula Intensifier) is a Displacer, a computer capable of creating a pocket of temporal distortion that can send a subject forward or backward in time.“Power to the distortion ray is at eighty-five percent,” Nigel reports.“Ready the subject,” Magda replies.First in her class at M.I.T., thirty-four-year-old Magda Furay lives every day as if it’s a war. With her brown hair tied in a bun, her curvy figure concealed in a lab coat, and her forehead creased with a perma...

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Bright Eyes

Weekly Contest #316

Agents Carson Williams and Ramona Resnick examine the boy’s bodies. The eight victims are residents at the Hillcrest Orphanage and appear to be between six and ten. “This is how we found them,” F.B.I. agent Spencer Turnball says. The boys are lying on their backs in their beds, covered up to their necks by white sheets. Their sad, lifeless eyes look up at the ceiling. A white towel covers each boy’s forehead. Carson and Ramona have been partners in the service of the Extraordinary Bureau of Investigation (E.B.I.) for four years. They’ve prov...

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Horton Played It Fast and Loose

Weekly Contest #315

Cockerville, New Mexico1888 The hotel’s front desk clerk gazes sleepily at the reporter’s business card. He checks him over, thinking the bespeckled, slightly built man with the slate gray eyes could be his twin. “Joshua Elm, eswire…” “That’s Esquire. Is Cade Horton upstairs? I’ve been sent to interview him.” The clerk yawns. “Yep. Room 2 B. Second floor, second door. They been up there scurryin’ about since five a.m. The lady deputy already come down to fetch Horton’s breakfast. He’s a humdinger. Can charm the skin off a rattler. But he’s...

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I Don’t Control the Sun, Son

Weekly Contest #314

The end of life as New Yorkers knew it came on June 30, 2028.That was the first day of the heat wave that never ended.***By 9:30 a.m., the temperature in New York City has crept up to 96 degrees. The sun is so bright that the sky appears snow white, making it difficult to look at without sunglasses.Within an hour, the thermometer hits 106 degrees.At 11:30, the President of the United States, the Vice President, members of Congress, and members of the Senate receive the same cryptic email:Deditionem! Sexaginta dies habes!The message is passed...

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And May the Truth Die With You

Weekly Contest #313

Madge Hagedorn crosses herself, kissing her rosary beads. Looking at the illuminated statue of Jesus near the pulpit, she whispers, “Are you there, God. It’s me… I know I made some bad decisions in my life, that I married an evil man, and didn’t protect my family… My time is near… All I ask is that you help me make amends…” Father Paul Dietrich gazes at the dozen worshippers in his church. He’s familiar with the Wednesday afternoon crowd and wishes he could take their pain away. Madge, the diminutive, grey-haired woman who helps run the lo...

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A.I. A.I. OH!

Weekly Contest #312

Chevy Crane rushes into the office of Franco Fairlane, the general manager for Audi’s Yorktown Heights dealership. “Can you come with me to finance, Boss?” Chevy asks, the right side of his face twitching nervously. Franco glumly looks up from his reams of paperwork, which indicate his New York dealership’s sales are down 15%. Franco follows Chevy, wondering how many salespeople he’ll have to lay off in order to balance the books. Opal Rush, the dealership’s finance manager, has her eyes fixed on her computer screen. Adjusting her tortoise s...

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Sin Eater

Weekly Contest #311

Molly Brennan raises her glass. “Here’s to Alf Brennan, the cheapest, meanest, most unfaithful highwayman in all of England. You reap what you sew, Alf!” Yelling, “Hip-Hooray!” the ragtag mob of half a dozen peasants guzzle down their drinks. Fourteen-year-old Godwin stands next to his father’s coffin, fixated on the loaf of bread resting on Alf’s chest. His mother joins Godwin, leaning against him in order to steady herself. “I meant what I said about him,” Molly slurs. “He was no good to nobody but himself. I bet you won’t miss them beatin...

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