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Mike Garrigan

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2019

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102 Followers

4 Following

60 Stories

989 karma pts

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Foile de Barbe

Emily Post, the oracle of etiquette, based her good-manners advice on three tenets: respect, consideration, and honesty. “Put these three principles together,” she wrote, “and act on them in your daily life and you will be the soul of graciousness and have excellent relationships as a result.”  Mrs. Post’s insights kind of make sense if you’re planning a wedding or trying to figure out when to send flowers after a friend’s mom dies. But, really, you can summarize everything you need to know about etiquette with one rule: Don’t Stir Shit...

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Lights Out

Weekly Contest #106

Detective Dana Ciccone and her partner, Tony Davis, didn’t find the silences that accompanied their morning drives to be uncomfortable. Dana drove. Tony looked out the window. They both enjoyed the temporary quiet. Twenty years of daily traffic jams from an obstreperous police precinct to an even more insistent crime scene had frazzled them both. But when they did speak, Dana was usually the one to start the conversation. In addition to being a damn good detective, Dana also seemed to be obsessed with random shit.“Do you believe in...

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Exhibits

Weekly Contest #105

Friday, August 5, 2021, 12:22 pm. Evidence. Exhibit A. Eyewitness #1.Format: Audio Recording.My name is Tommy “The Hammer” McGee. You might have heard of me. I won the Golden Gloves in 2001 and 2002. I still box a little, but nowadays, I’m an interpreter. I can speak like nine languages. Ma said that getting hit in the head over and over would turn me into a moron, but maybe it whacked something into place—Tafahma?So, the reason I was at the bank this morning was to deposit my paycheck. I had a med-interp gig down at Baptist. ...

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Red

Weekly Contest #104

I wanted to tell Kaitlyn to keep it down, but she just kept running her mouth. Dave’s Diner marked the last stop for a hundred miles before we reached the Cadillac Farm in Amarillo, Texas. Older couples and day laborers filled the surrounding booths, but they were keeping their conversations to themselves. Kaitlyn, on the other hand, exploded with laughter at the slightest suggestion of anything remotely funny.“Why did the vegan cross the road?” Kaitlyn said.“I . . . I dunno,” I said.“To tell everyone on the other si...

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Apple Tree Boy

Weekly Contest #103

Jacob’s Ford Wagon lacked motor mounts. It shook when he drove it. Jacob’s curiosity as to how long he could actually drive this P.O.S. outweighed his need for a new car, but only slightly. A month ago, Jacob’s father, Adrian, had a panic attack while Jacob and he were idling at a stop light, the car vibrating wildly. “Get me outta here!” Adrian said, gripping the oh-shit handle with one hand and palming dashboard with the other. Last week, Adrian’s attending doctor ruled his cause of death a “Massive Ischemia.” A blood clot prevented o...

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Broken Nose

Weekly Contest #102

Through his shoes and into his knees, Jamie felt his skateboard vibrate as he slid across the top of a park bench in Greenhill Park. Upon landing, he turned against the grain of the asphalt, powersliding to a stop. “Yes!” he said. He removed his helmet, swooped his hair out of his face, and smiled. Jamie had been trying to land a railslide all summer without totally wrecking himself. Jamie looked ahead, just beyond the park, to Mr. Winwood’s house. In a neighborhood bridled by yellow and tan homes, Mr. Winwood’s dark mahogany haunt...

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Amber Waves

Weekly Contest #101

A single bead of sweat rolled down Zeke’s soiled forehead as he hammered a rivet into the side of the silo. He dropped his hammer into the dirt and ran his hand over the curved aluminum siding. Zeke let out a long exhale.When he was in his twenties, Zeke loved to correct people over the classification of wheat. The setup was simple. Whenever Zeke was at a party and people got to making small talk about what they did, he mentioned that he designed grain elevators. Someone would pontificate, “Wheat is a type of grass,” to which Zeke would reto...

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Humana

Weekly Contest #100

The scent of freshly crushed garlic wafted over the candlelit tables of Braddington’s Seafood Grille. The low light masked the brilliant, polished concrete floor upon which Nova’s Sketchers made no sound. Sherri, the hostess, guided Nova to a table in the far corner of the restaurant. Sherri stopped mid-stride and Nova nearly bumped in to her. “Sorry,” Sherri said, turning to explain. “I got a text.”“No worries,” Nova said. “Here you are,” Sherri said, guiding Nova to the table where Ethan sat, staid and waiting. Sherri return...

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Tears of a Dragon

Weekly Contest #98

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Edward counted nine stalks of bamboo growing out of the small planter that lived on his kitchen counter. Edward unlocked his iPhone and opened the Compass app.  “Perfect,” he said to himself. The front of the lucky bamboo stand faced east. The kitchen timer pealed. The aroma of freshly baked eggplant parmesean filled Edward’s urban highrise apartment. He pulled the casserole from the oven, placed it on a four-leaf clover shaped trivet, and covered the dish in foil. The digital clock ...

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Abraxas

Weekly Contest #97

The sun had not yet roared into the sky. A Mapleton City Police cruiser rushed along on Chisholm Chapel Road. Sarge drove. Denny rode shotgun. Sarge smoothed his thick mustache with his thumb. Denny reached around his side to itch his back fat. The sun began to push reds and oranges through the blue morning horizon. “She didn’t see who broke it?” Denny asked.“Didn’t say. She was pretty upset,” Sarge said.Sunlight began to creep over the trees. Sarge and Denny put on aviators, almost simultaneously. A beam of light hit a nick on the...

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John John Is Not Hades

Weekly Contest #96

Black sheets of rain tore across Jack’s front yard. Snug in the warmth of his living room, Jack looked up. A deluge pounded the ceiling. Jack sat in his Astor Velvet reading chair. The downpour sounded like an amateur drum circle had converged on his roof. Jack went back to his book, The Argonautica. King Amycus had just knocked out three more of Jason’s shipmen. So much for Xenia, Jack thought. Jack began reading The Argonautica because he wanted to enjoy an old-timey greek myth, but he was burnt out on the&nbs...

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Volume 759 1/2

Weekly Contest #91

Malcolm’s skin tingled. He felt like he had just swallowed a bowling ball. “Malcolm, did you hear me?”Malcolm snapped out of the shock of TK’s news long enough to answer, “Yes, TK.” Malcolm paused. “Are you sure? Why?”“Malcolm, it’s not you. It’s me. I need some space.”“I hear you, but . . . why do you need to break up with me to have some space?” “That’s what breaking up is.”“Well, if you need space, maybe I could, you know, be supportive. I don’t know.” “I can’t explain it, Malcolm. I just need to be alone for a while.”Malco...

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Wichita Beach

Weekly Contest #90

A sandpiper scurried up from the ocean. It nipped at the hunk of bread dangling from Malcolm’s hand. Malcolm had fallen asleep in his beach chair. “Hey!” Malcolm said to the sandpiper. The tiny bird scurried back toward the water with a chunk of Malcolm’s baguette in its beak.“You OK?” TK said. “Yeah. Damn bird.” “Seltzer?”“Sure.”Tatiana Karenina handed her husband, Malcolm P. Sharpe, a glass bottle of homemade seltzer. The cool bottle beaded with condensation. Malcolm up nodded, turned the cap, listened for the fizz, and took...

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The Leviathan

Weekly Contest #89

Yesterday I left my apartment at 7:15 am, as usual. I was looking forward to grabbing a cup-a-joe from Raphael’s before getting to work by 8. As I turned the key to lock my door, I heard Jethro behind me. He was leaving his apartment for the day, too. “Good morning, Jeth,” I said. Jethro said nothing and avoided making eye contact with me. His dirty blond hair was as wild as ever, but his machismo had been replaced by a hunched over posture. He looked at the ground and crammed his hands into his pockets. “C’mon, Jeth. This ain...

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Monkey

Weekly Contest #88

Once upon a time, a monkey named Rory lived in a jungle. Rory’s jungle was particularly dark and especially terrible—full of flesh eating fish, savage spiders, and cunning crocodiles.Rory resided with a troop of gargantuan silver back gorillas. The troop adopted Rory after a bask of crocodiles ate his tribe. (By the way, a “bask” is a group of land crocodiles, while a “float” is a group of water crocodiles.) Carl, the alpha gorilla, protected Rory from the evils of the wicked jungle, but not without remuneration. In exchage for Carl’s protec...

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