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Paige Ladd

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Sep, 2022

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10 Stories

97 karma pts

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Camaldoli

All of Naples spread out before us, and the island of Capri stood solidly in the bay, challenging newcomers. Arrive. Eat. Buy. Exclaim. The cliffs on the south side of the city made me almost believe in sirens and their songs. The murky areas to the north made me believe in the underworld. Right now, though, it tranfixed me to believe in fairies. "He's back!" Did I really hear that? The buzzing sound was so much like insects. Too low, though. It would be a mighty big insect making a noise like that. I didn't bother to turn and see, because t...

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Catacombs of San Genaro

Weekly Contest #323

"How did you get so lucky?" Mimmo just chuckled. He didn't break rhythm with his shovel, just kept up his work. "Dio mio! How they stink!" Gustavo tried shoveling left-handed rather than right. He tried swiping at his nose with his shoulder. He kept talking. Mimmo didn't bother to correct his co-worker. He didn't bother giving encouragement. He had been at this job a long time, and he knew the type. Gustavo's type. Talkative. As if it helped. As he worked, he considered, though maybe it did help. The talkative types tended to keep on refusin...

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Rione Terra living...or nonliving

What if oblivion never existed in the first place? I had never considered...: it might be a possibility. That idea of lasting forever.Was the modern human… that guy with the curly hair and the hat … the source of the knowledge? Or just the questions...Time is different for living people than for nonliving people.…I feel the footsteps as I had done for millions of days. Maybe billions, but who cares? The tourists are coming. Rione Terra had become quite a popular spot, making me glad my hole was so deep. The clean out happened .... I no longe...

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Monte Guaro

MONTE GUARO "What does this crater really need?" I sat there, gazing out over acres of sod lovingly preserved in swaths outside the swimming pool at Carney Park. I had long ago gotten used to the hassles. Being a person who lives in Naples (and if you're Italian, a proud Napolitano, the hassles make up life -- more of a mindset than a problem) I had learned to live with things. My assistant chased a winged insect. Not even an interesting one. How he ever got into the Navy with an IQ like that, I would never know. Don't give me wrong. He was ...

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Waiting for Water

Daiki was living up to his name -- something about great value. I had to give him that. I questioned the sanity of my parents, though. This was the mentor they chose for me? "Keep up, idiot." He looked back at me the way a scientist looks at a worm he knows he will have to remove from his shoe before entering the sterile environment of the lab. Really, my parents were seeming nuttier by the second. They sent me to Italy with this guy, and we had been to place after place. Tourist sites. This one was a re-supply stop for freshwater when...

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Refreshing Places, Violence, and Coffee

Weekly Contest #192

There might not always be the perfect tool for the job, but I’m the one who gets things done. Lots of times the mess sat for days before anybody ever knew about it. It can be weeks before they’re certain it’s ok to start clean up. My boss keeps giving me raises, desperate I will leave. Finish the degree. Remember just why life is worth living. Take even one deep breath. Ok. That’s not fair. How would my boss monitor my breathing 24/7. Why would he want to? Breathing is up to me. It’s just that being a black man seems so confining ...

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Volcanic Music

Weekly Contest #185

“It’s mine, and you can’t have it,” he says, looking like a child despite his thinning hair, and his neck wrinkles.I look from the selection in the vending machine, to the crackerjack box in his hand, and I have serious concerns about this guy. We have only known each other two or three days. I‘ve been doing double time on my short legs to keep up with his long ones all morning long. I’m used to that, of course, in the marching band . . . but still.People warned me that Naples would be confusing. One guy even told me, “At least there’s vendi...

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Before - and Now

“Do you ever wonder if you made a mistake,” said the fresh-faced college girl to her mother. “I mean about marriage.”Marci reflected that the Naples Soterranea was hardly the place for a conversation like this. The girl probably thinks she has privacy because she speaking English, not Italian. Talking about deeply personal things in Italy wasn’t truly that private. Most of the Italians in the tourist sections knew exactly what everyone was saying, plus, the group shuffling in the dimness included mostly English-speakers. Marri...

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Ash and Silence

Weekly Contest #168

The silence bothered me. The gloom gathered more thickly, and her breathing became more labored. If I told her to take the rag from her nose and mouth, she would bring ash into her lungs with each breath. Although we held hands, the sweat of our palms made the grip slippery with mud. The powdered rock continued to fall, and though it was mid-day, all signs indicated it would get worse.“Pliny,“ she said huskily, “You must go on without me. Your survival is all that matters. I promised your father.”Beneath her coating of ash, I knew that her s...

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My favorite part of the week

Weekly Contest #164

Ten minutes to gunshots.“I am the dead end for food,” I said as I shoved another piece of celery into my mouth. “I’ll never be as notorious as her, but I’ve at least I have all the celery I want.” I nodded toward my sort-of rival.“Feeling gloomy today?” Rachel asked.Our lunch room wasn’t the raucous kind. Sure, it was a public school, but we weren’t barbarians. Angie was putting down her tray next to the choir kids this week. I am a great observer. She rarely ate three meals in a row with the same group of kids. I wondered if that was what m...

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