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Pete Gautchier

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Feb, 2024

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112 Stories

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What Was I Waiting For?

Weekly Contest #361

Prompt: Your character reminisces on something that happened many summers ago. What Was I Waiting For? It was midnight. Sleep was running away from me. My thoughts were racing as I had earlier in the day witnessed my son graduating from high school. I was so proud of him. Nostalgia tugged at my heart. I found myself reminiscing about those special days when I was my son’s age. I pulled off the bookshelf my senior high school yearbook. Instinctively, I turned to the page where my photo was. I cringed when I saw it. Inserted into the...

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Fun Things and Heartstrings

Weekly Contest #361

Prompt: Write a story about summer love. Fun Things and Heartstrings “You throw like a girl!”, I said to her disgustedly. “I am a girl, you bonehead.” Playing catch with Maripat is such a joy for me. And yes, even if she is a girl she is quite the ball player. I have known Maripat now for almost two years. This summer though is turning out to be something really special. She lives across the street from me in a rental house. Her father travels for a living so I am hoping they never move again. Sometimes I wonder if I had spoken too soon w...

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Professor Schnooz-Breaking Through Schleep (Sleep) Barriers

Weekly Contest #360

Major Prompt: Write about a breakthrough that arrives just in time or much too late. Prompt: Your character wakes up from a dream with a long-awaited idea or answer. Professor Schnooz-Breaking Through Schleep (Sleep) Barriers Attendees of the very first narcolepsy/sleep conference file into the conference center in the town of Sleepy Hollow on the rustic shores of New Bedshire. A speaker dressed in a white lab coat is broadcasting on the auditorium stage. He begins with the announcement; “Welcome to the first annual Narco Meet, Greet and...

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My Last Twenty-Four Hours of Freedom or Something Else?

Weekly Contest #360

Prompt: Write a story about someone whose time is running out. My Last Twenty-Four Hours of Freedom or Something Else? “You are a worm, a wretched maggot!” These are my words I mouthed quietly to myself twenty fours hour before my wedding day to the supposed love of my life. I was referring to my character. I really had misjudged my betrothed. I was a royal mess. Having a bachelor’s party 48 hours earlier watered my discontent about my nuptial intentions. I deliberately imbibed as many pints as I could without retching. I did not ant...

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Thank You for Your Story Submission But...

Weekly Contest #359

Prompt: Your character is waiting or yearning for someone or something. Thank You for Your Story Submission But… “It was the worst of times. It was the best of times.” “You plagiaristic fool! I can’t use that! Dickens would roll over in his grave.” There have been many starts and restarts. Hours have turned into days. Weeks have melded into months. Seasons have come and gone marking the year. Even so I continue to sit at my writing desk mesmerized by an empty computer screen. I try to commend, to cajole and even to chide myself in...

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Illegitimate, But Loved Nonetheless

Weekly Contest #358

Prompt: Write a story about a victory that no one else will ever know about…but that has changed everything. Illegitimate, But Loved Nonetheless It was decades later when I learned that my DNA was not found in an ancestral registry. I thought it would be a good thing to know my genealogical heritage for the sake of my family to come. When I learned that the mail order DNA registry had no matches for me, I became deeply despondent. I confronted my parents about my birth. My one and only family had raised me since I was a young baby. Th...

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I Can Do This

Weekly Contest #358

Prompt: Write a story about someone who shouldn’t have made it out…but did. I Can Do This I am an embedded news reporter for the Military Times giving a firsthand personal account of the early days of fighting experienced by Private First-Class H. T. Shirker. Private Shirker covered his face with his hands. All around him he heard the loud noise of grenades and gunfire. He was terrified as he crouched in the dirt. He was alone out in the open field. His comrades were out of sight hiding in the shallow trenched dirt. There was literall...

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Woof Woof is Not What I am Saying

Weekly Contest #357

Prompt: Write a story from the POV (point of view) of a pet or a loyal companion. Woof Woof is Not What I am Saying A beautiful, heartwarming sight to see. A boy and his dog walking together side by side on the tree-lined boulevard. The dog stops, looking up to the boy and he speaks in English with a slight British accent, “I have to pee. Please take me to the nearest tree.” The boy readily complies by barking “woof, woof, bow wow.” This is just another typical conversation between a boy and a dog. Or is it? I can almost see the look on y...

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Forlorn with Flowers and Forgiveness

Weekly Contest #356

Prompt: Write a story about a character finding something unexpected in the snow, grass, or water. Secondary prompts: Start of end your story with a sensory detail (something that evokes scent, texture, taste, sight, and/or sound). Write the story about the aftermath of someone’s sacrifice. Forlorn with Flowers and Forgiveness The arid breeze was making breathing difficult for Mary Magdeline or Mae as her late father called her. Her nostrils flared at the scent of the earth, dust and metallic odors coming from the rocks and sand of th...

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Dying to Play Ball

Weekly Contest #355

Prompt: Include a wake or funeral in your story where the mourners have conflicting feelings about the deceased. Dying to Play Ball Wheels are screeching and there is a slopping sound of a mop on the floor. The smell of disinfectant and alcohol permeate the air. “So, how are you feeling today’ Mr. Highhope?” “Still breathing Mr. Clean. Mind if you mop over by the garbage can? My aim ain’t so good these days. Good thing I ain’t the starting pitcher for today’s game.” “Don’t worry about your mess. I have it all under control. I’ll tu...

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When One Equals Zero

Weekly Contest #354

Prompt: Write about someone who is grappling with loneliness. When One Equals Zero The music and words in my head were so loud it was disrupting my thoughts. “One is the loneliest number you could ever do…” was incessantly chirping away in my brain. I could not get it to stop no matter what I did to distract myself. Then the refrain started in…” One is the loneliest number” over and over again. I clenched my head with my hands. I plugged my ears, but the music was piercing my eardrums. The words would just not stop!I mouthed “Please Go...

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Ancient, Mighty and Eternal

Weekly Contest #353

Prompt: Write a story where the line between myth and reality begins to blur. Prompt: Write a story that connects mythology and science. Ancient, Mighty and Eternal “It’s an agglomerated catastrophe,” said the young geologist as he pounded his hammer into the side of the mountain. His equally young comrade John (and presiding archaeologist) was nodding in agreement. “John, I can hammer night and day for the next twenty years and I likely will make no more headway than what I have done in the past hour. I think it is time to reassess our ...

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Roy-A Palette of Color

Weekly Contest #352

Prompt: Write a story in which a character can taste, smell, hear, and/or feel color. Roy-A Palette of Color Hello citizens, of this magnificent world! My name is Roy G. Biv. I have come to save you from the gloominess and unhappiness that cloud your everyday lives. You have fallen victim to the bleak, drab, ashen villains of daily living. I will create smiles across your pallid faces. For those of you unfamiliar with me, I am a superhero of epic proportions. I paint the skies with rainbows of vividness and brilliance of color. Look...

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Last Words

Weekly Contest #347

Prompt: A character breaks a rule they swore they’d never break. What happens next? Last Words I was not in the greatest frame of mind that day when I lashed out at my mom shortly after she had reprimanded me. In my opinion, it should not have been a big deal when I offered my rebuttal at her accusatory words. Nevertheless, it was a costly error. I found myself without my phone, my TV, and most importantly, my weekly allowance for a month. Her chastising words were, “Your tongue is not an asset. One of these days your words will be y...

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Wormhole

Weekly Contest #346

Prompt: write about someone who has or is given the ability to teleport or time-travel. Wormhole “Timothy Edward and Peter Michael,” our Mama yelled from the kitchen. We knew when she added our middle names we were both about to get a verbal tongue lashing or the ominous threat of “wait ‘til your father gets home.” We were stunned when she said, “Boys, you need to go outside and breathe the fresh autumn air. The fall school term will soon start and you’ll be climbing the walls to get outside. Put your video controllers down and go get you...

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