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Squirrelly Writer

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2019

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412 Followers
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88 Stories

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When the Weather Turns

Weekly Contest #63

“Harvest Mooncha? I mean, surely even you must admit that’s a bit of a stretch?” I laughed, nervously. It’s my knee-jerk response. Only involving my mouth, not my knees. Ferry and I were browsing the menu in Bean and Gone. As soon as the first leaves began to fall, they’d wheeled out the chalkboard list of seasonal drinks. The coffee shop was one of five branches the independent had grown in Brainton. People came in droves to photograph themselves and their friends sipping lattes in the reclaimed furniture or against wallpaper bearing f...

16 likes 8 comments 8
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Woody's Vacation

Weekly Contest #62

“COREYYYY!”Olivia shut the fridge door with a sigh and listened out for signs of movement from her six-year-old son. Or rather, six and three quarters, as he frequently corrected her and her husband, Jason.“What’s up, Ma?” a tremulous voice asked from the top of the stairs. Corey knew if his mother raised her voice it meant trouble. Olivia enjoyed quiet pursuits, such as meditation and crocheting (“means I can better tolerate your drumming and your Dad’s bedroom DJing practice” she had explained to Corey once).“Care to tell me why my eggs ar...

19 likes 4 comments 4
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Don’t You Cry

Weekly Contest #60

Even when I was a child, when this country’s surface was still cool enough to walk on barefoot, I didn’t get on with other children. Mother and Father’s friends, relatives and neighbours would pay visits, bringing with them their droppings, pudgy lifeforms incapable of moving in a straight line, that I was expected to entertain. To form immediate bonds with all, merely owing to being of similar ages. To host tea parties with teddy bears and dolls. To this day I am disgusted whenever I see a toddler trailing a doll behind her – evidence some ...

22 likes 12 comments 12
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The Wired Rats

Weekly Contest #60

From: A History of the Vischerpeople, 2065. Introduction Many students will be familiar with the Vischerz, a race who drill holes in trash islands to comb the ocean floor for idea chips. They then clean these up, using their advanced eyesight to detect any faults, tweaking them with tools at the ends of the upper limbs where you and I have hands and fingers, and transport these restored findings to Planet Jujj. The Jujii reward them with Ark Ma, a substance which provides momentary bliss and forgetfulness of the pandemic that has made ...

18 likes 3 comments 3
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Toby’s Mood Journal

Weekly Contest #53

16/07/20Good: really hot day. Happier when the sun is shining.Good: found a popsicle I’d forgotten at the back of freezer when putting food delivery away.Bad: popsicle melted after I got it out and left it on the side while I hung laundry out to dry. It was my last one.17/07/20Bad: reading over yesterday’s entry and realizing something as innocuous as a melted popsicle can really negatively impact my mood.Good: at least Dr Simpson will be pleased I’ve finally started this journal.Bad: had the nightmares again.Good: I just wanted to end an en...

27 likes 21 comments 21
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The Necklace

Weekly Contest #51

“That’s it? That’s all I get?” “I’m afraid so, Mrs Daniels.” Ian Wilkes of Wilkes Atkinson Johnson Solicitors twisted the piece of paper on his desk so it faced his distraught client. He tapped the offending paragraph with his pen. He folded his hands on his ample stomach (of which he was rather proud; many expensive meals had gone towards building that mound). He leaned back slightly, as though that would afford his ears some protection from the howling peroxide spectacle in front of him. “But…but that’s not fair!” The woman Ian had...

37 likes 3 comments 3
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The Floorboards

Weekly Contest #49

“Look at your watch now…” I can’t. “You’re still a super hot female!” Not currently. The thought makes me smile wryly, then I refocus as my arms start to shake. I try to focus on the rhythm rather than the words of the song I put on, one of the go-to tracks when I need a boost. I judge (pray) two minutes of it have surely passed by now. I close my eyes, but the image of the floorboards I was staring at remains lodged in my brain. I consider the years’ worth of detritus caught in the cracks. I think back to the time I dropped my co...

15 likes 5 comments 5
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Quill Bill

Weekly Contest #48

I turned my back on him, hoping he’d get the hint. “Why are you ignoring me?” I twitched my worn out body away from the finger poking into my spine, causing more of the duvet to accidentally join me. The protective heaviness didn’t last long, being promptly snatched back. “You always do this. Taking all the covers for yourself. Just goes to prove: you don’t value my feelings.” I drew in breath. Held it there for a moment, like a billion articles I surreptitiously searched for in any free moment I managed to carve out had instructed m...

20 likes 6 comments 6
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Reply All

Weekly Contest #46

Kate breaks from reading the messages on her PC from her woman’s shelter fundraiser page to read one from her editor on her mobile. She wants last minute changes made to Kate’s article on soothing face masks that can be made from items commonly found in kitchen cupboards. Next to a cooling cap of decaf coffee declaring her a 2018 Chester Triathlon Club runner up sits a pile of literature her obstetrician has dutifully posted, seemingly unaware of the omnipresence of the internet. Kate has read through half of it already though, tenderly patt...

16 likes 4 comments 4
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Walking With Einstein

Weekly Contest #44

Lee listened with half an ear as Greg listed the advantages and setbacks he had recently discovered in converting his wine shop to a home delivery service. Einstein yanked on other end of the lead held in Lee’s hand, similarly impatient to get going. He’d spotted a cluster of pigeons pecking at picnic leftovers that had tumbled from one of the park’s many overflowing bins.“…but what can you do, eh?” Greg shrugged his shoulders in theatrical self-pity, eyes crinkled in merriment. The two acquaintances both knew what was being left unsaid – Gr...

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The Return Journey

Weekly Contest #42

Maz switched her soya espresso frappuccino to her left hand in order to feed her ticket through the turnstile with her right. She strode to the end of the platform to await the train that would take her to Steph’s house.“Stephanie,” she corrected herself, not caring that her lips moved to form the syllables. She had her headphones in, so anyone looking would presume she was mouthing lyrics or learning a language, rather than trying to nail her half-sister’s preferred name. She had been so accustomed to abbreviating it in all the Christmas an...

19 likes 8 comments 8
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Abbey Ruins

Weekly Contest #40

Jasper is always on these neverending world tours with Hoffman’s Circus now, but back when I knew him he was just a klutz. Always showing off in front of girls, performing magic tricks that always seemed to involve him briefly holding their hands, doing tricks on his skateboard, playing with hacky sack or poi. Even with only me as his audience on our cycle rides around the outskirts of town looking for stuff for him to photograph, he was always jumping about. It’s surprising any of his photos actually came out in focus, really.On a May bank ...

16 likes 2 comments 2
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Voices

Weekly Contest #38

Jill narrowed her eyes at the clothes pinned on her neighbour’s balcony. A warm day with a gentle breeze meant wash day for Lauren. Which for Jill meant being treated to a display of Lauren’s 5-year-old daughter’s outfits strung up like bunting. You’d be forgiven for mistaking young Angelica for a royalist, given her predisposition for the ‘Princess’ and ‘Kween’ sequin embellishments on her napkin-sized t-shirts. The effect was so dazzling Jill was surprised the magpies she often spotted flashes of in the pine tree at the bottom of her garde...

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Coachlagged

Weekly Contest #36

17/04/2006Dear diary,Sorry I didn’t document the 19 hour coach journey as promised, but u were in the luggage hold the whole time as I’d stupidly forgotten to transfer u to my handbag. Had 2 make do with my Prague travel book. Was just getting stuck in when they turned all the lights off. I sat blinking in the dark while all the Czechs fell into a doze around me like birds that’d had blankets thrown over their cages. I’d love to know how ppl mange to fall asleep so quickly on public transport like that. TEACH ME YOUR SECRET. Is it Valium? Ko...

12 likes 8 comments 8
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Crazy Paving

Weekly Contest #34

I drew back the curtains and took in the scene.Of course. I spend four days a week in a basement office, the main sources of light being the fluorescent strip ones above me and the glow from monitors around me, while outside the sun has remembered to put in an appearance now spring has sprung, so of course it rains on the day I booked off.It’s hammering down. No birdsong, no traffic noise. Just sheets of rain. I peer down at the garden, which isn’t mine. It’s for the sole use of the landlord, as stated in the tenancy agreement I signed too m...

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