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Weekly Contest #315
Legs splayed over the arm of the biggest chair, Shane chews the neckline of his Old Navy T-shirt, holding a deluxe Time-Life book to use as camouflage. He’s brooding over his next Top-Secret project, and has decided to hide it among the pages of this book, titled Abandoned Places. News junkie Dad has sections of the Sunday New York Times fanned out over the circular coffee table. He’s nursing a shotglass of Jameson’s whiskey. Mom reclines on the large Mouflon sheepskin rug and three cushions in front of the unused limestone fireplace. She’s ...
Shortlisted for Contest #314 ⭐️
Eddy runs out to the parking lot, ahead of the others. It’s flat and hot, like Grandma’s frying pan when she turns the burner on high. Letting it warm up just before her butterknife slices off a waxy square of yellow butter and chases it around the pan. Round and round the butter goes, the square losing its sharp corners and the butter slip-sliding in a greasy puddle, getting smaller and smaller until it vanishes and there is only hot brown grease in the pan.Eddy always ducks his head near the pan to smell the browned butter. And Grandma, la...
Weekly Contest #313
Once upon a time in the village of Wishyouwell there lived a crabby old woman called Ears-A-Plenty. She was called Ears-A-Plenty because it was true, she did have more ears than the average two or three that we might have nowadays. Yes, she even wore the extra ears, sprouting from the top of her head, gathered up with a velvet ribbon like a bouquet of posies. Ears-A-Plenty was a shopkeeper, the best shopkeeper for miles around. Each morning, smells of coffee and buttered toast wafted on the breeze, gathering customers to her. Once inside the...
Weekly Contest #311
“Come,” Billy said, circling my wrist with his fingers and pulling me to the garage. I’d just finished transplanting the daffodil bulbs, a mucky mindless operation that Charles used to do each spring, and I welcomed the interruption by this gangly gap-toothed kid. Or, perhaps I should say, young man, because Billy was turning twenty that day. I looked around our garage: lawn mower, gardening hoops, and heaped-up boxes of Charles’ things that make me weep when I open them. Propped against the nail board hung with saws, shovels, and coils of r...
Weekly Contest #307
When Jenna suggested to her best friend that they move off-campus together, Mallory was all for it. Their dorm had become a party palace full of constant distraction, not to mention fire alarms going off at 2 AM. They had met as first-year psychology students, and Mallory hoped Jenna’s good study habits would rub off on her and they could finish their four-year psychology degrees together next June. But things changed quickly when Jenna met Gavin, a grad student who casually mentioned he was working for the hottest new talent on campus, Pro...
Weekly Contest #304
“Oh my God, you just wouldn’t believe it,” Martina says, “they’re falling off and swimming till they drown from exhaustion or they’re fighting each other to the death for the last patch of ice.” She has that strained, distraught look that makes him back up six inches. “Whoa, what are we talking about here? The play-offs?” Justin says, plopping his bike pannier against the wall and peeling off his rain jacket as he looks at her computer screen. He’s in the mood to watch blood sports to take his mind off the latest rumor of downsizing at work...
Weekly Contest #301
When that midnight phone call came, during a sky-splitting thunderstorm, I should have ignored it. But it could have been something serious–Mom’s nerves or Dad’s heart. You never know. “Bruni, you’ve gotta help me.” The hoarse voice on the other end sounded familiar but I was too sleepy to recognize the caller. “Can I crash at your place?” said the low rasp. “I just—I just—”Crash. Ah—that was the giveaway. “Where are you, Liuva? Are you okay?” I sputtered. What new emergency was this? My sister was contacting me four years after she’d sworn ...
Weekly Contest #300
The plan made sense on every level. Eric Keane stood, watching the strong north wind judder naked tree branches outside the bedroom window. Far in the distance the white cliffs stood sentry along the seacoast. Indoors, he heard the bang-clank of Mrs. Potts’ arrival as she dragged the vacuum up the carpeted stairs. He massaged his eye sockets with the heels of his palms then opened his eyes again. I must hold on, he thought as he dressed.A tornado of sorts had already swept through the master bedroom: dozens of flung-about clothes, wads of sc...
Weekly Contest #298
As the final prayers were intoned at Amanda’s grave site in the dry grassland cemetery, Paul gazed at his fellow mourners: their son Noah, a college student; Amanda’s two sisters, who co-owned the local gas station; and the six pallbearers, who were fiftyish farmers like himself, except they were all divorced or bachelors, because the farming life was tough on modern marriages. He stared at the pile of freshly turned soil: thick, damp, brown-black loam, a richness that could grow anything, given proper rain and sun. How promising that mound ...
Weekly Contest #297
As the date approaches, Louise swings between anticipation and dread. On the appointed day, she catches the 32 Bus, headed from the suburb of North Montreal toward the Metro. Mid-morning shoppers and overslept students gaze dully as the world passes by the windows. The bus rumbles along Lacordaire Boulevard, until it screeches to a halt at the light beside a building where she used to work in the days of faxes and photocopies. The days of pantyhose and pussy-bow blouses, skirt suits and kitten heels. The dress code said no bare legs, no visi...
Weekly Contest #294
It’s never just about the mascara.I followed the directions of the night watchman to the backroom of the pharmacy, my briefcase bucking against my leg, and the smell of pine-scented cleanser intensifying as I hurried. I had just delivered my regular Thursday evening history lecture and my suit felt rumpled, sweaty, still humming with debate. Sniff. In the backroom corner a wiry green-haired girl was wound like a worrywart’s twist-tie on a high metal chair. I knew better than to expect a hug from Sue, or even a small “Hi, Dad.” She contorted ...
Weekly Contest #293
Agnes Beaulieu looked out her window as the Shinkansen, or bullet train, pulled out of Tokyo station. Harsh late-morning sunlight alternated with shadows from buildings and tunnels: light-dark, light-dark-dark, light-dark-light, with increasing frequency as the train picked up speed. She gave a heavy sigh. For four years she had been accompanying young Katriona on trips from her father’s place in Seattle to her mother’s place in Kumamoto. It was not unlike bronco busting, with Katriona bucking and pitching the whole ride while she, Agnes, si...
Weekly Contest #292
Gran drew out a long acrylic strand from the canvas knitting bag and continued her day’s work: the rhythmic yarn-over and loop-through motions of her crochet hook. The telly was airing a documentary. Lives of Master Painters: Winslow Homer. Painted seascapes exploded onto the big screen as the camera, like a lover’s eye, caressed the textures and colours of Homer’s paintings. It zoomed in on brushstrokes of waves, then zoomed out to show the people. Desperate people! Men trapped on flimsy boats on stormy seas. Murky blues, jagged whitecaps. ...
Weekly Contest #291
FRANKI was taking our baby, little Tabitha, out for walkies and allowing Lyndsay some time for herself. As a new father and somewhat less new husband, I was already in the doghouse. According to Lyndsay, I was a careless, inattentive parent. She accused me of wantonly dropping baby garments throughout the neighborhood. My negligence toward the darling baby socks was on par with letting a toddler play on a superhighway.So, yeah, I was a little stressed.The problem was, I had put Tabitha in the stroller, wearing her Oshkosh overalls and a pair...
Weekly Contest #290
The tour bus took a different turn than expected and ended up in an old part of the city where there was a verdant park, a tinkling fountain, and comfortable wrought-iron benches. Various small shops lined the streets. The doggy spa rested beside the eyeglasses boutique; the pastry shop wafted its aromas toward the vintage clothing bazaar; and the bike shop did while-you-wait repairs for café customers next door. The driver parked the tour bus and announced, “Everybody, half-hour break!” Although some might buy a spare bike headlight, purcha...
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