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Zack Herman

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Dec, 2020

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78 Followers
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47 Stories

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A visit With Saul

Weekly Contest #329

The other day, I asked Daddy about this memory that I have. He shook his head and said, “I never understood why you’re always diggin’ up the past, son!” Here’s what I know. As far back as I can remember, I had heard the adults in my family talk about my father’s second cousin, Saul. Saul had moved to the Cleveland area to work in a factory. His mother had begged him not to go up there. She said he belonged down here in Kentucky with his family, not up there with strangers. Saul moved anyway. He was doing well. He made plenty of money and wou...

13 likes 3 comments 3
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The End Shall Come

Weekly Contest #324

CW: Mass suicide, Gun violence, Physical abuse The Children of the Firstborn are gathered in the Cavern awaiting the Second Coming. There is a large digital clock mounted on a wall of the cave and it reads 10:30:49 and counting. A stage has been constructed near the clock and there is a podium on the stage. 14 year old Dougie Starnes sits on a rock near the clock. He is uncomfortable and, deep down, he really doesn’t want to be there. Like everybody else, he is dressed in a long, white robe and he is barefoot. Like most boys his age, he is...

8 likes 3 comments 3
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Nellie, the Hat Man, & Me

Weekly Contest #314

My baby sister Sally’s crying wakes me up. Sally is five years old and I’m 10. There are only two bedrooms in our house, so we sleep in the same room. It’s a whimpering kind of cry. The kind of crying that a little girl does when she doesn’t get her way, not the crying she does when she’s hurt. Still, I hate to hear her cry, so I get out of bed and go over to where she’s lying. I reach out in the darkness until I feel her curly, blonde hair and stroke her head as if she was my dog, Scruffy. “Hey, there, sissy, what’s wrong?” I whisper. I ...

10 likes 5 comments 5
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How I Met Cindy

When you are the preacher’s kid, sometimes, you end up doing things that you really don’t want to do. It was the first day of Christmas vacation. I was 16 years old and had my first vehicle, a Ford pickup, painted burnt orange. I was a very self-centered young man and was determined to spend my vacation time hanging with my best friend, Judd, and my girlfriend, Monica. Dad, naturally, had other things in mind. “Look, son, we have all of the groceries from the food drive delivered except for one family. I have to work tomorrow and I’d appre...

7 likes 7 comments 7
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Let's You and Him Fight

Weekly Contest #304

Hickmanville, Kentucky. We moved there from Illinois in 1972. I was ten years old. My grandfather had been having heart problems and his doctor had advised him to give up running the family business, Walker’s Grocery. The folks and me moved there and lived in a double wide that sat behind Pap and Mamaw’s house. By the time we had lived there for two years, I was pretty well settled. I made good grades and I was the starting shooting guard on the Caudill County Junior High Hornets basketball team. I had made friends. My best friend was Lefty...

18 likes 5 comments 5
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Angel Unawares?

Weekly Contest #302

“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” -Hebrews 13:2 (King James Bible) When I was 16, my Friday nights were usually always the same. My buddy, Woody Rawlings, would stop by and pick me up in his beat up Ford pickup truck and we’d head for Logansville, the nearest “big town” and we would go and “cruise Willie”(Wilmington Avenue). Woody and me had been pals since 5th grade when he had moved to Kentucky from Detroit. Woody was a tall, skinny guy whose voiced had never changed when he hi...

9 likes 1 comment 1
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The Legend of the Tire House

Weekly Contest #291

I got the newspaper from back home in the mail today. I subscribe to the Caudill County Gazette so I’ll have some connection to the place where I grew up. The picture on the second page caught my eye-a tall,skinny man with white, shaggy hair and a drooping moustache. He wore a pair of bib overalls and a plaid shirt. The clothing hung on him like he was a scarecrow. The man stood in front of a chicken wire fence. He didn’t smile for the camera, but stared stoically ahead. I wondered why he was in the paper. The headline explained it all… L...

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A Soul In Danger

Weekly Contest #289

I was pulling out of Martin Hollow Road onto State Route 12 when I first saw the man. It was raining. H e was standing there by the STOP sign. He made no effort to get out of the rain. He just stood there and kind of stared at my old, rusty Dodge truck as I stopped. He was a wiry sort of guy. It looked like he was dressed in some sort of a work uniform that looked maybe a size too big for him. The fact that his shirt was untucked added to his sad sack appearance. He was wearing a straw hat, so at least, his head wasn’t getting wet. He was a...

9 likes 2 comments 2
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Auld Lang Syne Y2K

I suppose that I’ve always been kind of boring. It was December 31, 1999. My idea of partying like it was 1999 consisted of going to Wal-Mart for a frozen pizza, coming back to my two bedroom, on bath castle, baking the pizza, and watching some scary movies I had recently bought on VHS. Sounds like something a middle aged or elderly man would do, doesn’t it? I was 22 years old. It was cold that evening. The thermometer on the front porch said 37 degrees. I put on a sweatshirt and my old high school letterman’s jacket (I wrestled two years...

3 likes 2 comments 2
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Why Daddy Didn't Like Christmas

Weekly Contest #282

It’s Christmas Eve. I’m sitting here in my living room. I’m looking at the tree with the presents piled under it. I’m in my easy chair, facing the fireplace, nursing a glass of eggnog, the non-alcoholic kind. Thank God, I gave up drinking three years ago. The fire is roaring and I feel the warmth from it. I’m listening to the radio. On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, our local radio station replaces the usual country and bluegrass with Christmas music. This is the same room where I’ve celebrated many of my holidays. I live in the house tha...

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The Goblin Lives In Their House

Weekly Contest #280

“Did you boys hear that?” Papaw asked. It was only the four of us that Friday night: My grandparents, my brother, and me. I was ten years old and my brother Davey was seven. We sat on a rug in front of the fireplace. My parents had went out of town for the weekend and left us with our paternal grandparents at their rambling old farmhouse out on Possum Ridge. It was mid October and a great night to sit by the fireplace. Papaw had built a fire and the record player was playing in the living room. The record was the Happy Goodman Family. My gr...

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Uncle Dill

This story contains religious themes. If this offends you, you have been warned. Hey, I can trust you with something, can’t I? It’s personal and if some people find out, it could cause a bunch of trouble. I said I would keep it to myself and I promised my Uncle Dill, but even he had to tell somebody and God help us, it was me. I can see why he had to tell. This is hard to keep secret. OK, this was about six months ago, but it seems like it just happened today. As you’ll find out, I can remember vivid details about the thing. His name was ...

2 likes 1 comment 1
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The Last Cat

Weekly Contest #275

“Lookit, Delmar,” I hear Aunt Rhodie say, “it’s a cat!” I look up from the chair that I’m sitting in, just inside of the tent that I share with Aunt Rhodie and Uncle Henry. It’s probably been three years since It Happened. I’m 16 years old. If we still marked time the way that we once did, it would be late October or early November. It is a black cat. Too big to be a kitten, but very small. Reminds me of the cat my grandmother used to have. That cat’s name was Miss Bliss. “Mew!” the cat cries, as if to greet us. “I wonder if it’s a boy o...

6 likes 1 comment 1
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Deputy Dickle

Weekly Contest #274

I was seven when we moved to Sandersville. That was back in 1977. My family, Dad, Mom, my little brother Josh, and me, moved to a double wide in what they called Printer’s Alley. It was next to the newspaper, The Saundersville Gazette on Main Street. The alley was a gravel drive, nowadays, I’d call it a cul de sac, that ran back a little ways and ended in a turnaround in front of a stand of pine trees. Our double wide sat on one side of the alley. A two story brick home was on the other side of the alley. An elderly couple named the Battens ...

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The Wit and Wisdom of State Senator Smoky Arbuckle

You are walking down Main Street in Richardsville, Kentucky on a crisp day in early October. On the street ahead of you, stands a strange little man. He is stoop shouldered and he looks frail and ancient in his plaid pants, suspenders and T shirt that has WRITE IN WILSON printed on it. He also wears a straw hat with the same slogan printed on the hat band. He smiles and approaches you. As he gets closer, you notice that he is carrying a sheaf of papers. As he gets within arm’s reach, he offers you one of the sheets of paper. You hesitate, b...

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