Posted in Flash Fiction

Guitar Man

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She was only sixteen. Oh, all right. She wasn’t quite sixteen. Just fifteen and a half. She liked the way that boy looked when he played his guitar. He worked on her granddaddy’s farm. Just a field hand, working in the kitchen garden and in the corn. Sometimes working in the dairy with the milking machines. Her granddaddy said he’d make something of himself some day. All she knew was how much she liked to watch him play that guitar.

Jake would use his breaks from work to practice guitar playing. He was already good but she overheard him say he wanted to be better. That he wanted to be famous. She would hide and listen to his guitar playing. That boy could play that guitar and make her feel things she’d never felt before.

Then he was gone. They said he went to Nashville to find a band that needed someone like him. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t quite sixteen. She hopped on a bus with a suitcase and a few dollars, determined to find the boy. She thought she was in love. She went to find that guitar-playing boy that made her feel things she couldn’t forget.

Posted in Flash Fiction

The Unknown Wife

Ingrid walked into her friend’s party and there was her ex and a woman. She overheard someone say he was married. She could hardly believe it. He’d called her only last week. She didn’t care that she’d thrown herself together. She walked up to him and said, “Introduce me to your wife.”

Posted in Flash Fiction

The Old Man and Daisy

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“Daisy, you and me, we gotta have ourselves a talk,” the old man said.

Lately, he thought to himself, Daisy wasn’t answering him very often. Usually, she coughed or sputtered or something. These days, not a peep.

“Did you hear me, old girl? Look at me when I’m talking to you,” he shouted. He kicked her in the side.

Still nothing. The old man didn’t understand. She always backtalked him. He had noticed she wasn’t looking so good these days.

Then he heard a voice but it didn’t sound like Daisy. He looked up. His nurse was saying, “Mr. Stevens, it’s time for your supper. Did you hear me? Who was that you were talking to when I came in anyway?”

Posted in Flash Fiction

My Face

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“My face looks sort of cracked,” the little boy said as he looked at his reflection in the water puddle. When he looked up, if anyone had been looking at him, they would have known why. His face was screwed up because he had been crying.

The little boy looked back in the puddle of water. He said to his reflection, “Where is my mom? She said she would be here a long time ago to pick me up.” His reflection didn’t answer him.

He looked up, but he was afraid to go toward the street. He looked back down at the water puddle at his reflection.

“My school is closed. I don’t know what to do. I can’t call her.” He saw his face screw up again. He started sobbing.

Suddenly, he heard his mother’s voice as she comes running toward him. Her car had trouble.

Posted in Flash Fiction

The Old Man

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There comes the old man down the road. His golden retriever walks beside him, just barely moving. They both move slowly. The dog is 14 1/2 years old, around 100 in human years. He has the beautiful golden hair but his face is solid white.The old man is still so proud of him.

Posted in Flash Fiction

Wising Up

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“I thought your parents were coming tonight?” James said.

“They are. They said they would meet us here at the restaurant at 6,” replied Barbara.

“I’m only waiting five more minutes,” James stated angrily.

Barbara sighed. James could be so angry sometimes. She didn’t understand it. She had hoped tonight would be special. James was standing beside her tapping his foot, arms crossed. She thought he might ask her to marry him after dinner.

“Barb, you’re so spoiled when you’re with your family. I’d rather have dinner just with you,” James said.

Barbara just looked at him. She knew he didn’t like her family but he’d never said anything like that.

“You wouldn’t be that spoiled if you were living with me.”

Barbara started walking away and ran into her parents.

“Dad, take me home. With you,” Barbara said to her dad.

Posted in Flash Fiction

Escape

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They were in Europe for only two weeks. The kids wanted to take a boat ride on the canals. It was the week before Trump’s inauguration as President of the United States. Every American that possibly could was escaping the country. The word was out that Putin of Russia had bought and paid for Trump. Americans were scared of what would happen after the inauguration.

The family was on its way to Australia along with many other Americans. Others were going to Canada. There was panic in the streets at home. Kelly supposed that even the vast Outback in Australia couldn’t hold all the Americans that wanted a homestead there.

Kelly smiled at Pete and tried to relax and enjoy riding on the canals. She would never forget the shining city on the hill.

 

*Photo credit to The Storyteller’s Abode

Posted in Flash Fiction

Time is a Wheel

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“Harry, please don’t play underneath the house. It’s dangerous,” said Harry’s mother when she found her nine-year old son leaning on the old wheel under the house.

“But, Mom, said Harry, “I have to see what the wheel says.”

“What are you talking about?” Harry’s mom is distracted because she is studying for her final exam in her graduate program.

“Mom, that’s the Wheel of Time. It spins it in one direction and shows scenes from the past. The other, scenes of the future.” Harry’s mother thought he was playing make-believe.

Then she heard the wheel turn – by itself.

99 words

Photo Credit: Sandra Crook

Posted in Flash Fiction

A Rocky Relationship

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We drove out to Red Rock Canyon that day. I’ll never forget it. Life had not been good for us for awhile. We both loved that canyon, the beautiful scenery, the peace.

Peter wanted to walk and take some photos. I walked with him for a bit but then veered off on my own. I took some photos of my own, including one of Peter sitting on the rocks resting and thinking.

He got up, walked back to me and said, “Carolyn, you’re my girl. You’ve always been. Can’t we work this out? What can I do?”

“You can be the Peter I used to know. Before the affair. You decided to stay, but you aren’t really here.”

Peter said, “I can’t help it, Carolyn. It changed me. She changed me.”

“Go back to her. You’re not my Peter anymore.”

140 words

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Posted in FFftPP, Fiction, Flash Fiction, romance

Lying in London

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“Patrick!” Rebecca cried. “What a wonderful thing to do! Look at that beautiful tray of food.”

“It’s the least I could do for us tonight. You had a long day of shopping. I had a long day exploring London.”

Rebecca and Patrick were on their way back to the States after a month in Europe. It was the first time they had been there together. They explored France and then took the train to Switzerland where Patrick had business. They had just finished a day in London. They were staying a wonderful old hotel in Trafalgar Square.

Patrick was ready to have a break from Rebecca, but she didn’t know that. She thought he would miss her as she would him. She also didn’t know he was visiting another woman today in London while she was out shopping.

They drank the wine and ate the lovely Stilton cheese from the tray, saving some of each for later. Then they took a late night walk in the Square. London was beautiful by night. It was a night Rebecca would never forget.

She cried when they parted the next day. By the time Patrick boarded his plane, he had already forgotten her.

200 words

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