Posts Tagged ‘Guest Contributor’
Dec
Last Box
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
“Meat grinder?” I asked.
Arnold laughed. “Strange guess, sis’.”
“Not at all. Grandma kept her favorite possessions even when she
couldn’t use them anymore.”
Arnold shook the box. Contents moved.
“She grinded roasts for cabbage rolls and meatloaf,” I added.
The overhead light flickered as it swayed. I shivered.
“Let’s carry the box downstairs,” I said. “I hate attics.”
“Why, you’re scared?” Arnold snickered.
I followed my brother into the kitchen. Inside the box we found
parcels wrapped in Christmas print. Each labelled with tags spelling
out names of the family.
Grandma didn’t have a chance to give them out.
From Guest Contributor Krystyna Fedosejevs
Krystyna writes poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction.
Dec
Two Birds
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Tom and Ruth had been married forty years. The heart monitor was beeping with every breath Ruth took.
“I’m going to miss you,” Tom said. His weathered hands were one with Ruth’s. Two streams of tears ran from his eyes.
“I’ve lead a good life. I’ll be okay,” Ruth said.
“I don’t know how I’ll…” Tom asked.
“We’ll be together soon enough, love. The children need you. You have to be strong for them.”
She closed her eyes quietly. A bird took off and flew high into the clouds towards the sun. Its counterpart sat pensively, wondering where to go.
From Guest Contributor Steve Colori
Steve was born in 1986 and during undergrad he developed schizoaffective disorder. Over the years he has worked hard to overcome the disorder and help others while doing so. Steve has published thirteen essays with Oxford Medical Journals, he has written freelance for Mclean Hospital since 2011, he writes a column with The Good Men’s Project titled “Steve Colori Talks Mental Health,” and he has a memoir available on Amazon, “Experiencing and Overcoming Schizoaffective Disorder.” A quote he has come to live by is “To Improve is to Change; To be Perfect is to Change Often.” (Winston Churchill)
Dec
What Happened To Ben?
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
“So, uh, what happened to Ben?”
“Twitter. Once he discovered that, well, he just sort of fell into a black hole.”
“Do you talk to him on Twitter?”
“Oh yeah. All the time.”
“That’s funny. I can’t get him to return my calls. I even went to his house one day and he didn’t answer the door.”
“Just tweet him. He’ll respond.”
“That seems weird. Does he make sense? Talk in complete sentences?”
“He’s hilarious. Same old Ben.”
“Only he’s not really there. He’s just a digital ghost.”
“When you put it that way it just sounds sad.”
“I know.”
From Guest Contributor Dan Slaten
Dec
Secretly Thankful
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
The story I’m told, is my cousin ran a red light, hit an oncoming car and died on impact. This happened the day before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving Day, my aunt and uncle are preparing for his funeral.
I told my cousin Mike, time and again, he needed to stop fiddling with the radio when driving, because he could cause an accident or kill someone. I never thought that someone would be him.
The turkey sits in the refrigerator, no one wanting to celebrate thanks when a young man died.
Secretly, I’m thankful it isn’t my wife or one of my kids.
From Guest Contributor Lisa M. Scuderi-Burkimsher
Dec
Old Criminal History
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
The site of the homicide is vicious and bloody. No evidence is found except fingerprints left on the victim.
Later Detective Lance Jones tells his partner Carl that AFIS found a match to the bloody fingerprints left at the crime scene. The homicide is so violently over the top that Carl is sure the perpetrator has to be a young healthy muscular male.
Carl is surprised when Lance tells him the suspect is an older male.
“Did you say the suspect is sixty-four years old?” asks Carl.
“Well, he was in 1942 the last time he was arrested,” Lance replies.
From Guest Contributor Denny E. Marshall
Dec
Thrill
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
“Not healthy,” Jan whispered to her surviving brother, peering into the darkened parlour where her mother sat, eyes fixed on the flickering screen of Brian’s cracked Smartphone.
Tom lifted and dropped his shoulders helplessly and returned to the closed-coffin wake in the other room.
Jan herself had only been able to watch the footage once: the glee of Brian hanging from a spar changing to terror as his grip had slipped.
The phone had been lucky enough to fall back onto the bridge.
Jan stared as her mother hit replay again. She’d even stopped sobbing.
“Friggin’ selfie generation,” she muttered.
From Guest Contributor Perry McDaid
Nov
A Hard Blessing
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
When the Iron Giant fell from the sky thousands of us died. Thousands of us crushed, frail flesh smeared; muscle, brain and bone pulped. Phosphorus flares turned us to char. We starved and burned and died.
Toppling down from heaven, a hard blessing; we stood in its shadow and begged it to stop. But no ears heard us; they were shut tight to our prayers.
The Giant gouged the earth sending dust into the air choking us. We starved, we fought, we fed on one and other, and we survived. And the Iron Giant lies waiting for us to come.
From Guest Contributor David Rae
Nov
Delia
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
She waits at the bar every night, alone in the corner. Her eyes smudged with fine lines and tear stains from years gone by. Lipstick is applied to chaffed lips and she brushes harsh, greying hairs. Her wrinkled hands fiddle aimlessly with yet another glass of the only fluid that offers relief. Her clothes are worn, unchanged throughout the fashions of the last two decades. Every night she drinks in the corner. Every night she drags herself home, a cigarette slouching from her drying mouth. She remembers little else.
With heavy heart she waits for him. He promised to return.
From Guest Contributor Kerry Kelly
Nov
Thanksgiving
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Thanksgiving. A time to appreciate loved ones.
Sitting on the couch, smelling the delicious aroma of the turkey, George watches his grandchildren play Monopoly with his son, Tom. The laughter of their tiny voices brings joy to his heart. Watching them brings back memories of his childhood, fishing with his dad and his proud voice when he made his first catch.
The meal finally makes it to the dining room table and Tom will do the honors of slicing the turkey.
George’s aide helps him to the table. He sits and savors every moment, knowing this is his last Thanksgiving.
From Guest Contributor Lisa M. Scuderi-Burkimsher
Nov
Red Tape Mania
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
James scooped mail, spinning the wheelchair precipitously for the turn, a big grin on his face. Wheels clattered on tiles as he righted.
“I would have got those. Those stunts–”
Envelopes in lap, the veteran mock-pouted. “Self-entertainment. Can’t just wait to die, honey. Adapt and move on. I was thinking of entering the Paralympics.”
Tanya sighed noisily. The smile she sought to force died at the sight of his expression. His hand still gripped an open letter and envelope.
“What?”
“Remember the Disability Benefit reappraisal?”
“Ye-aah?”
“Seems they reckon loss of limbs and Kidney Impact Syndrome don’t–”
Pages…
Floor-ward…
“JAMES!”
From Guest Contributor Perry McDaid