The story of the week for January 2 to 6 is…
Reunion by Ran Walker
RAN WALKER: Reunion
They both arrived at the class reunion with their families in tow. They spoke to each other cordially, doing their best to imagine they were from a universe where there wasn’t so much shared history, like this meeting didn’t feel like the suppressed desire for one’s favorite band to reunite.
Ran Walker is the author of 28 books. He teaches creative writing at Hampton University and lives in Virginia with his wife and daughter.
BILL COX: Call of the Wild
An ancestral memory of the pack around her, inhaling the musky scent of prey, barking their excitement, eager for the chase.
Ahead, a Deer leaping, crashing through Gorse. In the distance, her name being shouted by an anxious owner.
Sandy’s pet Chihuahua Tiddles has, once again, returned to the wild.
Bill lives in Aberdeen, Scotland, with his partner Hilary, their daughter Catherine and Peggy, a Border Collie who frequently hears the call of the wild.
LARINA WARNOCK: Sand Seeking
Most search for shell or agate.
I’ve trained my brain to pick out
reds and greens, the glimmery sheen
of jasper, to overlook other
valuable things: fossil and petrified wood,
occasional Cascade jade. But isn’t that the way
we all find what we’re looking for–
by ignoring things others want?
Dr. Larina Warnock is an educator who lives on the Oregon coast with her husband, three dogs, and a turtle older than she is.
JAMES HANCOCK: Bread
I queue at the bakery every morning. You serve me with a warm smile below a flour smudged nose. I want to talk. To hold you. Kiss your nose. I want a brave man’s courage. I buy a loaf, even though I’m gluten intolerant. The things we do for love.
James Hancock is a writer/screenwriter of comedy, thriller, horror, sci-fi and twisted fairy tales. A few of his short screenplays have been made into films, and he has been published in print magazines, online, and in anthology books. He lives in England, with his wife and two daughters. And a bunch of pets he insisted his girls could not have.
PONTIUS PAIVA: Stoked
Crackling flames bring warmth to a cold night at the beach.
Tonight they’ll sleep in a tent to the sound of crickets and crashing waves.
Bare feet on wet sand, they sit on a log and reminisce.
He puts an arm around her as they watch their childhood home burn.
Pontius Paiva is a writer with a burning desire to stoke his readers. You’ll find his hottest stories at pontiuspaiva.com.
YASH SEYEDBAGHERI: Lost Resolve
The new year knocks.
He can’t get up, sorrow a blanket.
One by one, resolutions slink away. Write more, walk more, smile more.
He promises to get up the next day. The next week.
Sorrow adds another layer.
He tries to dial a number.
But he can’t even say “help.”
Yash Seyedbagheri is a graduate of Colorado State University’s MFA fiction program. His stories “Soon,” “How To Be A Good Episcopalian,” “Tales From A Communion Line,” and “Community Time” have been nominated for Pushcarts. Yash’s work has been published in SmokeLong Quarterly, The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, Write City Magazine, and Ariel Chart, among others.
MICHELLE DINNICK: Personalized Calendar: 75% Off
Today is just any other day.
Or is it?
The first day for some; the last day for others.
To this end, I have invented a personalized calendar. Only date of note: the owner’s last day on earth.
No holidays, no birthdays, no other occasions.
Sales have been disappointingly slow.
Michelle is an award-winning author and poet who really enjoys writing micro-fiction. She is a contributor to fiftywordstories.com and has a story in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Spirit of Canada. Michelle was a quarter finalist in the 2017 ScreenCraft Short Screenplay contest. Her writing has appeared in The Globe and Mail and several local magazines and newspapers including The Briar Crier, Total Sports, Voice of the Farmer, Arts Talk and Focus 50 Plus. Her short story “Lightning Strikers” (also featured on Commuter Lit) was made into a series in the Focus 50 + Newspaper because fans asked for more! In 2018, Michelle won the Ontario Writers Conference Story Starter Contest in two categories. You can find her online at fiftywordstories.com, commuterlit.com, femininecollective.com, writersblog.ca, michelledinnick.com, and on FB, Insta, and Twitter.
SHOSHAUNA SHY: Answers to Willow
LOST
Dec 17th white w/ brown stripes
Home: 33 Winslow Court
Answers to Willow
No collar
Call 428-6700
Showed up weekly on my porch in June.
Tuna. Sardines. Naps on my sofa.
Came to stay when snow started flying.
Catnip. Halibut. Rocker in kitchen.
“Lost”? No way. Freddy found me.
Shoshauna Shy enjoys writing, revising and copy editing. It’s like playing Lego, only with words.
NICK YOUNG: Josephine
As the blizzard raged, inside the cabin an old man sat whispering to the ghost of a long-lost love. Draining the whiskey in his glass, he raised it, slurring, “One more – for her?” Curled by the ebbing fire, his cat lifted her head, blinked and lowered it again without reproach.
Nick Young is a retired award-winning CBS News Correspondent. In addition to 50-Word Stories, writing has appeared in more than two dozen publications including the Pennsylvania Literary Journal, The Unconventional Courier, Fiction on the Web, Bookends Review, the Nonconformist Magazine, Sandpiper, the San Antonio Review, Flyover Magazine, Pigeon Review, Fiction Junkies, Typeslash Review, The Best of CaféLit 11 and Vols. I and II of the Writer Shed Stories anthologies. He lives outside Chicago.