The story of the week for September 29 to October 3 is Creation by Pavarti K Tyler.
There were a few really strong scene-setting stories this week, and this one stood out to me. I love the eerieness and the implied world-building.
JUDY MCKINNON: Homeward Bound
He recognized it immediately by the drip of paint hidden behind the wheel of the 1940 red and yellow workhorse, the long gone first tractor of his boyhood.
Half a century and a handshake later, it was his again. How proud his father would’ve been to see it come home.
Judy McKinnon lives in Toronto, Ontario with her husband and two sons, whose talents and creativity constantly inspire her. She has worked in business journalism for nearly 20 years.
JASON HUYNH: Cold Christmas Reality
“Santa favors the wealthy,” his father told him.
So when spoiled brats got all twenty things on their wish lists, poor Timothy wasn’t surprised.
Tim knew the superstition: if you are bad, Santa gives you a lump of coal.
He shivered next to the dying fire, wishing for some coal.
Three months until Christmas seems too long for Jason, whose only wish is to have less homework.
NATHAN GOODROE: A Little After 8:30
Harold Hipps didn’t know the IHOP he decided to rob that Tuesday morning was hosting the annual Catawaba Falls law enforcement breakfast.
He also didn’t initially think much of the two men in suits paying their bill at the register.
That is, until he pulled out his painted pellet gun.
Nathan currently lives in South Carolina and is working on a book.
STORY OF THE MONTH: September 2014
The Story of the Month is chosen from the Story of the Week winners announced from the past month. The finalists for September were:
Guess Who by Kymberli Roberson
The Talking Fingers of My Great Greek Grandfather by Bob Thurber
Summer Learning, 1975 by Jennifer L Freed
Assertive by Philip Zunzuncito Sequoia
Hector Heard God by Shark Trager
The winner of the September 2014 Story of the Month, and the $10 prize, is…
Summer Learning, 1975
Congratulations, Jennifer!
MOLLY HILL: Ushering at Lincoln Center
Wilson is always left behind at the end.
Alone in the theater, he is waist deep in velvet chairs, all patrons discharged into the aortic pumping of a New York City evening.
Solitude.
The last systole of music ascends to the rafters and all conversation absorbs into the carpeted floor.
Molly Hill lives, writes, and runs a lot of trail miles in her home state of Minnesota, even in the winter.
PAVARTI K TYLER: Creation
Soft blue light illuminated the tank as Milton watched the cells divide.
2… 4… 8… 16…
He felt like Frankenstein, high in his tower, witnessing the inception of his creation. Through the portal next to his workstation the sun crested the Earth’s horizon far below.
It was a quiet birth.
Award-winning author of multi-cultural and transgressive literature, Pavarti K. Tyler can be found with Doc Martens strapped on over fishnets, but a girlish giggle as easily and likely as a throaty guffaw.
ALESSANDRA MERTO: Grandma
Everyone watched in silence as she placed her old, shaky hands on the piano for one last time. A tear rolled down her cheek as she tried to remember what she had once played.
I stay huddled in the corner, too young to understand.
Now she is dead.
Gone.
Forever.
Alessandra Merto is a 6th grade student. She likes reading, writing, dancing, and running.
TABITHA YOTHERS: Out of Time
So much I still want to do. So much I did do.
College degree after degree, certificate after certificate. They all line my walls.
I have retired three times. I have lived in five countries.
Yet I need more classes, more knowledge, and now I am running out of time.
Tabitha Yothers lived in Japan as a child, and as a foreign service retiree was formerly stationed overseas in Paris, Athens, Jiddah, and Danang. She is now living in Northern Virginia and writing about various subjects.
HARRY DEMAREST: The Best School District in the USA
Once it was the worst.
Now the teachers all get merit pay increases, the superintendent wins national awards, the average SAT is 2303, and all graduates go to Harvard.
Actually, the only graduate. They kicked the other students out in first grade. That’s how they keep the averages so high.
Harry Demarest has retired after careers encompassing scientific research, teaching at a university, software development, web application development, and voter database compilation and distribution. He is now spending his time with his grandchildren and writing memoirs and short stories.