A memory test, these drawings of pennies. They say, “Which one’s the real thing?”
I close my eyes. I put a penny in my mind, imagine pressing it between my fingers. I run the pad of my thumb across Lincoln’s nose and remember him.
…I wish I could remember you.
H.M. Downs currently lives in Texas much too far away from all her favorite noses. It’s the small, strong moments like small, strong stories that help her remember them.
Runner-Up 1: “Artistic” Category
Mike and Dan attached weights to fishing lines and baited hooks. They cast and waited for the telltale pull. They wanted “Barney”.
Hours dragged by and the sun dimmed. Water splashed; other fish danced on the lake.
Mike and Dan swore they heard laughter as they trudged to their tents.
Eileen McIntyre is a writer from Northern California working on her first mainstream fiction novel. One of her essays will be published in an anthology by the end of the year.
They gathered around the stump, some eyes wet, some eyes hard.
“This tree,” said the eldest, “meant many different things to each of us. We all have reason to mourn it.”
There were some sniffles.
“Now,” said the eldest, “auction’s open! Who wants to bring this hunk o’ wood home?”
This story was based on the prompt “the stump” at TypeTrigger.
Her desk was littered with scraps of paper, each scrawled with its own collection of words, representing a thousand grasped-at memories.
It wasn’t working. They wouldn’t come back.
She stoked the fireplace and began dropping the papers in, one by one. Forget the yesterdays: time to start working on tomorrow.
This story was based on the prompt “scraps of paper” at TypeTrigger.
The corked bottle sat on the highest shelf in the pantry for thirty years, gathering decades of dust.
I took it down on what would have been her fifty-fifth birthday, worked the cork out gently, and unfolded the yellowing paper.
On it, she’d written, “I knew you’d look eventually. -Helen”
This story was based on the prompt “corked bottle” at TypeTrigger.