For today’s reunion, Gerald dresses in college jeans with church newsletter photos and clipped obituary in his backpack.
“Uncle Bill, remember me, Gerry? Auntie said you’d moved. I brought some photographs of the family to share with you.
“Your antiques are beautiful. Did Auntie tell you my hobby’s restoring furniture?”
Kim Favors writes from California’s coast.
After months of messages, my time was running out. Soon she’d know the photos were fake, my story someone else’s.
I emailed her from another phony account, my brother’s. Carl’s dead, I wrote. I’m here if you need me.
She responded quickly, devastated yet eager. I had my second chance.
Anna Sanderson is a writer from Nottingham, England, who writes about the world as she sees it. Her work can be found online and in numerous zines and anthologies. Follow her on Twitter at @annasanderson86.
He was bursting to pee after spending hours in a wheelchair in the sweltering heat of a tent-missionary revival meeting in Kentucky hill country, but he had the goods on this charlatan.
So he leapt to his feet and ran for the toilet. Behind him, the scoundrel claimed another miracle.
Dermott Hayes is a short story and novel writer and occasional filmmaker.
The sign said “$10 for photo and handshake; hugs and autographs extra”. The queue said “Yes, please!”
“I love hearing the sheep crack open their wallets,” muttered the author of “How to Spot a Con Man,” measuring his stack of money against his stack of books and stifling a devilish grin.
This story was based on the prompt “crack open the” at TypeTrigger.