A pandemic, idle time, and a handful of friends created this exercise: one person writes a prompt and the others respond in a one-to-two-page fictional story. Years later, we still have tales to tell and we’ve been prompted to share them with you.

Borrowed

6 October 2024

These were the nice shoes. I was not to get them dirty, I know, I know. But she’d have to forgive me – I could not help myself.

Unlocked

24 August 2024

32 to the right…4 to the left…11 to the right…CLICK.

The Mall

30 April 2024

The wall of aroma was rivaled only by sheer visual enticement. Bubblegum pink. Canary Yellow. Lavender. Mint Green Baby Blue. Hot-rod Red. Fuck-me Red. No-tomorrow Red.

As he pulled up to 62 Woodlands Park Road, he had a shivering sense of déjà vu. He opened the back of the van to start organizing the drop cloths before he knocked on the door. “You must be Dave?” said a voice from behind.

“Hey Bud, Let’s Party”

6 February 2024

“Surfing is a way of life,” said a wide-eyed millennial from his perch at the bar, two stools away.

He’s too young to get my Jeff Spicoli reference so I decided to swallow it with my gin and tonic and volleyed deadpan, “Is that right?”

Is it fucking impossible for me to experience just one afternoon in my favorite ocean bar alone with just my crossword and gin without attracting the douche du jour and his equally fresh ink on both his calf and his divorce?

The Raven

9 June 2023

The raven just stood there, anxiously looking deep into his eyes. “What the fuck is it?” he said under his breath, as though the raven was an old friend trying to give him some awful news. The weather was rapidly changing for the worse and he was starting to see the heavy raindrops landing on the asphalt. “Well here goes nothing,“ he said, wincing as he stood up.

The Duchess’ Lice

19 February 2023

The Duchess slumped back into her chair in exasperation as she watched her maid’s dog dash through the door and bound across the lawn towards the rose garden with her merkin in its mouth. “What a disastrous way to start the day,” she muttered to herself.

The Paper Trail

2 December 2022

As Calum opened the box he had pulled from his recently deceased father’s office safe, his heart sank. This revelation was interrupted by laughter from one of the offices down the corridor. He thought, “How, of all the days, could someone be laughing here?” As he got up from the scattering papers strewn across the floor to see who was exhibiting such behavior, the elevator doors opened and his mother and sister exited, talking as they proceeded towards his father’s office. He turned in a panic, closing the door behind him, and fell to the floor, frantically gathering the papers.

Trick or Treat

15 November 2022

“How come these little idiots don’t understand if the porch light is off, don’t ring the doorbell?!” Molly was tired from a long day in meetings and handing out Halloween candy was by no means how she planned on spending this evening. But what she encountered at the door was not your typical ‘Trick or Treat’ inquiry but something way more intriguing.

The Basement

2 August 2022

“That is exactly why we don’t go into the basement,” he said while slamming the door behind them.

Poor Zach

30 June 2022

“Don’t Stand So Close to Me” was echoing out of the dusty jukebox in Chuck’s Tavern as Tonya stumbled out with the best-looking tourist at the bar, poor Zach.

What a Trip

16 June 2022

I spent days packing and fretting. Would the trip turn out as I had hoped or was I living a pipe dream? Six months texting and now meeting in-person for the first time, in Australia. Is this real?

The Athlete

4 June 2022

Being an athlete, I was no stranger to trials of physical and mental endurance. This was just so much harder than I expected.

Hide Me Away

2 June 2022

Frantically, I searched for the quick hiding spot. Eyeing the closet, I chastised myself for the cliché. Oh well.

Hot Locket

17 May 2022

I suddenly became aware of a focused heat on my sternum. Reflexively I reached for it and found a patch of sweat forming right where the pendant hung under my shirt.

The Knock

16 May 2022

I was jolted out of my sleep by loud banging at my front door. I glanced at the clock. 3:30am. Jesus, is he back again?

The Drive

12 May 2022

“You are sadly mistaken if you think I’m getting into that car with you!” said Melinda with as much confidence as she could muster.

Out Too Far

26 April 2022

I rose to the surface and finally got my head above water. What a wave! Sucking in precious air, I realized that a rip tide had taken me several hundred yards out from the swell I had started on. I motioned frantically to the beach, but didn’t capture anyone’s attention. I was struggling to understand how not to panic when I got that old familiar feeling that I had company.

Asea

6 April 2022

I have always loved the sea, but this fucking boat is bad.

Chips

5 April 2022

“Could you possibly eat any louder?”

At the age of six, Doug Clemmons and his cousin, Ray, had sat in a shaded swing in the hot Alabama summer and consumed an entire jumbo bag of Doritos. But, sitting in the waiting room for the esteemed (and late) Dr. Hatcher, Annie did not share the love for corn chips and fake orange cheese and had a bigger aversion to the zealous crunch her husband made without any regard for those around him.

“God dammit, Babe, you have orange all over your shirt.”

“Anne Clemmons?”

“Right here.”

“Dr. Hatcher will see you now."

Dad

17 February 2022

“You do realize every time we visit your Dad you say it will be the last time we visit him, right?”

“I know, babe. But this time is different."

Park Place

12 February 2022

For females, parks are a great way to take in the sun, walk the dog, or get some exercise. For men, they’re a dangerous, treacherous, and sometimes lethal public space.

New Ink

8 February 2022

“Jesus Christ, Aaron. Your surprise for me is that you got another tattoo? Where the fuck are you getting the money for all this new ‘art’?”

“Well, uh…that’s kind of what I’ve been trying to talk to you about.”

The Telltale Tap

5 February 2022

Once I stopped dismissing it and really listened, the faint tapping sound wasn’t irregular at all. The pattern was long but predictable. After about 15 cycles I could tap along.

Game Playing

19 January 2022

She was feeling kinda bored and thought, “Games. We need games,“ so she got off the sofa and opened the game cabinet. The cabinet with a missing handle for over two years. Often this reminds her of how much she doesn’t see, and she feels lonely. Tonight was different, because her focus was on what was inside the cabinet. Trouble. The fun kind of trouble. Pop-o-matic! She didn’t even ask if he wanted to play, but as she opened the box and set up the pieces, he sat up and scooted to the edge of the sofa. “If I win, I get a blowjob,” he said. “Game on,” she replied.

I Gotta Go

19 January 2022

Why does walking in the cold make your bladder seem to shrink? Suddenly I was desperate. Before COVID it was hard enough to use a business’s bathroom without getting the stink eye, but these days it feels impossible. I spotted what looked like a park across the street. Yes. Dark enough. Let’s do this. That is to say, it was dark until blue and red lights lit up my bare ass.

Gems

9 December 2021

Nestled in their settings, the glint of the gems was dazzling. Through the store window they reminded me of the backlit liquor bottles which seduced me into my first bar. We’ll be together soon, my beauties. I promise.

Fumes

30 November 2021

The street was aswirl with a dense fog of weed, tobacco, and the vodka fumes still outgassing from everyone’s skin from the night before. Blinded by its density, I reached my hand out, and…

Blind Dates

8 November 2021

I walked up to the door with a quiet confidence that was lost to me just last week. “I can do this. I will do this.” I thought as I closed my fist and knocked on the glossy wooden door. I heard footsteps approaching and took a deep breath. “This woman needs to know how I expect my son to be treated.” I thought to myself, and then I froze. The man that answered the door – the man who clearly lived here – was the same man I met last week on a Tinder date.

The Big One

5 November 2021

So that was it: “The Big One.” Adrenaline pumping, I checked my body like it didn’t belong to me. No pain yet. The apartment was in much worse shape. Heavy cracks spread like arteries on the walls and ceiling. The front door was wedged on bent hinges inside a now parallelogram frame. Outside I heard car alarms, shouting, and the hiss of water. The face of my alarm clock was black. The block was busted. I could stay and hope for the best, or I could leave and not worry about the roof collapsing in on me. The emergency backpack stuffed in the closet was looking more appealing by the minute.

The Wash

23 September 2021

Washing clothes. Washing dishes. I thought it was gonna be a washing day when I dressed in the clothes discarded by my bed the previous night. Had I known the doorbell would change my plans so dramatically, I definitely would have shaved my legs.

New in Town

15 September 2021

“A little further back. A little further back. A little further back. Okay, you’re there.”

And there I was, the U-Haul successfully parked, right in front of the new place. I didn’t yet know the city. I hadn’t seen my new home. I didn’t even know the name of the neighbor who’d flagged me into the spot.

Goldilocks

26 August 2021

Once alone in the place, I couldn’t help myself from touching absolutely everything. It was almost a compulsion. Why was I like this? I had to know what that fabric texture felt like, what the view looked like through the antique telescope, what the drying herbs hanging from the window tasted like, and what the cold weight of the jewelry on the dresser felt like. I prayed there weren’t cameras in there.

Can Ya Dig It?

10 August 2021

It takes time. You knew it’d take time, but, shovel in hand, you were digging til dawn. You’re hurting right now from the wrists on up. The sun comes up and all you have to show for it is the blisters on your hands and a pile of dirt right by that fucker you knew would try that shit again.

Public Relations

5 August 2021

Rumors of prodigious happenings enveloped the community, some in whispers and others posted on signs warning all who enter. None of the stories were the same, and I wanted to know why.

What’s in the Box?

30 July 2021

It was an otherwise normal Sunday morning, when Timothy finally decided to get out of bed around 9:15am and start the coffee brewing process, one which included using a fancy pour over system gifted to him by Helena, his brief girlfriend some 4 years ago. Only halfway into his first cup of a Honduran blend he was interrupted by an urgent knocking at his front door and decided old sweatpants and no shirt were appropriate attire to answer on such a day but by the time he opened the two-door system, which required him to bring his elusive keys to the doors, no one was there; only a medium brown U-Haul box set on his stoop. This morning was about to awaken much faster than Timothy had ever expected.

Afflicted

28 July 2021

It always struck me as funny that they called it an, “affliction.” It never came up with any pain, or suffering. But there I’d be, laid up in bed for days at a time, staring through the ceiling directly up at…well, you, I guess.

Eye Test

19 July 2021

“Try to stop focusing your eyes.”

“I’m trying. I think I can see one now.”

“That’s not quite right. Relax. Don’t think too hard about it. Just allow yourself to take it all in.”

Night Swimming

17 July 2021

Night swimming, so sexual and risky all at once. The lights were low and that aided on both counts: you were both protected and exposed at the same time. The party was winding down. While you had not indulged, most of the attendees had enjoyed a few joints and a few bottles and were now, sluggishly, finding their way home. Out of the shadows you saw his tall figure emerge from behind a frond: just as it had in so many daydreams. He waded into the water, and you couldn’t yet divine whether he could detect your state of dress. Oh man, was this the moment you’d been waiting for?

Meatloaf

17 July 2021

I woke with the sun burning red against the back of my eyelids. I sat up too quickly, my head spinning, eyes focusing on dizzying palm trees swaying nearby. I know this pool, it’s the rooftop at the Peninsula. My blurry eyes catch the cocktail napkin, which tells me I’m at the Las Vegas Peninsula, not my local Westwood. The pool water is glass, all chairs realigned to perfect symmetry except mine. There isn’t a soul here. How did I get here? The last thing I remember is making Sunday meatloaf for Hank. Which day is it? How did I get here? What the hell happened?

Wet Works

16 July 2021

The line for the bathroom wasn’t long, but it was desperate. Folks shifting left to right in a dance I knew too well. I didn’t actually have to piss, but I had orders – get there between 8-9pm, and look for the key in the hiding spot of the ADA stall.

Member of the Wedding

5 July 2021

She knew she shouldn’t be here. Well at least she knew there would be consequences for being here. She knew that for sure, yet she was here, sitting at a huge round table of wedding guests that she hadn’t seen in 23 years. Her classmates and him, the groom. She had quite a history with the groom, a long and lustrous relationship- torrid is probably the better word. As she sat listening to the drunkards wane prolific, her mind wandered off into the past…

Solo Cup

1 July 2021

She walked into the room and she saw him leaning against the wall under the peeling and tattered Jimi Hendrix poster looking down into his seemingly empty red solo cup. The sense of deja vu was overwhelming. This happened often and she'd learned to pay attention, so as she walked in his direction, she paid close attention to her internal reaction, and it spoke volumes. "Hey," she said. He looked up slowly and met her gaze. "Hey yourself," he said. "Are we gonna do this?" he added. She wasn't sure what he meant, but she said yes and accepted the hand reaching out to her.

Church Ghosts

1 July 2021

I never saw bats in this belfry, but I knew for certain there were ghosts in these pews. For me at least. It had been nearly 45 years since I last set foot in this church. As the heavy doors swung closed behind me, the chill up my spine made it feel like it was all yesterday. I feared that as I walked further in, the ghosts would appear one by one.

Childhood

1 July 2021

It had been almost fifteen years. Childhoods marred by estrangements. I broke the silence we shared, the only thing I knew to say was ‘red leather.’

Teddy

24 June 2021

The last shot I had must have been stronger than I realized, as I’m now fuzzily coming out of a nap of unknown duration to see that the Summer Solstice party is still underway but has changed in spirit and tenor. I no longer recognize the faces around me, the lights have dimmed significantly, and the music is of a darker tone that leads to a sense of foreboding. I’ll have to find Teddy, as he’s my ride out of the desert.