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“Girl, shit happens. You can’t tell me it doesn’t. Sometimes our choices are part of the grand scheme of the universe. A tale told by someone else. But you’re not the bad guy of the story, you’re free now,” said Mary. Eve sobbed with guilt and grief. The snake around her ankle climbed higher up
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“I absolutely know what you want me to say,” said Thomas. He’d been with Celia all day and all evening. They’d worked all day together, been to the bar after work to celebrate with the public communications team, and now they were headed home. They were at the crossroads. “I can go right and head
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“Hugh Henry you have the ability to choke the living shit out of every situation like an intergalactic missile,” His mother told him straight up. She was tired of listening to his tirade about why the symphony shouldn’t play next Sunday. He thought it was too frivolous, way too frivolous, to assemble the whole orchestra
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“Everlastingly,” Janet hissed the word out as long as she could to give it the onomatopoeia sound of the crashing waves she needed to hear. “Listen! The mighty being is awake and doth with his eternal motion make a sound like thunder, everlastingly.” Janet quoted Wordsworth when she crossed the bridge to Emerald Isle. It
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So they threw them together into the stream and the two splashes they made were as one. They tossed the rings into the maelstrom of the churning rapidsTheir perfect union ended as it had begun, blessed and honored.Washed downstream in holy water,Their wedding rings lost in the turbulence on the river rocks beneath the white
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I hate to say it, but our family vacations with Dad were bad. He was the stick in the mud, the wet blanket, the damper of all flames, the downer. He provided all the eggshells on which we all had to walk. Our Myrtle Beach vacation, the first time any of us saw the sea
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What? What’s wrong with you? What’s wrong with you? Didn’t you hear me ask you first? What difference does that make? Are you going to answer me? Why wouldn’t I? What are you hiding? I’m not hiding anything? Aren’t you? How would you know? Why wouldn’t I know? Do you ever pay attention to me?
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What do I know that’s true? I know that my family and money are important whether I like it or not. Even my sister and my brother, whom I rant and rave and write about all the time, even when I don’t like them, are all important to me. No one knows us like our
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I got out the onions, cabbage, and Worcestershire sauce. I meant business. My day sucked and my socks were still wet. I’d made the decision in the car while the windshield wipers kept time to “I’ll Fly Away,” sung by Kanye West. The rapping, singing nut job of the music industry I loved to hate.
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It’s been said that panty hose are making a comeback. For me, they’d never left. I felt undressed without panty hose on. I need that filter to hide the varicose veins, bruises, and stray hairs that cover my legs no matter how close I thought I shaved. They tend to offer a gentle shaping to
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Not the Same
IT’S DIFFERENT written by: Devonne Brown published by SpillWords, January 19, 2023 @athesaurus1 The quiet is different this morning.Its timbre has a breadth, a substanceI hadn’t noticed before.The quiet when the boys slept was full of their dreamsThis emptiness is hard. It supersedes noisefrom the TVthat deafens the background silence.It shatters then evaporates like it Read more
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Waning Xmas
This Week The end of Christmas, the end of the semester, parent conferences, the end of winter break. Parents signed up to be able to tell the teacher how cool their kids were. Endless talk about their kids. They didn’t care about behavior or academics. They wanted to tell us, their teachers, all about their Read more
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Holiday Fruit Salad
Thanksgiving is about fruit salad. Forget the birds and big gourds, even the shellfish and breadcrumbs. It’s all about the fruit. When Dad was little, his dad would make this incredible fruit salad during the holidays. When you’re from Clay county WV, that fruit salad is a gourmet delight. Grapes, bananas, mandarin oranges, fruit cocktail, Read more
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Flu and Cold Season
Getting old has symptoms. Stuff I’d always made jokes about in people are really true. Losing hair, eyesight, and teeth aren’t funny things that happen, but do. I’ve always been a list maker and note taker. Memory loss may or may not occur, I don’t know. What I need to remember, I do. The power Read more
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The Plan
“I’ve got a plan,” said Norris. He looked around the room until his eyes found the dog. It was a poodle, a big brown one. In the poodle world it had several names: German Water Retriever, Standard Poodle, Brown Abstract Poodle, Spoo, Soup Hound, West Virginia Brown Dog, Opal Pearl. Madam, the saddle back, black Read more
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The Code
I began drafting the next “Code” last night. Of all the Christmas traditions floating around, my favorite is the Christmas code. My boys tolerate it, everyone else finds it mildly entertaining, and it brings a huge grin to my face every Christmas celebration. I don’t put name tags on packages, I have a secret code Read more
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“Girl, shit happens. You can’t tell me it doesn’t. Sometimes our choices are part of the grand scheme of the universe. A tale told by someone else. But you’re not the bad guy of the story, you’re free now,” said Mary. Eve sobbed with guilt and grief. The snake around her ankle climbed higher up
-
“I absolutely know what you want me to say,” said Thomas. He’d been with Celia all day and all evening. They’d worked all day together, been to the bar after work to celebrate with the public communications team, and now they were headed home. They were at the crossroads. “I can go right and head
-
“Hugh Henry you have the ability to choke the living shit out of every situation like an intergalactic missile,” His mother told him straight up. She was tired of listening to his tirade about why the symphony shouldn’t play next Sunday. He thought it was too frivolous, way too frivolous, to assemble the whole orchestra
-
“Everlastingly,” Janet hissed the word out as long as she could to give it the onomatopoeia sound of the crashing waves she needed to hear. “Listen! The mighty being is awake and doth with his eternal motion make a sound like thunder, everlastingly.” Janet quoted Wordsworth when she crossed the bridge to Emerald Isle. It
-
So they threw them together into the stream and the two splashes they made were as one. They tossed the rings into the maelstrom of the churning rapidsTheir perfect union ended as it had begun, blessed and honored.Washed downstream in holy water,Their wedding rings lost in the turbulence on the river rocks beneath the white
-
I hate to say it, but our family vacations with Dad were bad. He was the stick in the mud, the wet blanket, the damper of all flames, the downer. He provided all the eggshells on which we all had to walk. Our Myrtle Beach vacation, the first time any of us saw the sea
-
What? What’s wrong with you? What’s wrong with you? Didn’t you hear me ask you first? What difference does that make? Are you going to answer me? Why wouldn’t I? What are you hiding? I’m not hiding anything? Aren’t you? How would you know? Why wouldn’t I know? Do you ever pay attention to me?
-
What do I know that’s true? I know that my family and money are important whether I like it or not. Even my sister and my brother, whom I rant and rave and write about all the time, even when I don’t like them, are all important to me. No one knows us like our
-
I got out the onions, cabbage, and Worcestershire sauce. I meant business. My day sucked and my socks were still wet. I’d made the decision in the car while the windshield wipers kept time to “I’ll Fly Away,” sung by Kanye West. The rapping, singing nut job of the music industry I loved to hate.
-
It’s been said that panty hose are making a comeback. For me, they’d never left. I felt undressed without panty hose on. I need that filter to hide the varicose veins, bruises, and stray hairs that cover my legs no matter how close I thought I shaved. They tend to offer a gentle shaping to
-
The Hot Air Balloon
Image generated with AI. Martin’s mouth hung open as the hot air balloon rose over the trees. He heard the hot air being released under the bulbous fabric as it climbed towards the daylight half moon that hung suspended almost secretly against the blue of the sky. The silky fabric wiggled against the azure expanse…
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Bennie and Mavis
Image generated with AI. Mavis eyed the red dress in her closet. The flowing skirt, bell sleeves, and boat neck made it modest enough to wear anywhere with a touch of mystery and sophistication. The problem was the red, proper etiquette dictated red shouldn’t be worn to a funeral. Bennie would have loved the dress…
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Scammers Beware
Illustration generated with AI. The Albacore sat high above the traffic. “Fuck with me will ya?” he said to himself. Smug in the knowledge that he’d not only thwarted a sixty thousand dollar heist, he was just shy of catching the idiots who decided to scam the wrong dude. He watched them drive their electric…
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Second Chance
“Maggie, we’re letting you go.” That’s all she heard. She remembered being escorted out of the office, and then to her car. Craig, her boss, was matter of fact about it, and acted nice, but professional, when he walked her out. He tried making small talk. “You’re smart, have a great skill set, and your…
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Sandy’s Dream
Sandy hung on as tight as she could. She was ready for the flight but not the destination. She felt the butterflies in her knees first. They were weak and would tingle louder and harder the closer they came to landing, her stomach would turn before the final touch down. It would be hours before…
Devonne Brown 