“He Walked By”

He walked by. Everyone was busy concentrating on writing at the prompt and then he walked by.

That of itself would not have been a problem, except as he walked by, some unknown walking guilty party made the mistake of commenting to Lloyd that he should put in his hearing aid.

That was not so bad but it triggered a long dissertation about the hearing aid, which distracted some of the group from the important work of writing during the closely monitored time allowed for writing at the prompt.

Rather than cause a distraction, the guilty one would better have simply brought an ear trumpet for Lloyd to use at the next group meeting.

By John Gable

*****

  He walked by the diamond ring counter and asked the salesgirl for the time. She looked at her six dollar watch and told him it’s 2:30.

     “Thank you,” he said planning to move on towards the men’s department. He looked into her blue eyes. Those big blue eyes were like clear pools and he dove in. Once he broke surface he could breathe again. To stay in her company longer he asked to see some rings.

She unlocked the case and after he pointed to a ring she took it out and showed it to him.

“That’s a lovely engagement ring,” she said handing it to him.

He brushed her hand as he took hold of it. “Please put it on for me to see how it looks.”

She slipped it on her ring finger of the left hand. He held her hand and admired the ring.

“Are you about to get engaged?” She asked.

“I hope so,” he answered. “Do you like it?”

“Yes,”

“Good, I’ll take it.”

“Want me to gift wrap it?”

“No, just keep it on.” He got down on one knee on the other side of the counter, held her hand and said, “Will you marry me?”

She studied the ring again. She liked the feel of it on her hand and whispered,

“Yes.”

By   Ellynore Seybold-Smith

There is a magic talisman that allows it’s keeper to read minds. It falls into the hands of a young politician:

"Hey lady, look at this. Hey mister you need this," shouted the street vendor. He had jewelry and toys for sale, but he seemed intent on pushing one item.

"He mister, this will make you rich," he shouted coming closer to me.

"I don’t know, what is it?"

"It’s a magic talisman that allows its keeper to read minds."

Sure I thought.

"How much?"

"Ten dollars, please mister, I got kids to feed."

"Oh, what the heck, I’ll give it to my wife." My young wife was currently running for the US Senate, and her days have been busy down at headquarters. I decided to meet her there and give her this gift for the next TV spot.

"Hi honey, how’s it going?" I asked her when I entered her office.

"Great. My polls are rising. What do you have there?" She saw the small box in my hand.

"Just a gift for your lovely political neck," I answered kissing her on the cheek.

"Oh it’s beautiful," she said smiling up at me as I connected the clasp with the talisman on the chain around her throat.

"What did you say?" She asked.

"Nothing, let’s get lunch."

I noticed my wife seem confused and more so when a clerk passed us by.

We arrived at the cafe when she said, "It’s way too noisy in here. Let’s try another place."

I said ‘OK’ although there were not many people eating in the restaurant. In fact just one other couple was seated.

We walked on to the next diner.

A Nation

The man is fairly young, perhaps mid-thirties, and fairly attractive, too, though that’s not what caught my attention. There’s this sort of intensity that burns in his dark eyes, like the newspaper he’s staring at might ignite. I pause on my walk through Central Park, just to look at him a little longer. His eyes move fractionally across the page, but his posture is stiff. Occasionally, he glances up, glaring at the people who pass too near to his seat on the bench.

There’s something about him that has me mesmerized, has me wishing I stood a little closer to him. I take one step towards him, and another. He still hasn’t noticed me; his gaze is intent on the page. Finally, I move close enough to take the seat next to him.

“Hi,” I say.

“Hello,” he says, but he does not lift his gaze.

“I’m Chloe.”

He looks up at me, a smile on his lips.

I glance down, shy, and I see it. The pencil sketch of his face, and the bold banner across the top that reads “WANTED FOR MURDER.”

His smile widens as he sees me gasp. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

Kristen Young

I heaved the shovel full of soil out of the hole and went back for another. I still had several feet to go before I was anywhere near deep enough.

Clink. Crap. A  rock. I moved over and tried again hoping the rock wouldn’t be too big and take forever to dig out. Pulling the shovel handle back, something glinted in the dim light from the lantern.

Picking it up, I realized it was heavy for it’s size about the size of my closed fist.Taking a closer look, realized it was gold. My heart beat faster. What if there was more. I wanted to keep digging to see if there was the only one, but I couldn’t, not now-

First I had to figure out anther way to dispose of the body.

Meelesa Stephens

******

“We have to bury the cat,” said Ken to Arlene.

“I cant bear to put her in the ground. Can’t we just find a taxidermist in Yuma and get her stuffed?”

“Are you kidding? First of all I don’t think there is one here and then just imagine what that would cost.”

“Cost, cost, money is all you ever think about. At least, are you going to dig the hole for me?”

“You know what the doctor said about my back.”

“Okay, I’ll just water the ground with my tears and dig the hole myself,” she said grabbing a spade and started to dig.

‘I have to make this deep,’ she thought, ‘otherwise the coyotes will dig up poor Lizzie.’

Tears and sweat mingled and dropped to the ground as Arlene dug.

“Damn, another rock.” She reached in and pulled it out and tossed it aside. A glimmer on the rock caught her eye. She cleaned the soil off and realized it was a nugget of gold the size of her fist.

‘This is mine. I’ll hide it from Ken. If this is as valuable as I think it is, I can afford to divorce Ken.’

Ellynore Seybold-Smith