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Category Archive
A Christmas Sort of Story
December 25, 2009 in 299 Words, Birth, Child, Childhood, Christmas, Family, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Holiday, Parent, Religion, Very Short Novels, Writing | by davidbdale | 8 comments
You are not an accident, little one. You were in my care even before you were born. You have a place inside me still and always will. I have big plans for you, little one, plans as grand as galaxies and as unfathomable, but they mean nothing. Read the rest of this entry »
Middle of the Road
December 22, 2009 in 299 Words, Child, Childhood, Family, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Love, Parent, Relationships, Short stories, Stories, Very Short Novels, Writing | by davidbdale | 1 comment
Halfway down the block from where we had just seen Uncle Mickey, Dad stopped the car and sat with his foot on the brake. He’d been crying, I think, Read the rest of this entry »
Going in Hope
December 12, 2009 in 299 Words, Crime, Danger, Family, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Hero, Parent, Short stories, Stories, Very Short Novels, Violence, Writing | Tags: Child, Crime, Danger, Death, Fear, Parent, Police, Violence | by davidbdale | 4 comments
Where we live, the troopers are always on call, even if their kids are in the patrol car with them on their way to the shoe store. I’m twenty minutes out, is all Mom said to the dispatcher, but I could tell from the road we took she wouldn’t be dropping me off. Read the rest of this entry »
An Hour with the Ogre
December 5, 2009 in 299 Words, Child, Family, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Health, Marriage, Parent, Relationships, Short stories, Stories, Very Short Novels, Writing | Tags: Abuse, Child, Drugs, Fear, Marriage, Mercy, Paranoia, Regret, Rehab, Separation, Son | by davidbdale | 4 comments
We sit at a table in The Glade—a room named for the sappy paintings of pastoral scenes on its walls. Their grasses and trees are carefully balanced and in them nothing lurks or lives. Read the rest of this entry »
Leaving Miller’s Farm
November 28, 2009 in 299 Words, Disability, Drinking, Drunk Driving, Education, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Memory, School, Short stories, Stories, Theater, Very Short Novels, Writing | Tags: Accident, Adolescent, Disability, Drinking, Inspiration | by davidbdale | 4 comments
The children want to learn from me, but not until they know I’m someone with a knowledge. You’ll see at the assembly the moment they turn receptive, at which point you’ll know you’re getting your money’s worth. Read the rest of this entry »
The Gallagher-von-Durfeldoms
November 6, 2009 in 299 Words, Culture, Destiny, Education, Family, Fiction, Flash Fiction, novels, Short stories, Stories, Very Short Novels, Writing | Tags: Cult, Family, Incest, Tradition | by davidbdale | 8 comments
We are the family of everyone who means us no harm, whatever the results of what they do. We love Pizza Friday, snow days, and getting into pajamas in the afternoon when we’ve spent the day at the beach. Read the rest of this entry »
An Offering
October 12, 2009 in 299 Words, Child, Confession, Crime, Death, Dialogue, Family, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Murder, novels, Parent, Religion, Short stories, Stories, Very Short Novels, Violence, Writing | Tags: Bible, Child, Crime, Dialogue, Murder, Parent, Play, Religion, Sacrifice, Son, Violence | by davidbdale | 7 comments
—Nevertheless you did kill him?
—I was present at his death.
—Present with a knife.
—Mine was not the only hand on that knife.
Read the rest of this entry »
Under the Bed
October 2, 2009 in 299 Words, Child, Childhood, Danger, Escape, Family, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Life, Parent, Short stories, Stories, Very Short Novels, writers | Tags: Child, Danger, Family, Fear, Magic, Mother, Parent, Sex, Yearning | by davidbdale | 14 comments
I had no magic as a child. I would have used it if I had, to stop the Boots from kicking me where I hid. Flat against the bedroom floor with the floor of the sky just inches above my nose, I knew no safer, more anonymous place to be, Read the rest of this entry »
Salt Toast
September 26, 2009 in 299 Words, Family, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Life, Love, Marriage, novels, Parent, Short stories, Very Short Novels, Writing | Tags: Child, Daughter, Family, Father, Love, Marriage | by davidbdale | 12 comments
In photos of my daughter’s wedding, I look thinner than I was and not at all as if I wanted to strangle the groom. There stands Sheila, radiant as always against a bank of pallbearer suits. Read the rest of this entry »
Separate Trains
September 6, 2009 in 299 Words, Destiny, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Love, Marriage, Separation, Short stories, Travel, Very Short Novels, Writing | Tags: Appearance, Destiny, Loss, Love, Marriage, Panic, Separation | by davidbdale | 9 comments
They looked married. In what they took for granted, the other riders saw they had been together forever. He read the map of the system posted by the door, tilting his head to follow the lines, and kept his balance with a hand on the pole. Read the rest of this entry »
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