Stories

Joshua is living the American Dream, but he knows that his perfect life in the Land of Lincoln is a lie. Things are about to take a major turn, and all it will take is some click bait, a dead president, and an empty bottle of Scotch. A coming out story, and a reflection on mankind's inalienable rights. (Read time: ~ 1 hour)

This story is a prequel and sequel to my previous story, ‘The Boy on the Porch.’ While that was mostly Brendan’s point of view, this will be from the members of the Taft family's perspectives. It will cover things that happened before Nick was kicked out of his house, hit the necessary high points of what was covered in the first story, then continue on with their later lives, expanding on their pieces of the epilogue contained therein. I initially envisioned it to be Nick's story, but quickly determined it would be fairly short, so they all get some attention.

This is the third and final part of the Confounded Trilogy, portraying a May - December story with familiar characters.

You would be wise to (re)read the previous parts of this trilogy, to get reacquainted with the characters; some you will know, some are new. Some references will hark back to previous writings, and will make more sense. This story is told from perspectives, so called Points of View (POV).

Prentiss was a small-time comedian. This was probably pre-ordained since maybe second grade. His name guaranteed he would need to become a master of quick comebacks. Prentiss Plummer left itself wide open for all manner of pee-pee and plumber jokes. But something happened and he was no longer small-time. Then, after a few weeks of Las Vegas shows, he couldn’t give tickets away. And then, things got weird.

Former policeman Dan and art critic Vaughan’s relationship has an unfortunate start, but second time around they find that life has something different in store for them. Amidst interfering family members and lively friends, their relationship develops. But then Dan’s employer, Francis Heyward starts to take an interest. Heyward is seemingly stupendously rich, a giver of notorious parties and the possessor of an enviable art collection. There’s a question of whether a line should be crossed, and whether Heyward can even be trusted at all.

Prompt #385 –

Brendan Nelson had a tough week at work. He is a Project Manager at a small software company. Nothing went well on his current project. The last delivery to QA (Quality Assurance) was a total failure, the techs couldn't even install it. Add to that, a serious problem in the development of a new feature arose. Finally, on top of that, the customer was screaming about a bug that hadn't been fixed for months, and now it apparently crashed the system. As if things weren't bad at work, he had to come home to a surprise.

A recent college graduate has a painful coming out to his family but gets a surprising response from his father.

Someone buys a house and receives a belated letter from the son of the previous owner. He is a Navy Seal, wounded and recuperating, unaware as he sent it that his parent has passed away. An unexpected friendship forms..

Newly coming to terms with being gay, following an abusive childhood and a failed relationship with a girlfriend, electrician Keith meets Thomas, who runs a local arts charity. Despite coming from vastly differing backgrounds, the two discover much in common, not least the need to come to terms with complex relationships to their fathers. But they also learn to enjoy exploring life together.

I remember my life now as if I'm looking out a window. Streaks of my life flash by me. I try to open the window and catch them, but the window won't open. So, I sit and watch them, and I wonder did they really happen or was it just a dream? Take a journey back in time as 78-year-old Phil Reid relates his life experiences to a younger man.