Monthly Flash Fiction Contest Winners
| B.A.W.L. Contests................................................................................................... |
B.A.W.L. Monthly Flash Fiction Contest
Sunset
by Tamara Zurawski
His life had been simple and unremarkable. As a dairy farmer, he had
supported his family through the Great Depression and then through World War
II. He had watched his kids grow and then watched them raise their own
kids.
They called it leukemia; but at 89, he knew his body had simply given out.
He looked across the bed at the only woman he had ever loved and saw the
face of the girl he had married.
“Sleep well,” she murmured.
He laid back and closed his eyes for the last time.
Cool
by Tamara Zurawski
The word "cool" is a term that was coined when I was a teenager. And
whatever that word meant, I was the opposite. Giddy, geeky, gangly and goofy--I
got excited over chemistry labs and bonus homework. If someone had asked me if
I wanted to get high, I would have assumed that it meant a change in altitude.
Now as my kids are in those awkward teenage years, my daughter asks what I was like.
"I loved school, especially math and science," I reply.
"Cool," she says.
February - Photo taken and submitted by Barbara Gruener.
The Task at Hand
by Linda Leinen
Even the right word takes effort.
Quarried from a crevice of the mind,
it tumbles into context from a surprised tongue,
then slips again toward silence.
Breaking chains of metaphor,
pulled from its page by the gravity of doubt,
it defies usefulness,
heaving past frail allusion,
blocking passage after passage
with its heavy presence
until turned, and nudged and tried again
for perfect fit
by one who never tires:
the Sisyphean poet.
January - Photo by Richard Jones, and it was submitted by Bear Jones
The Trouble With Sam
by Todd Allen
Sure, great. Are you watching this? He's doing it again. Unbelievable!
My brother Sam is such a gravy-trainer. Totally unoriginal. I sniff something, he sniffs it, too. I stalk a flock of doves, he runs ahead and makes like it was his idea. You gotta put a stop to this.
Even when we were born I had to lead the way. He came out sixth or seventh--how lazy was that? And who tilts their head first when the doorbell rings? Everything you love about us, it's all me.
Here, I'll show you what I mean. Throw it again . . .
Freeze Frame
By Barbara Gruener
I didn't think they'd see me 'cause
I'm such a little guy.
I froze just like an ice cream bar
but nuts, I caught their eye.
I waited patiently for them
to leave, to go away.
I stared them down a long time but
it seemed they'd come to play.
I had nowhere to go then 'cause
they had me up a tree.
They pulled a camera from their bag
and took this shot of me.
So now I'm just a memory frozen
in a picture frame.
Does anybody wonder if
I even have a name?
Fly With Every Step by Nazanin Davani
My steps on the road of life were heavy until I accepted who
I am. That day I felt no more need to change. I became fair to
myself and life was just. Now I fly with every step I take.
October - This photo was taken by Hugh Neeld.
If Only Trees Could Talk by Donna Marie Wagner
If only trees could talk she’d say, "Look, do you see that house over there? My sister was planted there 50 years ago. The last family who lived there had 3 boys. Robby would come out and tell her all his troubles. He’d hug her everyday.
Once Robby came out and cried. A few days later a car arrived and took them away. Robby came back and told my sister his dad died. The sap started to drip from her eyes. Robby hugged her even harder that day.
"If trees could talk then somebody would know his story."
September - This photo was taken by Amy Hueske and submitted by Stevie McHugh. You can see more of Amy's work at www.investigation.deviantart.com/.
To My Grandfather by Ted Kenny
.... I hope I can be the man my father was.
" "
No not your view of him. The fortress I saw as a child. He was ... well everything.
" "
Yes you were something, but you left so early.
" "
I did blame you ... for awhile ...
" "
... yes irrational, but I was just a kid - not much older than my son.
" "
I do Not live all in the past.
" "
" "
Yes I should have brought him .... not left him home.
You're right. I'll won't leave him again and repeat our lives.
" "
See you next week. Bring fish.
" "
I Love you too. Say Hi to Dad.
July/August - Photo by Ted Kenney.
Untitled by Gay Ingram
"Ladies and gentlemen, there's one final sight as we approach our home planet... for those of you seated on the right. There’s a close-up view of our neighbor, Saturn, along with all its spectacular rings." The tour director's voice droned on in its forced enthusiasm.
With closed eyes, Janet Bloom leaned back against the high seat’s back, allowing her companion to lean across her, glassy-eyed. How many times, she wondered, had she repeated those very same words. She brushed stray crumbs from her uniform’s skirt. She couldn’t wait to land. Only twenty minutes and no space travel for two months.
May/June- Photo by Hugh Neeld. Hugh Neld is a native Texan, born in Fort Worth in 1929. Educated in public school and Texas Christian University, he served in the U.S. Navy from 1945 to 1948 and retired from a forty-five year career in radio and TV in 1994. Today, he and his wife, Cris, live on a golf course in Jacksonville. Neeld's publishing credits include numerous magazine and newspaper articles and a book, The Curmudgeon Report, published in 2006.)
Untitled by D. Lynn Keirn
Charlie and I bonded over the comfort of ritual. When my lab Sonya
first brought him home, I assumed the newspaper was a bid for a handout.
But when invited on the porch for kibble, he walked past the bowl to drop
the paper near my chair. As I picked it up, he circled twice and lay down.
When I finished reading, he stood again and left. The next morning he
faithfully repeated the process. Within a week, Charlie and I had added an
evening walk to our routine. Now five years later we are teaching Sonya's
puppies to fetch.
(Photo from Free Foto by: Ian Britton.)
Untitled by Ted Kenny
I pictured it this way, but different.
The tree I know - the tree of life - but no glow of paradise. I see Death
standing on the sullen hilltop - scythe beckoning me - and my foreboding
realized.
I rise slowly from my fall, brushing soil and tears from my cheek. It's not
Death but a post (a trick of the shadows). I am not to be judged today but
I must judge myself.
I will not be a post but a man.
Four and Twenty by Catherine Sellers
Outside my Dallas penthouse window, dozens of blackbirds congregate on
the high-line wires below, triggering memories of home.
My favorite meal had always been blackbird dumplings. My brothers would
leave the house, shotguns in tow, and return around dark-thirty, their
game bags heavy with their kill.
Paw helped them clean the birds, then handed them over to Maw, who had
them stewing on the stove while she whipped up the dumplings. The aroma
filled the ramshackle house, and drew everyone together in the tiny
kitchen. Those were the times when the King family ate well, the times I
miss.
These Boots Weren't Made for Jumping by Hugh Neeld
Earl slowed his switch engine to a crawl when he saw the figure working on the tracks ahead. Earl recognized him, even though his back was to the engine, because of his huge size. It was Billy Bob Rakestraw, an outrageous prankster in the switchyard where they both worked. Earl knew an opportunity when he saw one.
Billy Bob was so engrossed in his work he wasn't aware of the approaching engine. When Earl got as close as possible, he yanked the whistle cord hard.
Talk about somebody jumping out of their boots! Wish you could have seen it!
Full Circle by Jaumarro Cuffee
It's come full circle. Walking around the gazebo I remember the summer
we first kissed. The next Thanksgiving he kneeled there asking me to
marry him. All those New Year s Eves we waited for sunrise to start the
year together; where we started. Easter after Easter hiding eggs next
to those stairs. That s where I saw them. The fireworks lit up the sky
announcing his new beginning. That kiss was their beginning but we
hadn t ended. So when she slipped away, I put an end to them; to us; to
him. We had come full circle.
Joan by Ted Kenny
Today the yellow sunburst adorning her jacket shines vibrant against my grey skin.
We leave laughing from the small Italian caf ; her words speak salvation
to my soul. By a four step plan she delivers me: smiles, amorousness, capitulation, redemption. We break hands reluctantly but with the
knowingness of a life unlimited. Confident and poised, she faces the
future and strides away waving.
Today I live my life in black and white, but when I close my eyes I see
her in color.
For Sale by Andrea Tantillo
Momma squeezed my hand tight when the man asked if those were windshield wipers on the house. She feared I would tell the man that daddy had gone crazy last summer right before the cancer took him.
She didn’t know I wouldn’t tell. I wanted to sell the house as much as she did - too many memories.
Yes, she said, cautiously.
Interesting, he said, his eyes twinkling.
Then, I saw Momma smile, for the first time since last summer.
Winner for July 2006:
Untitled
by Melinda Porter
Two feet down; a hundred to go. The prince had better be in the tower. Damn the sorcerer. Just because I wouldn't dance with him, he makes me a green frog. I never looked good in green. Ouch! These bricks are hot. If Prince Charming would just let down his blond locks, and pull me up, this would be a lot easier. One kiss, that's all it'll take. Bet he won't do it either, the jerk. Huh, I just broke a nail! Why didn't someone tell me being in a fairy tale would be this hard?
Winner for June 2006:
Parking Ticket
by Ted Kenny
Your Honor, I'm very sorry, but I broke no law.
Dorothy, you're not in Kansas anymore. You're a grown woman and should know not to park in the middle of the street.
Judge O'Hara, Kansas was 7 states ago and I have learned a lot since then... I'm even thinking about moving out ... but right now my house landing on your street is an act of God not covered under Louisiana law.
Once might be forgiven, but you will not get around the law this time. I hereby find you guilty of illegal parking of a mobile home.
Winner for May 2006:
Crummy Wings!
by Ted Kenny
G got the trumpet. The girls love those music guys.
M got to cover vengeance. The girls love the tough guy thing.
I got colored wings.
Even putting spandex on and trying the superhero thing, girls get
scared away.
P got gate duty. He gets first dibs.
S got kicked out. He gets his own pad ... O.K. some of his girls scare
me, but still they are all over him.
My Son, don't mope. Not all women are even into me.
Winner for April 2006:
Just Too Busy
by Barbara Gruener
If I said it once, I've said it a thousand times: we're just too busy.
The daily grind keeps my husband and me taxiing children from place
to place so fervently that we rarely see one another. My husband usually
heads
somewhere with the boys and I'm off in another direction with the girls.
You can usually find our house home alone. Literally and figuratively.
I'm hoping that at some point life will slow down and we'll find time
to tackle the jungle that we used to fondly call our yard. Before then,
I'm hoping I can find my husband!--
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