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Chick Lit
(Fic)
The Kiss
by Shirley Holder Platt


A collection of short stories and an occasional poem "Sounds interesting!"

The Kiss

A short story, to brighten your day:

"The Kiss"

Sometimes, a kiss is just a kiss. This wasn’t one of those times. I’d been watching Marcus for years, ever since he saved me from bullies in the schoolyard when we were in fourth grade. I was one of the poor kids. My mom dressed me in hand me downs and clothes she found at garage sales. She cut my hair and would have made my underwear if she knew how to sew. My shoes had holes in the soles. Marcus wasn’t like me. His daddy owne...



A Round of Robins

A Round of Robins

January 6 - Epiphany

I put the nativity scene in storage until next year. The tree was so dry, it went out with the trash the day after Christmas.

 

January 7

The robins are here. They chitter in the trees, search beneath the leaves. They remind me of you and better times. We thought we'd stay young and together forever. We were wrong. The birds will pass through, and I'll be left here, missing you. 

 

January 8

I've been re...



Orange Sky, Blue Hair

“I’d like to fall into that sky,” she said. Her head was on my shoulder as we watched the sun sink into the water. The clouds were that color orange that can’t be realistically recreated on a canvas. The reflection on the water so vivid as to seem unreal. It was as if we were on another planet. Far away from all our earthly cares for that one peaceful moment. She tilted her head to the side, and I bent to kiss her lips. Soft and welcoming, she accepted me as she always had. I wish...



Old Durham Road in the 1950s

Sarah grew up on Durham Road. It was an urban experiment sandwiched between two expansive strawberry fields. Old Man Mueller had used some of his wealth to build Durham Road and named it after his favorite tobacco. The single block housed twenty-four kids, thirty-nine adults and included twenty houses, with twenty trees (one planted in the middle of each front yard,) and one drainage culvert. Sarah’s yard had the dubious honor of hosting the culvert, which meant that the torrential rain w...



Lap Dance at Lunch

I went to the library at lunch today to research grants. While there, a man sat down two seats from me. He held his book in his lap, but faced me straight on. From his appearance, I guessed he was one of the people they dumped off the bus from some institution he couldn't pay anymore. I ignored him mostly. When I got up to leave, two really big men in security guard uniforms walked over to him and said, “We don’t have no girls sitting in men’s laps here.”



Birthday Fall Back

It is all planned out for me. All I have to do is go along for the ride. The drive into the resort is a divided boulevard lined by very tall palm trees that are never still for a moment. The breeze resembles a gale at times. In this place, the sun shines through clear blue skies every day until about 2:30 when the clouds roll in and begin to fill the sky. The thing you notice most is the wind. It makes the palm fronds dance and sing. It undoes the most meticulously hair-sprayed “do.” It never...



Cassie and Ryan

The early morning light struck Cassie full in the face from the eastern window. Squinting her eyes, she rolled her head toward the wall and away from the light. She lay still and listened to the ticking of the old pendulum clock in the hall. Time ticking by, she lay motionless and breathed in the morning. She closed her eyes and let her thoughts wander back to other mornings. Mornings full of the smell of freshly baking bread and the sharp sounds of her mother’s old wooden heeled shoes clicking on ...



In the Dog House

Corey ran to the office Monday morning. He couldn’t believe his luck in landing this job. He lied to get in the door, telling the HR woman he’d been in hotel sales for two years. What he had been doing after dropping out of junior college was working for four months at Burger King, slinging French fries at Sally when the manager wasn’t looking and having ketchup fights at midnight to keep awake.

Matt, the general manager and Corey’s new boss, welcomed Corey by pointing to t...



Changed in the Twinkling of an Eye

But I am telling you this strange and wonderful secret; we shall not die, but we shall be given new bodies! It will all happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, then the last trumpet is blown.  

I Corinthians 15:51

The Living Bible

 

   

Being shy was the worst part of business travel. Callie tried to tell herself that there was nothing to fear, but her hands trembled of their own accord. When she entered the room fu...



Dreamland

In the land of my dreams

 Life’s innocent and pure

My days are all sunny

 My paths are all sure

Nature is there

 To bring me smiles

I travel back roads

 I count down the miles

Horses neigh

 Lovers swoon

Kittens purr

Cows jump over the moon

And when I get hurt

 Maybe I scrape a knee

Love comes around quickly

 To soothe and heal me

No hesitation from me

 No hid...



Midnight Blue

The world was gold

when I met you

and sadness only flecks of blue.

Now time has flown,

and thoughts of you

are flecks of gold

In midnight blue.

...



Resorting to Murder

Bill has been cornered at the conference for writers. The anxious man handing him the script is sweating. Bill doesn't have the heart to say no. He sits and begins to read as the writer hovers.

Opening Scene in a car with 4 people, one older woman driving, a young woman in passenger seat, and two men in back seat of a posh vehicle. The car allows you to have individual areas for sound. Man on left side refuses to adjust his music to his area, so they all have to hear it. He’s selfish and they...



1978

Bud was a looker. Tall with jet black hair and flashing blue eyes. Pam thought he looked like a druid. His hair fell in waves to his shoulders. His beard was perfectly manicured. Paula preferred it immensely to the fu man chu he’d sported when they first met. He spoke with decisiveness always and carried himself confidently and erect. He worked at the local plant and came home dirty every day. He would shower for an hour, coming out squeaky clean. He took special care of his manicure. Pam loved his...



Satisfaction

I’m getting round as a barrel, she thought as she reached into the clear cellophane bag and took out a bite-size candy. The wrapper on this one was yellow, not her favorite. She liked the plain ones. She liked the way they melted smooth in her mouth before she swallowed, with no lumps to chew, with that soft, sweet taste every time. She would pop it in whole and scrunch it between her back teeth, never failing to be surprised by its bitterness. These yellow ones were OK, she thought ...



The Monster in the Basement

Alice had heard every joke in the book, but today she felt like she really had fallen through the looking glass. Finding an alien in your bathtub is, by anyone’s standard, an odd way to start the day. She didn’t see him at first, as she was not much of a morning person and was surely running late for her job. She rushed through her morning face scrub and teeth brushing. As she raised her head from the sink, her eyes landed on the creature in the tub. If anyone had been wat...



Walking the Labyrinth

When I walked the labyrinth, the first thing I did was try to think deep thoughts. I wanted, I yearned for, a knowing I’d never had. But I kept noticing the people, how I’d walk with someone or several someones for a while, but with the constant turnings the people kept changing.

Then I walked alone for a while. I saw the outside walls. I felt as if I swam upstream. Was I doing this wrong? Why were they all bunched up and I all alone? But then I noticed how clear the path beca...



The train to forgetfulness

She leaned out of the train window and let the wind blow through her hair. Just how she had come to this place was a mystery, but she liked it. She liked the smell of the rain in the mountains. She liked the rhythm of the train. Back and forth, back and forth, a slow progression rocking her gently forward. If she sat in her assigned seat she slept within minutes. And so, she stood on the transom and let the wind whistle in her ears. Back home the bills were piling up, as were the inevitable phone calls. ...



Cat Nap

It’s raining on my window

Husband’s in bed asleep

With covers all piled on him

Except, of course, his feet.

 

The cat she is a napping

And I am wide awake

Listening to the tapping

Of nature, for Pete’s sake!

...



Lost Dreams

All of my dreams are gone

Crushed by an angry tide that one time was you

Now I’m alone and feeling blue

 

How could you leave me now

Knowing the way I feel in my heart so true

Where is the love that once was mine

 

Where is the love that once was mine to have and hold

    Never cold

Where is the love that once was mine that

    Never

     Ever

 &...



Morning Glory

I remember the dial tone

How I held that phone

Her voice

He fell

Rebar

Impaled

Driving home, how it sunk in.

I may not get to say goodbye.

The "no" that pushed out of my mouth

That wouldn't be suppressed.

Chanting your name

Over and over and over.

Another phone

At home

Her voice again

He's gone

How my knees refused to hold me up

How the floor rushed up to catch me and my tears

How the air left my b...



'S in

‘S in me

    ‘S in us

         ‘S inexcusable

              ‘S infinitely harmful

                   ‘S in singular selfish acts

               ...



Moonlit Goodnight

The day sunk into the ocean

Painting the sky with its goodbye.

I didn't get to say goodbye. 

I listened for your voice on the breeze,

But heard only the waves lapping,

Gulls laughing.

I was alone.

I turned, and

The thinnest sliver of a moon

Rose between the fronds of the palm trees

...



Summer Bird

I lay in my hammock

In the screened porch

In the excruciating heat

When a hummingbird flew

Into the screen

And got his proboscis

Caught

 

He kept flapping his wings

Struggling

I was just getting up

To do, what?

Help?

Something; 

When he backed out

Freed himself.

 

I slumped back on my hammock

And closed my eyes

Wondering

If that tiny bird

Noticed my existence. ...



Ted and Tina

I am a bartender. A man came into the bar last Tuesday night, it was rainy and messy outside, a quiet night for business. This man came in shaking the rain from his overcoat and ordered a double shot of Tequila, straight up, no lime, no salt. This is unusual, and since no one else was there, I struck up a conversation. He started talking about love and how life changes lovers. Before I knew it, he told me all about a couple of people he said he knew. His story went like this.

Ted and Tina were in l...



Poems from a dark place

Poem One:

That sorrow must be lived through

to produce one spirit true

seems cruel, sad, a bad joke

when others carry no yoke.

Depth comes not in laughter

but sorrow, joy, and rapture

lead souls down narrow paths winding

to hidden truth worth finding

The search for good times only

leaves many lost and lonely

When at the end inside they look

and behold only an empty book.

Poem Two:...



The Chair

The chair sat woodenly in the corner, chuckling at its own thoughts. Last night's party left it tired but not without a sense of humor. Remembering old Mr. Rickelsby sitting tremulously and trying to hold a conversation in his palsied way with Mr. Dunkston who was painfully shy, one couldn't help but laugh. Or consider Wilma Whalen's telling Pixie McClintock that she was dieting, when only moments before she'd stuffed not one, not two, but three cream puffs in her much-overworked mouth.

And that li...



Stolen Gray

The tall man walked across the porch with a regular clomp, clomp, clomp. He stopped, turned, and again, clomp, clomp, clomp. He’d been doing this for a while. He leaned his hands on the rail stared out at the cold, gray sky that matched his eyes exactly. He thought of life. Like steel it was hard, cold, and inflexible. But dependable. You could sure count on that. It was always the same.

Clomp, clomp, clomp. And again. Clomp, clomp, clomp.

The porch was just long enough for three long ...



A Ho Hum Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, there was a princess who was very bored. She spent her days staring out of her window with her head in her hands. Ho Hum, she would say as she passed the long day. She went to her father, the king, and told him how bored she was. Being the kindly king that he was, he granted her permission to move her room, so that she would have a better view from her window. And so she busied herself with boxing her things up and moving them and then unboxing them. After the hoopla ended, she sat down...



Season's Song

When the sun shines through your windowpane

 Tracing new designs upon your floor

Remember me and our good times again

 Keep me in your heart forevermore.

When red and gold leaves scurry down the lane

 Blowing colors through your hair

Think not of what you’ve lost but of all you gain

 By loving someone, if you dare.

When the cold wind sends you icy rain

 Whistles sad refrains through your door

Let no teardrop your ...



When a Curse Ain't so Bad

Once upon a time, there was a magic frog

Who lived in a miry bog,

Waking each morning in a terrible fog,

(due to the vast amounts he drank each night of his favorite grog.)

Awakening one dawn

With a mighty yawn

He stuck out his tongue

And caught a big prawn.

Much better, the thought, than

Mowing the lawn,

As I used to do for the princess

Over whom I did fawn.

So on his lily pad

He sat and h...



Brittle

I am dry. I think I will be brittle soon. I am letting my hair grow long, and I don’t want to color it. I want to sit on a rock until the sun goes down; sit as still as a basking lizard, with eyes like slits and a body that changes color to blend with the rock. I want to face the wind. I want to make peace with my aloneness.

I remember my grandmother. She had hair to her knees, long and straight, and even into her eighties, it was streaked black and silver. She wore it in a bun at the nape of...



Camping

Pete had the car packed when Paula got home from work Friday. They piled into it and were in the middle of the stop-and-go traffic by six-fifteen. As usual, the car overheated, so they rolled down the windows and turned off the air conditioner. The radio blared rock and roll. The loud music coupled with the noise from the road threatened to drive Paula right over the wall. The only thing that saved her sanity was the calming thought of the quiet weekend ahead.

They were the first to arrive at the c...



The Great Fall
An Irreverant Radio Segment

The Great Fall: an irreverent radio segment in one Act

Voice of the Almighty: (booming) This is your last transfer, Lucifer, and as sure as I am that I am...

Lucifer: (interrupting) Ah-hem. Excuse me, but...

Voice of the Almighty: (still booming) Oh yes, where was I?

Lucifer: ( sarcastically) This is my last transfer?

Voice of the Almighty: (booming) Oh, yes. This is your last chance. You better make this one work. (Potent Pause) ...or else.

Plopping sound followed imm...



Chapter 34
A bruised sky

A bruised sky

The bruised and brooding sky outside my window reflected the mood of my soul. Working from home was a curse and a blessing. A curse because I wouldn't see a single person today. A blessing because no one would see the colors around my eye that matched the purples, blues, and grays on the horizon. I had no reason to use pancake makeup to cover my secrets. Conor was gone when I woke up, our bed sheets as cold as the ice around my heart. I swept the broken pieces of a coffee cup into a d...




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