flynnfamilystorytellers

  By: Colleen Holmquist Topics: A package arrives at your character’s door, but they didn’t order anything Or Start your story in a traffic jam Or  Set your story on a Baseball/softball diamond Or Something with your name on it Or The day the clocks all stopped Gertrude found herself in a line of cars a mile or two long waiting at the drawbridge.  She waited patiently for an hour to move even an inch.  Suddenly, the bridge dropped, the traffic resumed and she continued merrily on her way home. On a certain day at noon Greenwich mean time, all clocks in the known world stopped.  No one really noticed—not at first anyway.  At that very instant, Hortense heard a knock at her back door. Cautiously, but curiously, she cracked the door and peered outside. She looked left, right, up, down and saw no one, no cars, no animals, no things. However, as she drew the door closed something prevented it from latching. Looking to her feet, she beheld a packag...

  Traffic Jam By: Carrie Keiser (Imagined from the point of view of one of these stuck truckers) It was late April in eastern Montana I was needing to get to North Dakota with my load.  The weather forecast was not the best: US National Weather Service Glasgow Montana   Yesterday at 06:39    Shared with Public Extreme winter storm impacts are expected for portions of far eastern Montana today through Sunday morning. This includes blizzard conditions with strong north to northwest winds, heavy snow and  blowing snow. Expect visibility reductions to near zero and road closures. So I pull into the truck stop in a small town (Glendive) 32 miles from North Dakota, its so close I can almost taste it. I shouldn’t risk the ticket of moving the barricades.  The Town Pump Truck stop is packed! I pull in fuel up and search the parking lot for a place I can squeeze my truck...

Play Ball By: Carrie Keiser “Take me out to the ballgame Take me out with the crowd Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks I don’t care if I never get back Let me root, root, root for the home team If they don’t win its a shame For it’s one, two, three strikes you’re out  At the old ball game.” George sang loudly to himself and any poor soul he happened to pass on his way to the baseball diamond, while tossing his ball up and catching it in his glove.  Baseball was his life, it was his favorite thing to do, his friends said he ate, slept and breathed the game, maybe he did, so what? There were worse things he was sure. George was an all around player he could play any position on the team, but his favorite was shortstop. He had to be on his toes always ready for the ball and quick to think, it’s a very demanding position. George loves the challenges associated with that spot.  George loved practice as much as he loved to play a game, he’d played with this team sin...

  The Day the Clocks Stopped By: Ryanne Leavitt You know those days at school when you are just so bored that your mind wanders and you stare at the clock willing it to be the end of the day?  Yeah, that was the kind of day Lacie was having.  She was vaguely aware of the teacher droning on as his fat head bobbed up and down.  After staring mindlessly at the clock for several minutes, Lacie realized she could no longer hear the endless blah blah blah of Mr. Fathead, and that the clocks hands had all together stopped moving.   At first she thought the battery had died, but then Lacie looked to her table mate, Jim, hoping to complain to him that even the clock was so bored it had given up hope that this class would ever end.  That is when she realized that it wasn’t just the clock that had stopped, everything and everyone in the room seemed to be frozen in time, or paused!   Jim’s arm was straight up in the air, no wavering and his mouth was contort...

  Story Slingers March 13, 2022 Myrna Flynn THE LOCKED DOOR Hiram Hoffemeister was born April 1st 1876in a small remote village in Germany, so small that it was unnamed. When he was 10 years old, his father decided to leave Germany and sail to America. His father, Wilhelm, a skilled blacksmith and farrier, knew that he would have no trouble earning a living. They settled in Maryland, to be near the hub of the nation. He built his house and business on a heavily trafficked road. It was not long before he became known as the best man to take horses to for shoes and shoeing.  He had one handicap, he needed to learn to speak English. His friend, Heindrick, introduced him to the tutor who had taught his family to speak English. Wilhelm met with her and they set up a schedule for lessons for him and his family. Hiram was the most eager to learn, not just to speak English, but to learn all that he could about his new country.  Hiram w...