• Author: Wendy Vinson,  Short Stories

    Torch to the Rescue

    Written in response to the daily prompt  First Sight: Whether a person, a pet, an object, or a place, write about something or someone you connected with from the very first second. The following is a fictionalized account of an incident during the Katrina clean-up: When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, many pets were abandoned as their owners fled the storm. When the search and rescue teams came to help those who stayed, they had to deal with these scared and hungry pets. One of those rescuers found a dog that stole his heart. The rescue team had arrived a few days before and had already searched one neighborhood door by door. They were now working on a second area. Jimmy waded up to the door from the raft and put the entry tag next to the door of the house. It was hard work pushing these doors open. Most of them were wooden doors swollen from all the water they were now sitting in. He had to put his shoulder into this one to get it unstuck. His partner, Kevin, stood close by ready to handle anything unexpected. Sometimes when they opened the door a snake would float out…

  • Author: Wendy Vinson,  Short Stories

    Saved by Grace

    May is national short story month.  I don’t know in which nation; but somewhere in the world it is.  Short Stories are at least 1000 words but no more than 7500 words.  In keeping with the  flash fiction part of my blog, I will be writing some flash short stories throughout the month.  Saved by Grace is one of them.   An elderly lady was preparing her lunch for the day. It was going to be a simple vegetable style soup. Her son had gone to the grocery store for her to get frozen vegetables the day before and she had plenty to choose from. She got a bouillon from the spice cabinet and put it in water on the stove to warm up. Next she pulled out the safety scissors her son had bought for her after she had cut her hand using regular scissors. He had removed all the sharp knives from the house because she had the shakes all the time now. She was just cutting open the bag of carrots when she heard a sound at the door. She walked slowly through the kitchen with her walker to go to answer the door. That’s when the…

  • Author: Wendy Vinson,  For Fun,  Short Stories

    Tragedy at the Diner

    Daily Prompt: By the Skin of Your Teeth: ‘Tragedy at the Diner’ is a fictional short story. What is there to say.  I’m here only because I was quicker and smarter than someone else.  I’m not proud of it; I’m actually a little ashamed.  And I shouldn’t have been there at all that day.  But, I had a few issues to work out and I wanted a drink while I did it.  Grabbing a table far away from most of the customers, I started jotting down the pros and cons of my problem.  I wasn’t paying much attention to what was going on around me.  And I was actually making some progress with my dilemma.  When I heard a strange noise, I looked up from my writing and saw the window shattering.  I couldn’t understand at first what had happened, but things seemed to start moving in slow motion.  It was like watching a replay on a sportscast, but this was real, here and now.  Maybe the caffeine played a part, I don’t know. There was a truck coming straight at me sideways.  It looked like a giant metal wall closing in on me like you see in those horror…