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Showing posts from March, 2014

A Little St. Patrick's Day Flash Fiction

This is an extended piece from a Flash Fiction Challenge that was limited to 500 words, well as you can see the muses were kind and the story took on a life of its own far beyond the word count (A 500 word edit exists in the St. Patrick's Day edition of Mid-Week Blues-Buster Challenge at thetsuruokafiles.wordpress.com) I hope you enjoy this "Sainted" little tale inspired by a Pogues song.                                    “A Pint, Wager, and a Song”                                                           by                                        James Patrick Lockett         It was cold, the kind of cold that only a Dublin morn’ can oblige. The glass didn’t help any, either. It hit like broken shards of ice; spraying across his back and shoulder as he turned away. He shook the cold glass from his hair and checked his back the best he could – no blood, no foul. The whore hadn’t been as lucky. She lay on her back, across a bed of cardboard boxes, a narrow sh

Flash Fiction Challenge

A friend of mine turned me on to a Flash Fiction Challenge - the Mid Week Blues-Buster @ thetsuruokafiles.wordpress.com.  The writing prompt was Santana's song "Put your lights On" and, well, here's what came of it.  "Under the Neon Sign by the Stairs Up to te Bar Above Margarita’s"                                            by                          James Patrick Lockett        "Hey buddy, spare a buck?”        I  didn’t look up, just dug deep into the pocket where I used to keep my keys. The single dollar bill looked grey in the green light of the neon sign. It felt heavy like old cloth. I stuffed it back down and said “No.”      “Oh com’on, all I need. . .”        I looked up this time. My eyes met his and he stopped as if the reflection of green neon in my eyes spelled - Shut the Fuck Up – instead of s’atiragraM.        "I said no.” My weight relaxed back into the wrought iron security door of the stairwell. Some bluesy gui