-The best stories on the web-
Read or link to over 1000 stories listed under Stories to the left.
Submit your short stories for review as a Word document attached to an email to: Read@Short-Story.Me

Latest Stories

July 03, 2025
Poetry Markus J

The Days Of Future Dreams

the days of future dreams the flames once rose high thinking our lives would end up supreme thinking our future seemed a far of dream but in the end nothing is what it seems many times the winds of changed has blown this way one minute we`re lapping the cream…
July 03, 2025
General Stories L Christopher Hennessy

Bad Girl

Part 1I lost the entire manuscript when I assassinated my laptop with sauvignon blanc as I rubbed the lower back of a woman who dozed drunk on my bed, sweating. She was crazed, somewhere between screaming and lying about the orgasm. Bree was a miracle to me,…
July 03, 2025
Horror Stories Nelly Shulman

Black Is Our Colour

“I swear she could have been you. Look! This girl is your long-lost twin.” Fi nudged me, and I smiled. “Never had or wanted one.” I stood up. “Let’s go, or the bargain hunters will clear the shelves before us.” We dived into the vintage emporium across the…
July 03, 2025
Poetry Markus J

The Transformation

"I need a brake" words that twisted my heart- shattering the dream that we would never part. I asked myself 'what ever did I do wrong? sad, gloominess could`ve easily been my song. I wouldn't let the anger and misery grow or cultivate- uprising feelings I…
July 03, 2025
Flash Fiction Benoit

Jae

It was Jae’s birthday today. She turned eight. What a beautiful sunny girl! Hyo planned a surprise or two; Li, his wife, did too. Birthday cake, a puppy and … Don’t forget, they grinned just before he drove off. Traffic was intense. A long call came from…
July 03, 2025
General Stories Matias Travieso-Diaz

Fear

Leandro stood outside the Kroger, leaning forward as he shivered in the early March dawn. He hated this moment: the cold, the fatigue, the feeling of helplessness, the anticipation of another day ahead at his degrading job picking collard leaves under the…
July 03, 2025
Horror Stories Mihko Askiweno

Found You

Panic gripped her as she staggered up the steep, rocky incline, breath coming in jagged, shallow gasps. Sweat streamed down her face in torrents, her hair clinging to her forehead and cheeks in disheveled clumps. Her legs trembled with exhaustion, molten fire…
July 03, 2025
Poetry Markus J

Lost On The Path

But alas; sometimes I think we've lost our way- too many strayed opinions...one too many a survey. Walking on the road ahead, just following the herd of sheep- with a hypnotised mind, wide awake yet very fast asleep. While yelling...join the team of the…
July 03, 2025
Flash Fiction Benoit

The Brothers

Juan and Pascal were shipped to distant relatives on Delvina’s periodic hospitalisations. For smoking and breathing difficulties. She had been warned but could not stop. They did not understand the illness or the connection. Pascal stayed with cousins who…
June 04, 2025
General Stories Dylan James Harper

The Bylaws Of The Revolutionary Council

A loud clang rang through the bunker as the door slammed shut. “I really think we have a chance to win this thing!” Greg’s voice echoed throughout the cold walls. The three other inhabitants of the bunker, Jeff, Ben, and Malcolm, all sat around a table…
June 04, 2025
General Stories Michael Barlett

Resurrection

The man lay there in extremis, no longer thinking of cool abstracts like ‘catching the last train for the coast.’ He gulped great rasping breaths – holding them impossibly long – before finally exhaling in a shuttering burst of putrid air. He had been…
June 04, 2025
Flash Fiction Benoit

Time Warp

Nothing was in order, nothing optimal. Germany was awash with refugees and adventurers. Only Angie could hold it together; but then she opened the gates! Who knows why? Other politicians were dinosaurs in the museum. Integration was the solution, was it? That…

The woman pushed her shopping cart into the area where poor and homeless people of all ages spent their time. When people saw her, they surrounded her. “Lady, we’ve been waiting for you,” an old lady said. A chorus of greetings made the woman smile, and she reached into the only thing in her cart, a large paper bag, and took out a handful of ten dollar bills and made sure all her admirers got one. “Bless you, lady, bless you,” people called to her. Everybody who met her tried to figure out how old she was, but no one could guess. Her age remained a mystery.

The woman moved on to another area and stopped at a free clinic. She took her bag, and went to the nurse who sat at the reception desk, who looked up and smiled.  “I’m so happy to see you,” the nurse said. The woman smiled, reached into her bag, took out two thousand dollars in twenties, and handed the money to the nurse. “God bless you. You’re a life-saver. The woman smiled, took her bag and left.

The woman moved on and hurried to an alley where she heard the sound of a scuffle. She went                                                                                                            into the alley where two men were rolling on the ground, punching each other as they rolled around. She went to the men and put her hands on their shoulders. Immediately, they stopped fighting, lay on their backs and looked up at the woman. After a few moments, she turned away from the men and went to her cart. Next, she went to a nursing home, took her bag and went in. A nurse came out of a room and went to her. “I’m so happy to see you. The residents have been waiting for you,” she said and led her into a meeting room where three men and seven women sat. They looked up when they saw her and smiled. The woman went to the doorway, gestured, and the residents’ sons and daughters filed in. After watching warm greetings for a few moments, the woman left.  The sun was going down, and the woman pushed her carriage along the sidewalk toward the setting sun. The bright sun created a glare that enveloped the woman and she disappeared.

The next day, the woman pushed her wagon to an area where the needy had set up camp by the railroad tracks. When people hurried to greet her, she smiled and took rolls of bills out of the bag and distributed money to everyone. As she was taking money out of the bag, she was being observed by two men who stood off to the side. “Charlie, do you see what I see?”

“I sure do, Harry. That woman must have a fortune in that bag. She keeps taking bills out like there’s no end to the money. We gotta get that bag.  ”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. When she leaves the camp, we’ll follow her and grab the bag.”

The woman finished giving money away and left the camp. When she reached her wagon, she put the bag in it and walked away. The men followed her, and when she stopped at a homeless shelter, the men rushed her, knocked her down, grabbed the bag and ran away. The men into an alley and stopped. “Okay, Harry, let’s check out the haul,” Charlie said and looked in the bag. “It’s empty. Nothing. Not one dollar.”

As they complained, the woman appeared at the alley entrance and watched the men. They felt the woman’s presence and looked toward her. She pointed at them, they became wisps of smoke, and were drawn into the bag. The woman got her bag, put it in her wagon, and returned to the homeless shelter, took her bag, went in, and gave the director a large donation, after which, she returned to her wagon, put her bag in, walked away and disappeared.

 

The End


Bio: While teaching speech and English at a community college, Mr. Greenblatt wrote short stories and plays, one of which won a reading at Smith College.  After retiring, he wrote short stories and novellas.   Several of his stories were published in on-line magazines, and others were published in print anthologies.

 

0
0
0
s2sdefault

Donate a little?

Use PayPal to support our efforts:

Amount

Genre Poll

Your Favorite Genre?

Sign Up for info from Short-Story.Me!

Stories Tips And Advice