Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Troublemaker
    Troublemaker
    Troublemaker
    Ebook109 pages1 hour

    Troublemaker

    By Thom Gabrukiewicz

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Girls tripped up in snares. Food orgasms. Poisoned pigeons. Love in an Alzheimer’s facility. From the mind of rehabilitated journalist Thom Gabrukiewicz springs 30 flash fiction pieces that span the gamut from funny to whimsical to maliciously dark. Some border on erotica – yes, nasty bits and such.

    What is flash fiction exactly? That’s hard to pin down, since opinions vary. Let’s just say flash fiction is brevity in action, a story that has been whittled down to its essence whilst remaining a complete story, with plot, narrative, character/s, conflict, and resolution. And containing between six and 5,000 words (anything more and it becomes a short story). These 30 stories contained in “Troublemaker” capture a journey in creating flash fiction in 300 to 2,000 words.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThom Gabrukiewicz
    Release dateSep 20, 2013
    ISBN9781301741762
    Troublemaker
    Author

    Thom Gabrukiewicz

    Thom Gabrukiewicz is both a communicator and a writer of flash fiction. Most of what he writes is kind of dark, with occasional forays into the light. He’s a winner of some awards and has covered two Winter Olympics for Scripps Howard News Service. He’s also written a guidebook about hiking with dogs. He’s fiercely loyal and has a malevolent side that seems to visit less and less often. He’s both a hopeless romantic and a realist. He's currently working on community wellness issues in Wyoming.

    Related to Troublemaker

    Related ebooks

    General Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Wilding

      Nov 3, 2022

      Wilding
      8 min read

    • Article

      Announcing The winners Of Our FLASH CONTEST

      Feb 29, 2020

      I sever the first two fingers of my left hand on a Tuesday. They fall to the ground at my feet, causing a momentary confusion as I wonder what tree has dropped this odd fruit. Then I see the crescent scar left behind by a fish hook and know that thes

      8 min read

    • Article

      Foxes

      Jun 15, 2019

      What’s worth happening happens in deep woods. Or so my daughter tells me. Her plotlines: In the deep woods someone is chasing, someone else is getting hacked. Hatchets are lifted, brought downdowndown. Men stutter blood onto snow. A cast of animals—s

      17 min read

    • Article

      Diary of My Leg Hair

      Dec 8, 2022

      Diary of My Leg Hair
      21 min read

    • Article

      What The Magpie Says

      Oct 16, 2022

      What The Magpie Says
      8 min read

    • Article

      100-WORD-STORY COMPETITION Winners

      Aug 16, 2022

      We’ve been delighted by the huge response to our 100-word-story competition. The entries have flooded in thick and fast during the past few months, but while we’ve enjoyed reading every story, only a few can come out on top! You, our readers, voted t

      5 min read

    • Article

      Small Tortoiseshell

      Mar 8, 2022

      Small Tortoiseshell
      5 min read

    • Article

      Longer on Moon

      Sep 22, 2022

      Longer on Moon
      19 min read

    • Article

      Seven Poems

      May 1, 2023

      There was a boy even stranger than I waswho’d call me in the eveningto see if I’d come to Scouts. Something in mehesitated. Then one morning during eighth grade English we got hall passesand did it in a stall in the bathroomtaking turns over the john

      3 min read

    • Article

      The White Fox

      Oct 13, 2017

      The White Fox
      10 min read

    • Article

      Devotional

      Sep 1, 2021

      Devotional
      11 min read

    • Article

      Penny

      Jul 2, 2020

      Penny
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Art Of Small Talk

      May 26, 2023

      The Art Of Small Talk
      5 min read

    • Article

      Frog

      Jan 16, 2022

      Frog
      3 min read

    • Article

      Cricket Ceague

      May 1, 2019

      Katarina Antonisen, age 10 Good Hope, GA Around the cornerI see her.Along the streetsI see them.The oneWho bound me.Her ravensWho watch me.I cannot be freed.And I warn you to bewareOf the woman in blackAnd her ravensWith feathers and coatOf night an

      3 min read

    • Article

      Cricket League

      Jan 1, 2020

      Ivy Lugbill, age 8 Indianapolis, IN I was so excited! My dad and I were going camping! After we packed all our stuff, my dad said, “Hop in!” I grabbed the paper towel roll binoculars I had been making and jumped into the car. It was a really . . . re

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Art Of Secretion

      May 5, 2022

      The Art Of Secretion
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Education of Mrs. R.

      Sep 6, 2022

      An adolescent shriek woke her. Cockerels, she thought, cockerels, with a wry twist to the word. She lay in the dark listening. There was no use in covering her head; the screaming still came through. The soloist was suddenly submerged in the chorus.

      13 min read

    • Article

      Season Of Goodwill? (You Might Need It)

      Nov 8, 2023

      CHRISTMAS is on the way and those of us with parrots have a lot extra to decide in the way of activities, extra food, presents, guests and so on. My first two parrots, the African greys Artha and Casper, taught me far more than I taught them. Althoug

      4 min read

    • Article

      WINNERS APRIL 2021 STORY CONTEST A New Beginning

      Sep 1, 2021

      Tyler Rich, age 10 Grand Junction, CO The cage door opened. As I gazed into the forest, the memories came rushing back. Fire. Everywhere. Amber spirals licking at my fur, scorching my pelt. No escape. Hands. Then, darkness. I shrank farther back into

      8 min read

    • Article

      Learning To Fly

      Oct 5, 2023

      Learning To Fly
      6 min read

    • Article

      Dark Tales

      Dec 2, 2021

      Dark Tales
      6 min read

    • Article

      Rising Sign

      Feb 4, 2021

      Rising Sign
      10 min read

    • Article

      The Night the Moon Cries

      Aug 16, 2021

      The Night the Moon Cries
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Silence of Witches

      Dec 10, 2019

      The Silence of Witches
      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Troublemaker

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Troublemaker - Thom Gabrukiewicz

      Catch and Release

      I am awakened by moonbeams.

      It’s as if lightning has erupted from cloudless skies. I fling open the window to find the evening filled with silvery tendrils that dance and swirl across the night.

      Tentative, I snake out my arm and the beams whirl away.

      I get my fishing rod, rig the line with a big spoon lure and cast. The moonbeams split as lure and line fling through the air. Several casts offer the same result.

      I hit upon an idea, retrieve the spoon and rip a long strip of black construction paper from a pad in my desk. I attach it to a bare hook, add a piece of ball lead for ballast.

      In minutes, I’ve a mess of moonbeams squirming on a braided steel stringer.

      They squeal, like balloons being rubbed together. The rumpus alerts my mother, who opens my bedroom door, and balls her fists to her hips as she assesses the scene.

      In an instant she’s upon me, boxing my ears. She yanks the rod from my hands, encourages me to bed with a single, smarting backhand shot to my backside.

      Then she silently shakes the moonbeams back into the night, where they join the others into a schooled migration of luminosity.

      She leans the rod in the corner, shuts the window, draws the shade. Silently, she crosses my room to the wedge of light at the door, grabs it with her left hand and turns.

      Some things, she says, aren’t meant to be captive.

      Snare

      My father hears the commotion coming from the garage, but leaves me fumble to my own devices.

      It’s only when I emerge, an armload of stuff clutched to my chest, does he find his full interest. He’s sitting on the porch, sipping iced tea and smoking a pipe.

      Say there boy, what’s with all the stuff?

      I’d rather not talk about it.

      That’s when he sees the shiner, a raccoon-ringed black eye. My eye. He whistles a cat-call, puts on his half-readers to get a better look.

      Whoa, boy, who gave you that?

      Emma Tellford.

      He puts his fingers to his lips like he’s contemplating the moment, but I know better. He’s stifling a guffaw.

      I told you I don’t want to talk about it.

      I dump the stuff in the yard, a saw, hammer, length of wire, an old bicycle tube, a box of screws, some two-by-four scraps.

      You know, if you told me what you were making, I could possibly be of some assistance.

      It’s a booby trap, I say. For Emma.

      Father slides off his readers, goes all serious.

      Son, you’ll not want a box trap and don’t even consider something dangerous, like punji sticks. What you need is a good snare. Trust me, it’s how I met your mother.

      And we set off to the garage to build a snare.

      The trick is to catch them, but without harm, he says, rigging an elaborate loop of braided wire. In your mother’s dresser you’re find her hair ribbons, the silk ones. Go fetch a couple.

      When we’re finished, he puts his calloused hands on my shoulders and offers up words of advice. Tension requirements to trip up a 12-year-old girl. Where best to put the devices. What to use for bait.

      What to say when you’ve got her, well, I’m afraid that is up to you.

      I set the snares and cradle myself within a honeysuckle bush, thick with sweet blossoms and the buzzing of bees. Waiting for Emma Tellford, daring her to walk my way.

      I’m curled into a ball, sleeping off the worst heat of the day, when a little bell tied to one of the snares begins to ring. I tear from my hiding place and skid to a stop, dust rising around my sneakers.

      There, hanging defiant in the humid air, is Emma Tellford. The snare has her by a tanned ankle. She’s got her arms crossed at her chest. Her sandy pigtails whip and bob with the movements of her body.

      Her floral sundress has slipped, exposing her white panties, her smooth, tanned stomach.

      But it’s not the panties where I find focus. It’s her navel. Not really an innie. Not quite an outie. It’s perfect in its uneven attractiveness.

      And I’m altogether smitten.

      Hi, I say.

      Hi yourself, she says with a slowly spreading smile, which replaces a stern hump of furrowed brow.

      I know where there’s a pond full of tadpoles, I say, knowingly. Wanna see?

      Yes, please, she says, and with a swing of her arms, begins to dance in midair.

      Spring

      Perched on a lower branch of mother’s prized ornamental ginkgo is a girl, preening.

      I grab a broom and go out to scare her off, but as soon as I step onto the lawn, she chirps a friendly hello.

      Her voice is a song and my bravado loses steam. I am transfixed, curious.

      Her silky, form-fitting dress is the color of lemon custard. She’s barefoot and each of her toenails is painted in the most luxurious shade of red; she’s glazed her fingernails to match. Each talon-like nail a vivid pool of crimson, like wet cherries.

      She’s pale of skin, but her cheeks and bridge of her nose are sprinkled with cheerful freckles. As she ponders my company, she tilts her head, blinks slow and the soft morning light electrifies her eyes, which are the color of warm roasted chestnuts.

      Her hair is dark, sumptuous; it cascades down her back and she flips it with a casual wave, where it spills with a bounce. It’s as if ravens have crawled over

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1