The Ink Well Highlights Magazine # 97

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This periodic magazine highlights a small selection of short stories posted to The Ink Well community that stood out and were awarded a Curie vote. Thank you to all authors in The Ink Well for sharing your creative work!

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Important Note
We are showcasing authors who have contributed well-written and edited stories, have read and commented on the work of other authors and comply with all of the community rules posted on our home page. These activities help our community thrive.
The following are just a few of our favorite stories from March 7 to 14/ 2023.

Featured Author: @dreemsteem
With a name like mine...

Author's image, created with Midjourney

Over the years, I've probably allowed some drEEms become too fantastical - at least for professing publicly. I've learned that it's ok to drEEm as wild as you want, but only share the more tangible, realistic drEEms to the public. Most people are willing to suspend reality for a little while, but many prefer to have both feet planted firmly on the ground. I really can't blame them, because drEEm-building is very exhausting work. It takes a lot of stamina, ingenuity, creativity, and conviction to continue to strive for things that seem impossible to achieve.
One of the critical keys that I've discovered through my lifetime is to surround yourself with a good balance of dreemers and realists. Too many on one side or the other will cause an extreme tilt: either you start to doubt the validity of every and any idea, or you believe that anything is possible and potentially make reckless decisions that lead to hazardous results. -

@dreemsteem

Featured Author: @innfauno12
The woman in the dark sky

Source

"I once heard about a god who commissioned angels to take care of men and women, but they saw beautiful women and fell in love with them. So they could not return to heaven and were condemned. For a while I thought how foolish they had been, to give up glory for a being who would not endure before their eternity. But the sight of you has made me pity them now, poor angels.
I was silent for a moment and added: "If they, who are perfect beings, succumbed to your beauty, how much more I, who am an imperfect man.
He looked at me without making any kind of expression and broke the silence.
"By god I'm tired of hearing things like that, let me drive the cab for a while". -

@innfauno12

Featured Author: @dianelson
Maybe it's okay to not be okay

Source

It's funny how something you didn't think would hold any significance in your life turns out to be a gigantic rock blocking your way.
At that time, as much as it stung, I saw it as life. In life we move. This happened about four years ago, typing this now or feels like forever ago but I haven't still haven't ever being in a relationship.
Sure, there have been other people, no butterflies experienced yet (I'm watching all those authors). I just can't let go and fall in. I can't even trust my little brother to catch me when we play falling backwards. -

@dianelson

Featured Author: @jhymi
Strange and Stranger Too

Image designed by the author

I dressed up for school after eating ravenously. No way would I let this one-time meal go to waste. As I went downstairs, the next strange thing happened. Dad announced that he would be dropping me off at school. Even in middle school, I always walked the distance to school. Why were they doing this?
What in the world was HAPPENING?
The drive to school was awkward at best. Dad tried so hard to keep the conversation cool. Asking about school, my grades and dance classes. He even wanted to bring up boy issues but my warning glare told him that he was going way too fast. Imagine not being in on your only child’s life all these years and suddenly you want to know everything. -

@jhymi

Featured Author: @ricardo993
Neither head nor tail

Image designed by author in Canva

That's when the second strange thing happened.
Roberto's clothes had been changed and he looked completely different. Although he still had his face of pain and sorrow, the only two women in the house thought he was a very handsome boy. They watched closely as Roberto transformed the house into a real mansion. In a single afternoon, the boy did what five servants would have done. The place was unrecognizable.
The mayor's wife and daughter were delighted not only with the handsome young man, but also with his talents.
When he returned, the mayor marveled at the boy's skills, but did not notice his wife's eyes darting around the boy, nor that his daughter was dressed too sensually for a simple routine dinner. The mayor, unaware of the situation, invited the boy to stay and live with them; the idea may have been planted by the wife and supported by the daughter. -

@ricardo993

Featured Author: @owasco
Humiliation and Failure

image by Diana Green

When her turn arrived, she knew she'd made a terrible mistake! But in she went.
She handed the music to the accompanist. He began to play. His music sounded nothing like the boxed chords she had been rehearsing to and she didn't know where to start singing. Eventually she croaked out a few notes. The auditioners thanked her, and out she trudged, humiliated.
She got the rejection call, "we can't use you" a few days later.
But did these two events stop her? No indeed! She thought "You know, I'm sick of saying 'I can't sing.' I'm going to learn how to sing." -

@owasco

Thank you for reading our short story highlights magazine!
@jayna, @gracielaacevedo @yaziris, @itsostylish, @milly1976 and @grindan.

p.s. You can see the past magazines here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22,23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46,47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67,68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86,87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96

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