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.

    Bits And Pieces
    Bits And Pieces
    Bits And Pieces
    Ebook65 pages1 hour

    Bits And Pieces

    By Nicholas Antinozzi

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    A collection of short stories, each as unique and different from the others as the title suggests. From Bennie to The Cold Shoulder, these stories have refused to go away. Each tale carries an emotional message of hope, compassion, anger, even fear. Like life, the emotions contained within these tales will hit you when you least expect them.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNicholas Antinozzi
    Release dateJun 29, 2013
    ISBN9781301256662
    Bits And Pieces
    Author

    Nicholas Antinozzi

    Nick lives in Minnesota and spends as much time as he can writing. He believes that the literary envelope has been pushed too far and he prides himself on writing things a grandmother, or even a young teenager might stumble across, and read from cover to cover without blushing.

    Read more from Nicholas Antinozzi

    Related to Bits And Pieces

    Related ebooks

    Short Stories For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Alone with Kindred

      Sep 1, 2023

      Alone with Kindred
      12 min read

    • Article

      Monster

      Dec 1, 2022

      Monster
      7 min read

    • Article

      Happy Endings

      Sep 1, 2023

      Happy Endings
      5 min read

    • Article

      Death’s Plus-One

      Sep 8, 2017

      Death’s Plus-One
      4 min read

    • Article

      Begin Again

      Jun 14, 2022

      My grandfather came to live with me. There was nowhere else for him to go. What had happened to all his children? Death, decay, exile—I hardly know. My own parents died of pain. But I must not be too gloomy, at the beginning, or you will leave me, an

      6 min read

    • Article

      California Screaming

      Mar 24, 2021

      California Screaming
      5 min read

    • Article

      Plan of ACTION

      Oct 3, 2023

      Plan of ACTION
      6 min read

    • Article

      Reunited With My 10 Lost Sisters

      Nov 14, 2023

      Clutching a posy of white roses, I felt beautiful gliding down the church aisle in my satin and lace wedding dress. Yet, my joy was tinged with sadness. It was 1970 and I was a shy 19-year-old, marrying my sweetheart James, also 19. But looking at ou

      4 min read

    • Article

      Tikkun Olam

      Jun 10, 2022

      The lawyer’s phone call was one she’d been expecting—dreading really—for the past two years. What surprised her was that Deshaun wanted to see her again. Why? “I have no idea,” the public defender said. “You’re the only one he asked for.” Roz debated

      25 min read

    • Article

      Life After Death

      May 27, 2022

      Life After Death
      14 min read

    • Article

      Metaphors

      Mar 10, 2023

      I’m knitting on my front porch when a car roars to a stop in front of my house. It’s a red Mustang convertible, top down on this warm Thursday afternoon in June. Two girls sit in the front, two in the back. They smile and wave at me. I smile back tho

      8 min read

    • Article

      The Duplex

      Jun 9, 2020

      I moved to Los Angeles to sing. When was this? August? June? I was twenty-nine, and those were shapeless months, when the days blended together and I refused to pull them apart. My landlord was unusually close to her adult son. His name was Jeffrey,

      21 min read

    • Article

      Elise Juska on Finally Learning the True Story of Her Namesake

      Jun 12, 2019

      The novelist on her grandfather's very unusual relationship arrangement—a 52-year engagement—and how it led, in a roundabout way, to her own name. The post Elise Juska on Finally Learning the True Story of Her Namesake appeared first on The Millions.

      8 min read

    • Article

      Mirror Mirror On The Wall

      Oct 5, 2023

      Mirror Mirror On The Wall
      10 min read

    • Article

      The July War

      Sep 8, 2020

      In summer, our neighborhood quiets in phases. The quieting begins in May. Schools give their older kids, the seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds, a month off to prepare for the baccalaureate exams. Following a ritual as old as our parents, the students

      21 min read

    • Article

      Hilton ALS

      Jun 15, 2018

      Hilton ALS
      29 min read

    • Article

      ‘Sing to It’: Featured Fiction from Amy Hempel

      Mar 25, 2019

      If she was home at night in her husband’s bed, did he care what she did with her days? The post ‘Sing to It’: Featured Fiction from Amy Hempel appeared first on The Millions.

      7 min read

    • Article

      GHOST In The HOUSE

      Oct 1, 2021

      GHOST In The HOUSE
      7 min read

    • Article

      Cost Of Life

      Jul 21, 2022

      Cost Of Life
      4 min read

    • Article

      THE BOY WHO KEPT Bees

      Oct 6, 2021

      All you could hear was rain, rain, rain. Rain drumming on the slate roof, streaming down the kitchen window, saturating the meadows and the dark woods beyond. Jess waited until her dad had turned away to check his phone, then dropped her half-eaten s

      8 min read

    • Article

      Planof Action

      Oct 5, 2021

      Planof Action
      6 min read

    • Article

      Finding My Funny Bone

      Jun 16, 2021

      Finding My Funny Bone
      5 min read

    • Article

      Balancing Act: In A Cardboard Vodka Box, Decades Of Letters Reveal A Mother's Life Of Love And Loss, Joy And Sorrow

      Feb 27, 2019

      Ellen Smith remembers the bracelets and locket her mom wore to church every Sunday. "Love, Bern" was engraved on the back of each one, and Smith, as a child, assumed they were an early gift from her dad, Bernard, to her mom, Gertrude. Although she'd

      7 min read

    • Article

      Bear

      Sep 10, 2021

      Bear
      16 min read

    • Article

      Stranger Danger

      May 18, 2022

      Stranger Danger
      10 min read

    • Article

      Justice But No Peace

      May 20, 2022

      Justice But No Peace
      4 min read

    • Article

      Australia Reads At Home

      May 18, 2020

      Australia Reads At Home
      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Bits And Pieces

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Bits And Pieces - Nicholas Antinozzi

      Bits and Pieces

      A jumble of short stories

      By

      Nicholas antinozzi

      Smashwords edition

      Published By: Nicholas Antinozzi

      Copyright © 2013 by Nicholas Antinozzi All rights reserved.

      The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.

      Table of contents

      The Citation

      Opting Out

      The Scream

      Bennie

      Battleship Grey

      The Cold Shoulder

      Terror From Above

      Dear New York

      Passing the Torch

      Resolution

      The Citation

      She lived with her three boys on a quiet little street in rural Minnesota; the same home she and Wilbur had bought when they had first married. And the same home she had returned to after Wilbur’s funeral, sixty years later. The house was beginning to show its age. Wilbur had taken great pride in their home and had stayed on top of all the little repairs that it had needed throughout the years. Wilbur had been gone five years and try as Bessie might, she was no Wilbur when it came to keeping up with these repairs.

      The boys kept her company during these long years. Stan, who had been closer to Wilbur, followed Bessie around the house and was her constant companion. Oliver, who was older, spent most of his days on the old sofa watching television. Felix, who was the youngest and slightly overweight, loved to hang around the kitchen.

      Helen and Vern Schmidt lived next door and had been waiting for years for Bessie to list her home on the market. After Wilbur’s death they had managed to get a promise out of the new widow that when she decided to sell, she’d give them the first opportunity to purchase her home, (at fair market value, of course.) They watched with dismay as the paint began to fade on Bessie’s home and weeds sprouted from her little flower gardens. They reminded Bessie of their generous offer each time they ran into her. Helen and Vern had a son, Howard, who rented a home in Minneapolis and Howard and his family had promised to move next door, just as soon as Bessie decided to sell. Howard was growing impatient, as were his parents. The plan was for Helen and Howard’s wife, Marge, to open a daycare center between the two homes.

      Bessie had no intention of selling, not while she was healthy enough to remain in the house and retain her independence. Bessie felt that the Schmidt’s could find another house to buy; they were barely in their sixties and had their entire lives in front of them. To Bessie, they seemed to be waiting like vultures outside her door, ready to swoop down and pick at her bones the moment they had the opportunity. Bessie had correctly surmised the situation. Old as she was, Bessie knew their type and held no delusions as to how they felt about her.

      Opportunity knocked when the elected officials on the City Council decided to pass a bit of legislation, aimed at helping people do their thinking for them. Good intentions aside, this group of do-gooders were on a mission to make their mark in the world. More laws were needed, along with stricter enforcement of those already on the books. And one day; sitting smugly in their council chambers, under the scrutiny of as many television cameras as possible, the City Council passed a law punishing the Bessie’s of their little city.

      The Schmidt’s couldn’t have been happier.

      There was one problem with the law, it would be nearly impossible to enforce without the help of vigilant neighbors. They would need to help persecute these newly minted criminals by turning them in to the police.

      Helen Schmidt was on her telephone before the ink was dry on the legislation. Things move slowly in Small towns and it wasn’t until Helen’s sixth phone call that the first squad car pulled up in front of the little home. Bessie had been inside, struggling with her bills, trying to make ends meet on her little allotment from Social Security. The boys were on the couch watching television in between afternoon naps. There was a sharp rap on the door.

      Officers Mike Lawrence and Gene Ostrum stood on the front porch, each hating themselves for what they were about to do. They had talked about this the entire way over here. They had enough to do without invading people’s homes like this and making them miserable. Each was seriously considering a move to another city, just because of this law. Bessie answered the door, opening it wide and smiling at the young men. She looked like anyone’s grandmother. She was short and roundish; her iron-gray hair was pulled back into a bun and she wore a house dress under a flowered robe. She smelled of lavender.

      Mrs. Bessie Grundhoffer? asked Officer Lawrence.

      Yes, answered Bessie, confused as to why these men were on her doorstep. The boys came out to see what the commotion was about, they stood behind Bessie and studied the men, curiously.

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1