A Short Story Double Feature: Love Birds & Tangled

By Justin Dalrymple-Kelly

Story #1, Love Birds, is an adventure love story that follows Jack into the woods behind his house as he explores and enjoys young love.

 

Story #2, Tangled, is a romantic comedy about a young couple, a mother, a father, a dog, God, and a baker.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Justin Dalrymple-Kelly
• Release date: Feb 22, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224754021

Book preview

Table of Contents

Chapter A

Chapter B

Chapter A

Story #1: Love Birds

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Jack was alone at home in an old shag rug basement with the wooden panel walls. As he sat on a couch, between a tweed and that shag rug, he tossed a football up and down and thought— nothing— one of the best of all the thoughts. Because it’s something, but it doesn’t like to be put into words. The day was grey and bright as he could see out wavy basement windows. ‘An adventure,’ he said to himself in thought, and stopped the ball with a quick thump of both his hands in unison. 

He picked his backpack up. He threw a pocket knife inside, binoculars, a candy bar. He ate the candy bar instead right then and there and looked at the backpack in his hand as he chewed. He threw it back to the corner from whence it came, pocket knife, binoculars and all and walked upstairs and out the door. 

He grabbed his trusty bike from the side of the garage. It was rusty but the most reliable thing he had ever owned or seen. He sped off down the dirt road, passed the pond his house and two more houses resided on the shores of. The beaver made its V across the mirror of the water and the egret sat small and white and bright in its bend o the pond. But then he biked by eastern edge and suddenly a great grey heron lifted off humongously and rare. Jack hit the brakes and skid, and this pterodactyl of a bird snapped its eyes to his and disappeared behind the trees.

‘Geez’, said Jack in his thoughts.

He sped off down the dirt road hill toward the big lake. Nobody was anywhere. The day was grey and timeless. Jack biked past empty volleyball net in field completely covered in the poop of goose. Upon the narrow trail between the high grass he came out to uphill of a train track he should cross. 

He tried to decide which path into the wood he would take. He knew almost all of them. But to be honest he didn’t want to know all of them, so he never much kept a record of where each trail went. He was bored. He often wished a witch or ghost would come or something, anything, not a regular person though. He was out here and not out there with the people for a reason. He could be at the mall or something if he wanted. Næh.

He closed his eyes and road into the field. He hit a stump and flipped his bike and flipped his body over his handlebars. He