Short Encounters

By Curtis W. Jackson

Curtz Jackson introduces his first collection of short stories involving brief meetings between individuals having life-alternating impacts. The selections consist of drama, science-fiction, crime, and paranormal.
In the first story, "Tom's Homeland," an American visitor ventures to an international land he's utterly unfamiliar with, lost in the congestion of local travelers at a busy airport. Tom must make contact with the one person who will change his life forever. A familiar hometown yearning will connect them.
The missing romance of a lonely man is on the verge of being answered in the second story, "Hard to Digest." The online courtship Freddie has been enjoying with a beautiful, foreign woman is about to be realized. Before he can take her into his arms, Freddie gets a time-sensitive call for action to save a life.
In "Ring," the third story, a divorcing woman is contacted by her unborn daughter from the future. The daughter, Dilly, brings with her a grim warning pressuring her mother, Teasel, to make the most difficult decision of her life.
In "Relocation," Sandy aborted a critical mission commissioned by her government. She lost her citizenship for the choice to live a renewed life in an advanced civilization. All is well until Sandy is called to return home. Her romantic attachment to Henry complicates the upsetting request.
The sixth story, "The Escape Artist," presents a single parent's dilemma. What will happen to Gary's 9-year daughter, Stacy, if he is taken in custody for a federal offense his family obligated him to support? The dreaded answer comes closer when a curious FBI agent takes an active interest in Stacy's school art - and her father.
In the final story, "The Arrow," escaped convict, Pistra values directing his young son, Hector's life than freedom. No question why he is willing to take risks, harm, and possibly murder individuals to abduct Hector. He is dangerous, cunning, and physically intimating. Nothing seems to halt him except for an unexpected opposer, whose simple argument may cease Pistra's destructive path.
These insightful stories in this collection a reader may treasure re-reading because the lessons of human nature continue without a due date.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Curtis W. Jackson
• Release date: Sep 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005500177

Curtis W. Jackson

Curtz Jackson is a screenwriter of modern and period films involving close interactions. He is earning his BFA in Creative Writing for Entertainment at Full Sail University. He studied Graphic Design and assisted as a film extra on movie and television sets. His last feature was We Only Know So Much (2018, Director, Donal Lardner Ward).Mr. Jackson authored the short pictorial drama of a man’s end-of-life decision, One Blue Eye Jake’s Twilight Boardwalk (2020, Blurb Books), and published photo essays such as Late Afternoon in the Hop and Bark Park (2019, Lulu.com). He’s the novelist of Waiting for Regina (2017, Barnes and Noble Press) and the humor artist of 57 Sections: A Book of Cartoons. In the mid-1990s, Mr. Jackson was a freelance cartoonist and street caricature artist.

Book preview

Short Encounters by Curtz W. Jackson

Copyright © 2021 Curtis Jackson

Published by Curtis W. Jackson at Smashwords

First Smashwords Edition

All Rights Reserved

Book Cover Original Images/Photography by the Author

Cover Typography provided by Canva

Smashwords Edition License Notes

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Table of Contents

Book Title

Copyright Page

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Tom’s Homeland

Hard to Digest

Relocation

Ring

The Escape Artist

She Is Not There

The Arrow

Meet The Author

Acknowledgements

Short Encounters is my first collection of short stories. I sincerely express my gratitude for the college professors, assistants, tutors, and fellow students for helping me make this publication a reality. Never to overlook, I am grateful for the expert provisions provided by Smartwords and for each unique individual who encouraged me not to give up writing. Lastingly, I wish to thank each reader for purchasing and reading this book. May you enjoy it and re-read it as part of your literature collection.

Tom’s Homeland

Descending in the peachy dusk atmosphere above an unknown land, Tom gazed outward from the blue-tinted oval window by his airborne seat. Cottony skim milk clusters paced as the cattle on his father’s range. After landing, Tom searched for his pick-up among a jumbled throng of directional commuters going aside, bouncing off one another as unnoticeable, positioning atoms. Like those zealous elements, do humans respond to each other energies?

Tom’s cowboy speech faded amid thousands of enunciations communicating the country’s dominant lingo.