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.

    Unfit (A Once and Future Short Story)
    Unfit (A Once and Future Short Story)
    Unfit (A Once and Future Short Story)
    Ebook35 pages25 minutes

    Unfit (A Once and Future Short Story)

    By Meredith Stoddard

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    The shocking prequel to The River Maiden.

    When she left Kettle Hollow, Molly MacAlpin hoped never to see her remote mountain home again. She returned eighteen months later angry, pregnant and abandoned by the man she loved. So, she threw all her energy into making sure her daughter had the best life possible.

    With the help and sometimes interference of her mother, she is raising a bright, sweet child she they hopes will have every possible opportunity. Until one spring day a brief conversation with her little girl brings her world crashing down around her.

    Also includes a preview of The River Maiden (Once and Future Book 1).

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMeredith Stoddard
    Release dateOct 1, 2014
    ISBN9780990433323
    Unfit (A Once and Future Short Story)
    Author

    Meredith Stoddard

    Meredith R. Stoddard is a writer and fiber artist living in Central VA. She studied literature and folklore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before working as a corporate trainer and instructional designer for 11 years. She now devotes her energy to fiction and creative non-fiction. When her hands are not holding a book or touching a keyboard they are likely knitting, spinning or felting. You can follow her adventures in fiction and fiber on her website.

    Read more from Meredith Stoddard

    Related to Unfit (A Once and Future Short Story)

    Related ebooks

    Literary Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Night Flying

      Aug 2, 2018

      Night Flying
      10 min read

    • Article

      Dolly’s Star Turn

      Jul 12, 2023

      Dolly’s Star Turn
      7 min read

    • Article

      Dolly’s Star Turn

      Aug 9, 2023

      Dolly’s Star Turn
      7 min read

    • Article

      Dolly’s Star Turn

      Jul 12, 2023

      Dolly’s Star Turn
      7 min read

    • Article

      All For Molly

      Jun 16, 2022

      All For Molly
      4 min read

    • Article

      Cricket Ceague

      Apr 1, 2019

      Penelope Berkeley, age 9 Mars Hill, NC Night had fallen, and Luna awoke from where she had been sleeping in a cornfield. She moved steadily through the stalks with barely a sound, keeping her eyes on the glittering glass rooftop of the greenhouse in

      7 min read

    • Article

      Speed of Mercy

      Jul 30, 2021

      Speed of Mercy
      10 min read

    • Article

      Lost Children

      Aug 4, 2022

      Lost Children
      5 min read

    • Article

      Human Spirit

      Sep 2, 2021

      Human Spirit
      6 min read

    • Article

      Cricket League

      Jan 1, 2022

      It was an unusual birthday. Colorful banners blanketed the backyard. Kids chased each other through the grass. Adults talked. It all went downhill from there. My little sister was turning five. On her birthday cake, painted in frosting, was a fat, pi

      7 min read

    • Article

      Evenings with Clarice Lispector’s Newest Translator

      Apr 24, 2018

      1. “I’ve been working on the translation nonstop—it’s like I’m in a trance,” Magdalena Edwards told me in early March 2017, while preparing a gin and tonic at her house in Santa Monica. I walked there from my place—we live very close to one another.

      8 min read

    • Article

      The Culling

      May 1, 2023

      The Culling
      8 min read

    • Article

      Doing It For DOLLY

      May 11, 2023

      Doing It For DOLLY
      3 min read

    • Article

      Night Visions

      Sep 10, 2022

      Night Visions
      6 min read

    • Article

      Scapegoat Child

      Mar 15, 2018

      In the crucible of our family my sister burned like molten steel. Once I saw her arms outspread her legs hanging limp and useless wet saliva dripping from her tongue. I screamed they surrounded her lifted her onto the sheets where she convulsed for h

      7 min read

    • Article

      For The Love Of Molly

      May 29, 2022

      For The Love Of Molly
      3 min read

    • Article

      I’ve Got A Golden Ticket

      Jan 18, 2024

      I’ve Got A Golden Ticket
      3 min read

    • Article

      Braving the STORM

      Aug 17, 2021

      Braving the STORM
      6 min read

    • Article

      Cricket League

      Sep 1, 2019

      Ayat Jaffar, age 9 Avon, OH Over winter break, I went to Umrah. Umrah is an Islamic Pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. I went with my mom, dad, and older sister. We went around a big black stone and between two big mountains seven times each in mem

      7 min read

    • Article

      MY LOVE for MOLLY

      Jul 7, 2022

      MY LOVE for MOLLY
      3 min read

    • Article

      Evidence

      Mar 6, 2023

      Evidence
      25 min read

    • Article

      The Silence of Witches

      Dec 10, 2019

      The Silence of Witches
      6 min read

    • Article

      That Particular Sunday

      Jul 6, 2023

      That Particular Sunday
      26 min read

    • Article

      The Evil Stepmother

      Apr 3, 2019

      The Evil Stepmother
      6 min read

    • Article

      Remembering My Mother

      May 20, 2021

      Remembering My Mother
      4 min read

    • Article

      Lasting LOVE

      Feb 28, 2024

      Lasting LOVE
      6 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

      Yuliya’s Fawn

      Nov 1, 2019

      Yuliya’s Fawn
      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Unfit (A Once and Future Short Story)

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Unfit (A Once and Future Short Story) - Meredith Stoddard

      Unfit

      Meredith R. Stoddard

      Meredith R. Stoddard

      Ruther Glen, Virginia

      Copyright © 2014 by Meredith R. Stoddard

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

      Erkita Press

      10551 Gallant Fox Way

      Ruther Glen, Virginia 22546

      www.meredithstoddard.com

      Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

      Book Layout © 2014 BookDesignTemplates.com

      Unfit/ Meredith R. Stoddard. -- 1st ed.

      ISBN 978-0-9904333-2-3

      For Wee Mòrag

      CONTENTS

      Unfit

      The River Maiden (Novel Preview)

      Short Story

      Unfit

      Early March 1976

      Kettle Hollow, North Carolina

      It had been a long winter and full of darkness. Molly filled her lungs with what felt like her first deep breath in months. It burned her nostrils and was sharp with the tang of damp rotting leaves. Brittle twigs snapped and crunched beneath her feet as she stepped surely through the forest keeping her eyes on the ground until she found what she was looking for.

      "A' Mhòrag. I found flowers," She shouted for her daughter keeping her eyes on the little patch of small, white windflowers that peeked through the carpet of winter compost their bright green leaves like tiny hands reaching up for the sun. The little girl came crashing up behind her with the careless enthusiasm of the very young, and Molly put out a hand to stop her before she trampled the blooms.

      They’re beautiful, The girl breathed kneeling in the damp leaves to look at them, and Molly thought she was right. They were beautiful. They stood small but proud giving the first color of the year to the great gray forest, a balm for the rough places on her heart.

      Her throat tightened and her eyes stung as she watched

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1