The Parallax Pages
by
Short stories and photographic interpretations reflecting on life and painful experiences, encouraging a hopeful outlook.
Anson Decker is the pen name M. D. Schutzman uses for his short fiction and poetry.
Parallax is the way something seems to shift when you change where you stand. Many of these stories begin there, with a paradox: something that looks absurd or self-contradictory from one angle and proves true from another. Barking Bird. Immune to the Scorpion. Others are simply life as it is lived: real, visceral and raw. Each is paired with a photographic interpretation, a second vantage point, in a blend I call poemography. They follow no genre or rules, only people: love and friendship, courage and fear, vanity, addiction and failure. And through every one runs a single thread, as essential as oxygen: hope.
The Stories
Parallax Pages
Dare to Be Alone and Together
Premise: Two thousand years ago a mysterious old traveler speaks to a tribal council to impart the secrets of lasting love.
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Parallax Pages
Silhouettes
Premise: A young man loses contact with his love for no clear or certain reason. Years of regret intervene before they are reunited to see their love flourish again. Silhouette is a reference to the shadow of their relationship when its both dark and light.
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Parallax Pages
Youth-n-Age-a
Premise: A truncated life story of my mother, who passed away recently and the agonizing decision we confronted to remove her from life support.
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Parallax Pages
The Eulogizer
Premise: The death of too many close family members causes one man to reluctantly assume a role for which he is ill prepared, uncannily effective and regrettably far too practiced. He is the Eulogizer.
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Parallax Pages
Flawed Father, Searching Son
Premise: A middle aged man struggling to find his true identity before its too late, reflects upon his childhood and the emotional abuse he suffered at the hands of his father who has recently passed away. There was no closure yet there is mutual love but it’s come at a high price.
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Parallax Pages
Blank White Paper
Premise: Dream of the possibilities to create and the risks, it all starts with nothing
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Parallax Pages
Four into Eight: The Silva Grail
Premise: A middle aged man, having lived four of an expected eight decades, confronts his emotional death. The inability to feel or experience as he once did as a younger man. A mysterious, beautiful woman helps him rediscover the potential of life.
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Parallax Pages
Tyrant, Tears and Fears
Premise: A beautiful young woman is a victim of spousal abuse. She fights her way through a relationship eventually finding the inner strength to trust herself and to create a new life for her two children. Inspired by a true story.
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Parallax Pages
Warm Air Balloon
Premise: A young woman with great potential isn’t as naturally gifted as those considered “elite”, sees her life fall into a predictable routine leading to a sense of diminished hope for a bright future.
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Parallax Pages
No Way Outta Brownsville
Premise: Two childhood friends grow up in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Underprivileged, with few advantages except their will to create better lives. Their paths eventually diverge and strangely, both live their dreams. Dreams that are very different.
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Parallax Pages
Goodbye Grey Skey
Premise: A young woman, prone to bouts of depression finds her saviour in nature. A reminder of beauty, the natural state of life and how she can make a difference worth making.
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Parallax Pages
Twelve Minutes Ago
Premise: A story intending to convey a strong impetus for positive life change set within a grim tale of a young woman who sets about merely to imagine. There’s no turning back from what actually happens.
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Parallax Pages
Comfort in a Cookie
Premise: A single mom, stressed and overwhelmed stands at a crossroads. Her next move determines her fate and that of her two children. She needs to reset her life perspective or succumb to the allure of booze, drugs or sex as a way to regain control. Which will she choose?
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Parallax Pages
White Suede Wing Tips with Candy Apple Red Laces
Premise: A young man leading a dull and lifeless life finds his personal change catalyst. In his case it’s a small choice of stylish shoe that launches his personal transformation. This is a story of hope and messaging that each of us can be whomever we choose to be.
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Parallax Pages
Soldier Skye
Premise: A soldier pledges his allegiance to his country in exchange for its emotional and financial support. In the end, this story is not about a single soldier but rather a concept that is the foundation of a great country.
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Parallax Pages
Becca’s Beacon
Premise: A beautiful young woman in search of her true purpose in life who’s in desperate need of hope
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Parallax Pages
Fedora Party
Premise: An impromptu party of young adults at their parents house
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Parallax Pages
Eyes Wide Corpse
Premise: A love story, the passing of a spouse, but their love is uninterrupted by death
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Parallax Pages
Hyding from Jekyll
Premise: The courage to embrace your changing self as we age and transform
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Parallax Pages
Effectus Vox Est Renumeror (Doing Right Is the Reward)
Premise: A simple, yet powerful idea suggesting we encourage doing right by our fellow man over the pursuit of personal monetary gain. The possibilities of that future …
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Parallax Pages
I’m Bleeding Right Behind You
Premise: A cry for help voiced in the midst of two lovers breaking up. A relationship in turmoil or perhaps the victim of an addiction pleading for help.
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Parallax Pages
Blooming Femme Rose
Premise: A tribute to women, their beauty, strength, complexity and compassion
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Parallax Pages
Barking Bird
Premise: It’s OK to be different. In some way, we all are.
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Parallax Pages
Immune to the Scorpion
Premise: The lethal scorpion as metaphor for life’s tough blows – even if all seems lost, therein lies an opportunity for growth, unknown outcomes. This is a story of hope.
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