NORTH STAR ‘Come on, prezzie time.’ Stella’s mother slapped a hat on Stella’s head and held out a tube of sunblock, ‘You’ll need it to go outside.’ ‘I won’t because I’m not going outside.’ ‘Please, just stop grumping, see if … Continue reading North Star: a girl, an old friend, and a Christmas present
TIME LIKE THE PRESENT Arthur inspected himself: shirt, pullover, trousers (with belt), and sock. Just the one sock. The other was stranded on the end of his foot like a piece of flotsam at high tide, a pixie hat of … Continue reading Time like the present: a war time veteran and a dinner date across time
Santa’s IQ Test ‘If Santa really exists,’ Gary announced in the professorial monotone of his Asperger’s, ‘he will be able to read it.’ Trevor looked into the serious blue eyes of his nine year old son and took delivery of … Continue reading Santa’s IQ Test: a Christmas story
Christmas Chaos Clarice puffed out her cheeks, pink with the cold, and screwed up her eyes against the chill wind. She turned her face to the sky and peered through frosty lashes at the heavy clouds lumbering in from the … Continue reading Christmas Chaos: a little girl, a fairy, and a promise
Between publishing (or letting loose on the public) a couple of books and starting a degree in painting, I haven’t submitted much to journals or magazines. Yesterday, a new magazine appeared; a magazine for our times called Pendemic. This piece, about the imagined experience of a woman on a ventilator, was written a few years ago but has, sadly for so many, come of age. Back in the mists of time I was an Intensive Care nurse. Our patients were mostly ventilated either electively after open heart surgery, or as an emergency following some sort of mishap affecting their brain … Continue reading ‘Bellows’
Another somewhat sinister piece in the Lascaux Flash competition. Five things that are true and six that are not. Suzanne Conboy-Hill You said I would never want for anything. This is untrue – I want for a great deal. You said I would never have to ask for anything – you would give me everything I need. You forget that you made asking impossible so this is not true either. You said you could not imagine being without me. This is true. You have not had to imagine this for some time. You took my silence as consent but this … Continue reading Five things that are true and six that are not
This is experimental, it is a conversation between a psychiatrist and her patient, but they are not quite alone. The experiment is in the instruction at the end, if you would be so kind as to read on: Please come in, Phil. Take a seat take a seat very neat over here look at him he’s walking funny lame bastard Phil, talk to me, what brings you here today? Piss off! What do you care? in her lair you walked in Walking. Walking, Phil? Talk walk you’re an orc ha-fucking-ha What are you looking at? You’re all the same, think … Continue reading ‘Silent Noise’: a dialogue-only experiment
Time like the present Arthur inspected himself: shirt, pullover, trousers (with belt), and sock. Just the one sock. The other was stranded on the end of his foot like a piece of flotsam at high tide, a pixie hat of ruched wool with a holly pattern woven into it. Bugger! Arthur took a deep breath, coughed rousingly, and geared up for another assault. Rocking himself forwards in his seat, he rode the impetus towards his target, now illuminated by a sliver of sunlight angling in between the still closed bedroom curtains. Aha – a bomber’s moon! In my sights now, … Continue reading ‘Time Like the Present’
