I caught the bus at quarter to seven, as I normally do. It’s the usual grey route to work. Grey tower blocks, grey concrete walls, grey gardens, grey weather. And then we get to the first stop, and on she gets. I think her name is Jennifer: that is, I hope it is. She’s tall, […]
How The Moon Sings
“You’re late.” “I’m sorry,” Helena says. “The Metro…” “Bien. Come in.” Helena didn’t admit to standing outside the house, nerves jangling, pacing up and down, trying to summon the courage to press on the bell. She looks around the house. It’s clean, well-kept, neutral colours, open spaces. This is the expensive side of Paris, far […]
Grimgreen
“Now,” said a voice behind Pluve, “I’m not saying double entry bookkeeping is just writing it down twice. I mean, y’know, it is, in a way, but…” The gnome took his change and picked up the tray. “Excuse me,” he said, trying to elbow past the centaur, carefully holding the tray in both hands. “Sorry, […]
Florence
At the age of seventy-three, Florence felt she understood death. She didn’t really know very much about it, but she had heard the word. She had lost people. So she had some memory of it, some vague notion of yearning for souls lost. There was no sunlight in this barn. No clear road. She felt […]
Doctor Fog
DOCTOR FOG WARNING: the following story contains subjects that some readers may find distressing. “Do you remember, Kenneth?” they would ask. Therapists, police. “Do you remember what happened that night?” I remember. I was six. Six years old. How, at six years old, do you say that you remember so clearly – as clearly as […]
Cards
CARDS The noise of the club made it difficult to hear. Johnny tapped Rex on the shoulder, and shouted in his ear. “You got everything?” Rex took off his glasses, checked the plastic film on the back of the lenses, pointed to them, then replaced them on his face, and nodded. “You seem nervous,” Rex […]
Bernice
Bernice sprinted out of the glass doors and pounded across the parking lot. She allowed herself the luxury of a glance at the glass-walled walkway between the two halves of the shopping mall, nodded, and started off again, running towards the crossing. Officer Bostaph came out a few seconds later, following her trail carefully. As […]
Another Stack
So here’s the first in my year of short stories. It’s not as polished as I’d like, but I’ve set myself Saturday as a deadline, and so I had to do it. Here goes. Be gentle with me 🙂 ANOTHER STACK I’m going to call him Doctor X. Not for any legal reasons, or because […]