September 2007
22 posts
Delilah and the 1100 Coins
By day, Samson wore his hair in seven thick braids, oiled dark and slick and hung with bells and smelling strongly of fat and jasmine. Come the night, when he sat down upon the thick straw mattress, Delilah came to rest behind him and untangled his braids with her fingers. She washed the fragrances and oils from his hair and dried it between two lengths of clean muslin. ‘What is the secret to your...
The Way of Things
Once upon a time there was a young man with big dreams. When he was small he wanted to be a football player, and then a fireman. When he grew a little older he became interested in computers and astrophysics, then a husband. When he met Nicola, he wanted to be a husband most of all. And so he married her, and worked, moving from cubical to office to bigger office to partnership. Then Nicola left...
Penny, Elephant Extraordinaire
Penny struggled to climb the ladder. Her cumbersome feet kept getting caught in the hemp rungs, and her weight caused her to sway. When she nearly toppled over backwards, but she wrapped her legs around the rough rope and shut her eyes and held on for life. She did not look down as she disentangled herself from the ladder and stepped on to the platform, but she knew that hundreds of faces would be...
The Hero
Eli squinted against the sun. Thunder roared in the near distance; dust obscured the horizon. Shadowy shapes arose from the centre of the cloud: dark, formless beasts with lightening in their feet. One of the beasts whinnied. Horses. Eli rested against his shovel and watched the procession: eight horses, white and tan and dapple grey, each carrying a rider. In the centre, on a stallion as black as...
The Raja's Concubine
Go quietly to her room. Knock three times on the door – one, two, pause, then three, as you agreed – and wait. Be patient: she will come. She is no liar. Hear the whisper of her heavy silk skirts; bare feet against the ground. Hear the silvery laughter of the bells around her ankles. Hear her open the door. See her face, that dusky, cinnamon shade, and her dark eyes. Smell her (all gardenias and...
Is It Art Yet?
A lump of greyish clay, misshapen and ugly and drying at the edges, lay neglected on the dented art table, as it had for over three hours now. And for three hours Melody had been staring at it, uninspired, wishing that it would become art. The exhibition was on Tuesday, and she had a lump of clay. ‘Wow.’ Melody looked towards the door and the source of the voice. It was Sascha: groveller, poseur...
The Last Panacea
He was small and frail, a pale shadow that barely made an indent on the hard hospital mattress. White blankets were pulled up to his waist, white on white. The glare was almost painful to my eyes. His family, gathered around him, awaited the inevitable. They couldn’t see me. The sight of me is the end of things. The room was heavy with the heady aroma of sweat and near-death. He was gasping for...
Could Have
They destroyed all heartache with a single touch, all pain with a kiss. They reformed the world on technology and the greater good, and taught us to be free of hatred and viciousness. It was good while it lasted, but it didn’t last long. Men are cruel, and we hunger for bloody glory. They, so kind, didn’t stand a chance. We fought, our guns against their gentle hands, and slaughtered them and ate...
If You Were Stuck On A Desert Island...
There is one banana left, and it’s sitting in the centre of the long, oddly-angled rock we’re using as a table. Daniel caught the bananas, so he kind of figures that he should have it. Christine says that, because she’s a girl, she should have priority. Lu thinks we should split it in equal parts and all have a bit. Brian and Daniel go to fists over it, because Brian thinks he’s worked just as...
The Secret
Helena kept the secret to life in a wooden ring worn on a gold chain around her neck. The chain was so long that she could tuck that battered ring under her clothes, but she did not do so out of caution; she simply did not know. But Nathaniel knew what it was. It was what drew him to her that night; lured his hand towards the ring while she lay sleeping. Twice he nearly tore it from her neck, but...
First Love
I created My world in anticipation of you. I gave you everything you needed; goodness, love, the kindness of strangers, wickedness, and Me in my divine glory; your Creator, your God. I perfected My world and placed you in it, into the loving arms of a firm mother and a father that worked late but loved you. You were free of providence, but did not suffer from a lack of higher purpose. Quite the...
Honeysuckle
Robert and Julie met in the summer. It was love in a rush; every stolen kiss, every heartbeat was another second lost. If they were aware of it, neither made mention. They promised to keep their memories in a star, to look at it and think of each other. Later, Robert laid Julie down and, with trembling fingers, made clumsy love to her. Summer’s end left them sick with love and mad with each...
Heartsong
Nesta gathered hearts. They came to her as little balls of shimmering yellow light, surrounded by an aura of gilded colours, riding on the winds of change and anticipation. They’d hover above her cauldron, drawn to the lucent liquid that filled it: consecrated water, rosehip, and the beat of his heart. She had never returned it. She caught them in jars, like fireflies, and lined them up on the...
Finding Home
Were she back in London, Natalie would never have had the guts to go through with this. Were she there — home — instead of here in Burkina Faso, the new wife of a tyrannical prince, she would not have had to. In London, little girls left uncircumcised weren’t anathema. ‘This will only tickle,’ said the Elder woman, in a language that was more flowery than clicking and whistling. The Elder pushed...
Happily Ever After
‘So,’ said Prince Liam. ‘Yes?’ said the Princess. ‘Er.’ He suddenly felt very warm. ‘Your tower is very…clean.’ The Princess lifted her lukewarm tea to her lips, but failed to stifle her disappointed sigh. ‘Oh.’ She spoke into the rim of her china teacup. ‘Thank you.’ Unfortunately, their’s wasn’t really a fairytale relationship. The Prince had been assured finding his true love was as...
...And Dolly Makes Three
Cooper had stumbled across the mad vampire Blight’s dolly by accident, and had kept it for ransom; her precious toy in exchange for immortality. Bitch. He had told her how to find him and now he was a busted mess on the warehouse floor. ‘Take it…,’ wheezed Cooper. He offered the threadbare doll by its floppy foot. Blight, pissed and trembling, snatched the doll from his hands and turned on her...
Little Boy Lost
A cry caught their attention. David pried open the Venetian blinds with two fingers and searched the hostile street. The midnight world was dirty and broken. Street lamps cast a flickering light over the filthy streets, revealing the true horror in stuttering snapshots: corpses, thousands of them, every one of them threatening to reanimate. ‘Mummy!’ Halfway up the street, a boy stumbled through...
Dear Callie
The road ahead of me stretches over the sand dunes then disappears over the horizon; miles of hard, bubbling tarmac becoming a tiny dot. For a minute I almost let myself believe that you’re just over the horizon, waiting. Whatever. Facts are you’re still out there. I could walk this road for a billion years and never reach you. It’s hard, you know? Like, I wonder if I’m making this up in my head,...
Making Amends
Paul was everything she had ever wanted. He was the embodiment of every cliché quality she had desired, like personality, a great body, success, a killer smile. Perfect. Now he was there, naked pressed against her, his arm cradling her against his chest. Now she knew why Lucy kept him around. Guilt formed into a fist and ground into her insides until she had to disentangle herself and stand, had...
Fingertips
The young American is only the silhouette of his shadow on the white-grey ceiling. His colleagues, convinced that I am addle-minded, are always candid in my presence. They claim that he stays here in London for me alone. Odd, when I am no different from any catatonic in any other lunatic asylum. Though he is silent as he inspects me, it comes as no surprise when he brushes my cheek with his...
Traitor's Edge
Forever ago, Molly and I would go down to Traitor’s Edge. The name was Molly’s idea, but search me where it came from. For me, Traitor’s Edge was just a seaside cave carved into a cliff face. Molly would drag me down there to watch the tide fill the cave. The time we missed it, she decided it would be fun to watch it come in from inside. I was scared; Molly didn’t tease me for leaving. Now I never...
Do Over
The sky was a purple bruise, the lightning white lacerations against the sickly surface. The land was as ill as the sky; a dry, chapped memory of a better place. Perched on the gentle slope of a tall hill, hidden from view by stubby remnants of a forest, Red surveyed the dead world. She had been walking for hours, and now her calloused feet were crying for respite and her back was burning from...