After they tore open the skies there was little left to protect. No more checkpoints. No more sanctions. No more barriers. No more disputes. There had been nowhere left to go on sovereign land. No way through the impasse of government and state. There was nowhere left to grow. They looked upwards instead, above theContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘The New Trade Agreements’”
Tag Archives: government
100-Word Fiction: ‘The Disappeared’
With one small bag and no note he became the next of the disappeared. He was seventeen. They searched for him on maps but the maps were empty and sand covered them. They searched for him across websites but found only redacted rhetoric. He was gone. And he was gone before he was gone. TheContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘The Disappeared’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘A Cold Spring: Part 2’
The stock exchange has declared that trading will be suspended until Thursday. The parliamentary vote on the bailout is being postponed. The man in the shop was in tears this morning; the shelves of his grocery almost utterly bereft. Across the town, cashpoints are running out of notes every ten minutes. Queues are restless, fraught.Continue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘A Cold Spring: Part 2’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘In the House’
They do not listen to me and I do not care. They shout amongst themselves, deaf to pleas of order, order. I have a plan. They know but hardly share their thoughts. They only vainly oppose, and meek protestations coalesce into a sticky goo. I laugh, send deputations of sneering divisiveness: a ploy. Do myContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘In the House’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘He Makes a Cup of Coffee’
He makes a cup of coffee: milk, one sugar. Drinks it in the kitchen, his bathrobe loosely tied. He dresses in front of the mirror, tweaks his tie and collar. He walks through the hallway, steps out to the waiting car. He checks emails in his office, calls meetings, takes lunch. He looks at figures,Continue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘He Makes a Cup of Coffee’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘Ruined’
There is something especially pleasing about smoking a large Havana cigar while drinking brandy. Feet resting on a leather stool, with the windows open on a late afternoon in summer and the rush-hour traffic grumbling along below. How content one can be. This was the thought that filled my mind as I let the smokeContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Ruined’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘Austerity Chic’
How to get the austerity chic look! Step into this season’s austere fashions by correcting your posture on fiscal deficit. Reduce the appearance of fine tax credits for lower-income earners and plump the riches of the richest. Slip into something less comfortable by removing housing benefit and public services. Look edgy with the latest must-haveContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Austerity Chic’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘The Yard Sweepers’
…’kin ’ell, said the new lad. Look at the state of it though. Better get started then ain’t ye. But. I mean. Who the fuck’d’ve left it like this? Been like it fer years mate. Yer fuckin jokin. Nah. Nah, I mean, but mate. My first day n’all? You got it. You wanna be backContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘The Yard Sweepers’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘He Left For Work’
Before he left the house, after kissing his wife goodbye, he turned to the mirror and smiled, stretching his lips wide so that he showed his teeth. He liked to set off for work confident and, seeing for himself that satisfying glint in his eye, felt rather proud. When he was convinced that the worldContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘He Left For Work’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘The Sky at Night’
The road was quiet and amber in the street light. She could hear the sound of violins and voices from high in one of the office blocks. Someone was playing Verdi. She looked upwards. There were no stars in the sky. Beyond the clouds would only be the vapour trails of aeroplanes streaking across theContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘The Sky at Night’”
MW Bewick 