It is high summer and through the oldest of urban gardens crawls the caterpillar. Which way will it turn today? It approaches a crowd of city kids, tucking into falafel and hummus. It watches them a while: a mixed, raggle-taggle bunch with hungry eyes, holding their lunch proudly, guardedly, as if it were civilisation itselfContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘The Caterpillar’”
Tag Archives: literary
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: ‘When It Changes, It Changes Quickly’
It’s not that I used to believe you and that now I don’t. Or that I thought you were amusing whereas now you infuriate me. I never thought you spoke the truth. It was clear that everything you did was a sham. Maybe you helped pass the time, or maybe I thought… what did IContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘When It Changes, It Changes Quickly’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘I Knew You’
I knew you for a while but not for as long as before, or after. Oh, the after, it goes on. Each summer the sunflowers and the roads. Rains in the North and the heat of the South. Mountains rise and rise. Summer. We shared those of course – a handful, a decade, just. TalkingContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘I Knew You’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘A Dream’
It came to me in a dream – woke me from my sleep – a unifying image, an idea that could take the insurgencies and economics, deaths and party politics, hopes for the future and legacies of the past, the festivals and hangovers, culture high and low, the academics and judges, phone hackers and strikers,Continue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘A Dream’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘A Conversation’
Old: We’ve never had any problems previously. Young: Oh you’ve had problems? Old: We’ve not done. Young: You’ve not done anything? Old: It’s not happened before. Young: No, if that’s the case then something needs to be done. Old: You want to do something? Young: What could we do? Old: If we are okay… Young:Continue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘A Conversation’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘Fashion’
Christ but there’s too many flags about, he said, sittin back down and slidin three pints across the table. Too much wavin from balconies, fly-pasts and old codgers grumblin bout the way they suffered. Christ, I mean. He sniffed. Look at you man, the guy’s friend said, sweepin his fringe from his eyes. I meanContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Fashion’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘Little Georgey’
It clicked with Little Georgey at around the time of his eleventh birthday. At first it was his father’s inventiveness, the way there was always some unfathomable new excuse: No, there could be no new holiday, not while the roof needed fixing. No, there would be no big birthday presents this year, not while hisContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Little Georgey’”
100-Word Fiction: Girl Meets Boy
The young girl ran out of the hotel in tears. Her family thought it was a good job, prestigious. She earned little, like all the immigrant workers, and hoped for tips she could split between the family fund and a Friday night out. Chambermaids were suspended from work all the time, said the cleansing manager.Continue reading “100-Word Fiction: Girl Meets Boy”
100-Word Fiction: ‘The Cave’
For many years we have lived a cave. We have been chained, our heads fixed, our gaze transfixed. We have watched shadows, believing them to be real. We have heard echoes, believing them to be true. We have been entrapped by reflections of reality, thinking we understood the nature of the world and that societyContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘The Cave’”
MW Bewick 