Was there a time before the freedoms that still endure, before the storms that swept the sands, where what we watched unfold bore some resemblance to reality? Once, I think, after the first of the degradations had been suffered, we still imagined the aimless orbit of missiles around the void of an ethical centre. NotContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Red Thread’”
Tag Archives: MW
100-Word Fiction: ‘Driftwood’
The boy’s thoughts were taken with a small piece of driftwood lying on the pebbles. A line of seaweed marked where the tide had reached earlier that morning. He stepped across it and picked up the piece of wood. It looked like an antler, but bone white, smoothed and polished by the sea and sandContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Driftwood’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘Nude, Green Leaves and Bust’
I don’t know, said Paul, staring intently at the painting. Me neither. I don’t get that face in the picture, with its long nose and narrow eyes, gazing down upon the naked, reclining girl. The face is so white, it’s like a ghost. And she is so pink, so fleshy and naked, her arms open,Continue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Nude, Green Leaves and Bust’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘The Julian Calendar’
The Julian calendar. That antiquated thing? Was it so imprecise? Is it so outmoded? It is reckoned that its faults caused our horological measurements to be incorrect by about three days every four centuries. But no calendar is precise. We divide up time as best we can and then continue to tell our stories, fillingContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘The Julian Calendar’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘In the Museum’
We are waiting for something to happen. It has been weeks. What will be the endpoint of this struggle? There is no point in asking. Not now. Everywhere becomes a museum, eventually. We should know, we live in one. Grown out of the craters of the past. There is a natural cycle. The museums areContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘In the Museum’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘Dream Farmer’
What dreams they are I do not care. I supply only the seeds of dreams, carefully cultivated. The seeds that make you close your eyes. The seeds that put you to sleep. Deep, endless sleep. I send the seeds, registered, to Arizona: to doctors who are experts in that field, to patients who are ready,Continue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Dream Farmer’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘The Weather God’
In a village of the desert regions, men and women gazed at the heavens and prayed. A wind was up and clouds were rolling in. Lightning flashed. It never rained in high summer. The steel structure had arrived in the village a few months ago: a giant totem. The Westerners called it an “emitter”. ItContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘The Weather God’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘We Went For a Pizza’
I’m not a racist, Said the waiter. It’s just I think That you won’t pay. I know your sort; I’ve seen your kind before. Your kind? Your kind? You know what I mean. With your clothes And your hair And the way that you are. You’re not to be trusted; That’s what I think. IContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘We Went For a Pizza’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘Born to Lead’
I was born to lead. That’s why I’m always in the limelight. Events revolve around me. People are envious. It’s natural for me. Sometimes the truth has to be told. People respect that. They respect me. When things need to change people look to me to make it happen. * * * He’s always beenContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Born to Lead’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘Events Take Over’
I have heard it said that what is difficult to grasp in life is that moment when a thing that was before you becomes a thing that is behind you. An old friend once suggested something similar: ‘What the eye doesn’t see the foot suffers,’ he would intone sagely. You concentrate so hard on thingsContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Events Take Over’”
MW Bewick 