A clear blue sky and two planes crossing it, one after the other, perhaps too close, turning southerly. As is often, here, at this time, there is talk of politics. Governments this, ministers that, history and security, links to conspiracies. An older man and a younger man are looking skyward, standing, waiting. One holds aContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Trajectories’”
Tag Archives: short
100-Word Fiction: ‘If Just Who He Was’
We were trying to remember his name. Annie was finishing her wine and I had lit a cigarette; was wondering about brandy. I could hardly even picture him but Annie seemed to know. How could I forget? It was like seeing an old school photo and one of the pupils was blacked out in theContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘If Just Who He Was’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘This Waiting’
A feeling. Grips you how, if, you don’t know. No I cannot eat. She sits down, scrapes the chair across the floor. Time. The clock presses forward a dreaded minute. She should eat. Oh just to stop the thoughts. It won’t be over until it is. Hard as granite. Cold as metal. Steely stone. Bad.Continue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘This Waiting’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘Three Candles’
* Late on in the evening – and a man walking somewhere, wrapped in his own world, humming a tune. The way that he moved, you could tell what he was like as a little boy. A big boy now with his puffer jacket and trainers. * * Coming back from the pub on aContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Three Candles’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘On Arriving In the Present’
It was not the 100 million tonne North Atlantic Garbage Patch, which covered hundreds of miles of ocean, that most shocked Jack, a northern pike from Saskatchewan, on arriving in what we term the present. Nor was it that he could hardly catch sight of a cod off the coast of Newfoundland, or that crabsContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘On Arriving In the Present’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘Secessio Plebis’
Out of the city they ran, with great speed and intent, to where the harsh rule of the little Caesars could not shackle them; where usurious debts were not counted and where all trading was banned. Rejoicing, they joined hands and soon found themselves at the foot of a sacred mountain. Climbing it, they, inContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Secessio Plebis’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘The Essex Lion’
One bank holiday Sunday, a photograph no one actually saw brought a large, unidentified beast to the public’s attention. They called it a lion. It’s roar passed into fable. There had been sightings of something; they found nothing – not with helicopters, zoologists, search parties, calls for witnesses. It was there. But it was notContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘The Essex Lion’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘The Park’
These silent totems and the smog only a breath above. The still pond and the watchtower. The giant portakabin canteen empty, dust sticking to its grease, where briefly they came, once visited. The park meadows are left to nature. Not hacked back any more, weeds are growing now. The canal, sludged up, reveals its shoppingContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘The Park’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘Oh But To Read’
Oh but to read was the greatest thing. The bookshop with perfect spines aligned and that subtle weight in her bag as she carried the book home. She was almost nervous, not knowing yet what those pages would give. That smell of paper and ink, type pressed and clear. Paragraphs and paragraphs, indentations, page numbers,Continue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Oh But To Read’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘This Is a Possible Fiction’
Demands were made to sack them. If they excercised their legal rights, employers should be able to ensure workers had no job on their return: strikes should become illegal. The show must go on. So, shunt private cars from the roads, disrupt public services and tell the citizens to walk. Call for an exodus –Continue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘This Is a Possible Fiction’”