Bloat > table

Sail > tail

Scotland

smiling

lf ?

elfin

Tea + ch = teach

Misty > moist

Plug > slug

North > helpful

My friends

  Do you, like me, sometimes ponder why things happen to be? Do you ever pause to consider what really is the cause? Do you ever wonder or marvel at what really is amazingly clever: why two separate people become entwined to love and mate? In this mystery play with its cast of millions how come my needle was plucked out of the hay? I ask, what did I do to be...

Added 23 Feb 2016 | Category Poetry | Votes 9 | Avg Score 5 | Views 819 | 10 Comments

Like most ideas, it seemed a good one at the time. And when my bubbling daughter Claire enthused, “Great! Go for it, mum,” the decision was made. But now I was having second thoughts. Nothing unusual about that, really. In the twenty-five years since I made that unforgettable decision, I have been in the habit of dithering. Indecisive should be my middle name. As I placed my...

Added 14 Jan 2016 | Category Romance | Votes 8 | Avg Score 5 | Views 660 | 7 Comments

Dawn placed the last dinner plate in the dish washer and looked up at the clock. She then glanced over her shoulder at her husband. Brian sat at the table, scouring the classified advertisements in the local newspaper, trailing a finger down the small type, his spectacles balanced on the tip of his broad nose. “Keep an eye on the time,” said Dawn, “or you’ll miss the kick off.” ...

Added 09 Jul 2015 | Category Flash Fiction | Votes 7 | Avg Score 5 | Views 952 | 6 Comments

Betsy stood, hands linked at her waist. Agitated, her right thumb rubbed back and forth over her left thumb. “Hi sweetheart,” I said, advancing for my welcome home kiss. “Please, don’t shout at me.” Pale blue eyes were pleading, almost fearful. I halted in my tracks. “Why would I do that?” Betsy sighed and spread her arms wide before letting them fall, hands slapping against...

Added 03 Jun 2015 | Category Micro Fiction | Votes 9 | Avg Score 5 | Views 1,096 | 9 Comments

Her face was like thunder. Her familiar open smile was replaced by a thin, grim line of compressed lips and eyes which usually sparkled now flashed like lightning.  Fittingly, rain and unseasonal hail bounced off the restaurant windows as she stared intently into my face. No, she stared at me with piercing blue eyes. I offered a tentative smile and shrug of shoulders. “I mean it,”...

Added 20 May 2015 | Category Flash Fiction | Votes 9 | Avg Score 5 | Views 1,281 | 10 Comments

So we are poised: You over there and me here, waiting to step through the void. We’ve approached with caution, no headlong rush: Treading carefully building trust. Now we’ve finished plotting the way: To end this ride we have to bridge the divide. It’s finally agreed there is no other way: this is the route we need to go. And so, not in haste, with...

Added 11 May 2015 | Category Poetry | Votes 10 | Avg Score 5 | Views 768 | 9 Comments

I still find it incredible, magical. All these nights I have dreamed of you, of us. And it’s impossible to count the days when my mind has wandered, drifting from the task in hand to conjure up images of you, of shared moments and even daring to think what might await us. It happened again this morning. I awoke from yet another dream in which you lay in my arms, your head resting on...

Added 05 May 2015 | Category Micro Fiction | Votes 12 | Avg Score 4.83 | Views 1,189 | 9 Comments

Gerry stared at the computer screen, disbelieving, his eyes wide open. “Oh no,” he screamed, throwing his arms in the air and falling back in his leather office chair. “It can’t be. I can’t have done that.” Furiously, he pecked at the keyboard but knew it was futile. All his work of the last three days, writing and revising, rewriting and polishing, all to no avail. He would have to...

Added 24 Apr 2015 | Category Flash Fiction | Votes 13 | Avg Score 5 | Views 1,190 | 13 Comments

You surely feel it, too just as I do All this sudden heat from head to feet. Now I’m ready to bet we’ll start to sweat As down here we lay and prepare to play. Sand between our toes and where else, who knows? Above us clear azure sky a breeze, just a mere sigh. I reach for your hand feeling the wedding band. And now I linger caressing this familiar finger. ...

Added 21 Apr 2015 | Category Poetry | Votes 10 | Avg Score 4.7 | Views 1,130 | 10 Comments

I’ll never forget that Wednesday: made redundant at my age. What now? Daphne was working, my redundancy package was okay, but I’d planned on another five years topping up my pension pot. That night, I sat at the table, papers strewn about, jotting down numbers, hoping I could afford early retirement. It was possible - but tight. I sighed, leaned back in my chair and rubbed my temples. ...

Added 15 Apr 2015 | Category Flash Fiction | Votes 10 | Avg Score 4.9 | Views 1,138 | 9 Comments