Category: Short Stories

The Political Wife: January Short Story

Two months before their fortieth wedding anniversary he left.  Jill was in shock and found she couldn’t focus on practical details. Her eldest son cancelled all the party arrangements and arranged an appointment with the solicitor.

She refused to attend.  The reality of the situation was something she chose to ignore however much her children urged her to protect her own interests. She ignored phone calls from her husband, and flatly declined to discuss the situation with her friends or family. She snubbed the press, and likewise, increasingly frantic communications from the PM’s Office.

It was a frustrating time for all of them but every time they visited their mother, she was pottering around as usual in the garden or walking the dogs.  She was not in the slightest bit curious to know where he was or what he was doing. After years of ignoring his various infidelities and petty cruelties she simply carried on as normal.  Of course, she was on some level aware that her life would change in the future, but she wanted to face that in her own time, and at her own pace.

Continue reading “The Political Wife: January Short Story”

One Man and his Boy (Ferret’s Festive Comp)

This was going to be a tough Christmas for my son and I. Ever since my wife done a bunk with Bunk the detective I’ve had to resign from my job and take care of Danny full time. She’s always had a thing for men in uniform. Ironically, when Bunk snared her he was wearing a suit because he was serious Police. As Danny’s sole custodian I didn’t need to join Fathers for Justice and climb up on a high roof. That’s where she thinks she is: on a pedestal. The Queen of Sheba hasn’t had any contact with Danny since she left. One day she’ll fall from up on high and there will be nobody to catch her. Continue reading “One Man and his Boy (Ferret’s Festive Comp)”

Holy Knight

It was Boxing Day, yet the chairman, along with a skeleton staff, had come to the office to work on the press release that he would issue early next month. On the screen in front of him was displayed the company’s latest sales report. It made depressing, if unsurprising, reading. Things were not looking good at all, though at least a small profit was forecast, which was more than was likely to be the case for his rivals. As welcome as this was, it was not going to prevent the huge number of redundancies that would be forthcoming in the New Year; redundancies which came on top of several store closures and associated job losses that he and his board had been forced to impose 6 months earlier. Continue reading “Holy Knight”

Black and white: A Christmas Story

“Sorry, Old Girl” said the Major, as his wife glared at him over the top of her reading glasses. It’s true though, he thought to himself. The seasonal covering of snow made them easier to spot, they stood out like sore thumbs. She was glad when it thawed but there was more on the way. The Major always loved snow on Christmas Day. On his short walk to the doctor’s surgery he had spotted three of them. They are taking over, can’t move a bloody inch without falling over one. Send them all back home where they belong. Can’t be doing with this he thought; they’ll be breeding like rabbits and taking over the country.

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Nov Short Story – the Mystery of the Unknown Soldier

If he could tell that the young girl with the fat baby in the blue snowsuit wasn’t interested, it didn’t matter. Not that day, not any day really.

Bert was an effusive sort of chap; never used three words where thirty would do. And they all came rushing out which tended to exhaust his listeners to the point where they would look at their watches and remember a pie overcooking in the oven or an appointment at the dentist.

Tracy was taking her children to her mums on the other side of town so she could go to a sunbed appointment and have a bit of peace. She deserved it, she thought – and so did her mum, knowing how hard life was as a single mum, especially since her Tracy was only 17. Continue reading “Nov Short Story – the Mystery of the Unknown Soldier”

The Hit Man (things are seldom what they seem)

Robert Hampton, a rather charmless man, of average height, medium build and with an instantly forgettable face, had carved himself a pleasant, if rather shallow niche in the village of Coltsfoot. He was beginning to feel quite safe in his rural idyll, although it would never do to become too complacent. He enjoyed the comfort of his Victorian cottage with the mundane name of ‘Meadow View’, but he would move on when the lease ran out; he always moved on. Continue reading “The Hit Man (things are seldom what they seem)”

Keep taking the pills: November Short Story

Things are seldom what they seem…..

How true in the case of the  Smith family Tragedy. Nice people by all accounts, and near neighbours, so it was with a frisson of shock that Jill read the article in the local paper. The whole family had been found dead; the police were not looking for anyone in connection with the incident and there was no information as to how the two adults, one seven year old and a young baby had met their fate.

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The Last Night (CW Competition)

She opened one eye. “What the hell was the time?”

She was fed up with not sleeping properly and waking up at some God-forsaken hour in the middle of the night. She switched on the lamp and looked for the clock. Then she remembered that she hadn’t brought the alarm down last night when she had decided that she could not bear to sleep upstairs again and had dragged the mattress off the spare single bed and rolled it down the stairs. She’d gone back up, grabbed the pillows, sheets and duvet off the brass four poster, hurled them on top of the mattress and had virtually flown down the stairs herself.

Continue reading “The Last Night (CW Competition)”