I watch him slip a long, strong fingernail down the succulent crevice between two mandarin segments and pull them apart. I didn’t give him the fruit. I wait for him to place the orangey crescent into his mouth and imagine its sharp taste as he crushes it, chews the pith and swallows the remains when…
How She Became A Loner
“I just don’t like people,” she says. “How can you not like people?” “That moment – when I sense a stranger is about to speak to me – is a moment I dread. If I could, I’d just ignore them and walk away. I’d press a button and disappear. I’d do anything to escape.” She…
Tony & “Tarantula”
Tony is sat working at his grey desk in the grey office he shares with thirty other accountants. At exactly four thirty, he will turn fifty. Tony’s wife, Joyce, is standing on the parquet floor of the kitchen in their semi-detached bungalow that very moment baking his favourite cake – the one topped with butterscotch…
Secrets In A Small Place
Meet Howard, a neighbour of mine. He’s retired and walks his two dogs past my house every morning. A permanently disparaging expression clouds his tight features. The walking stick he carries (and doesn’t really need) flicks out at his feet with every step hiding a deep-seated, hidden frustration. He mutters a lot, to himself or…
Belly Man & The Bedridden Internet Guru
My partner of twenty years is obsessed with the size of his belly at the moment. Is this something that happens to all forty-year-old men? He complains daily that he can’t fit into the trousers or shorts he slid into six months ago and wears most garments with the top button opened, blaming tightness in…
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