The Moon

Janet Baldey

It was so hot.  Cindy lay in bed tossing from side to side, searching for a cool spot.  She forced herself to stop and squeezed her eyes shut, she had to get some sleep.   At last, she gave up, plucking damp sheets away from her  body, she oozed out of bed.  Perhaps a glass of water would help.

         As she stood by the kitchen sink, rattling ice cubes in her glass, she tried to plan the coming day but her brain was tired.  She glanced out of the window at a black and grey panorama where nothing moved.  It was like a still life.  Suddenly there was a flash of light and she looked up at the sky where a rift in the clouds had opened to reveal a slender semi-circle of silver. She forgot the heat and caught her breath watching as the new moon’s eerie beauty transformed the night.  It brought with it a childhood memory; every Christmas, before the New Year had time to catch her unawares, her Mum would sit at the kitchen table laboriously marking a bright red cross on new moon evenings.  Cindy remembered herself as a teenager mocking her mother’s stupid superstitions and from a distant void, heard her mother’s reply.

         “You may laugh, my girl.  But nothing good comes of looking at a New Moon through glass and you’d do well to remember it.  You won’t always have me around to make sure the blinds are drawn.  My mum, your grandma, used to tack up sheets over every single window to make sure we didn’t slip up.  It was like living inside a tomb but it kept us safe.”

         Cindy smiled to herself, it was a good thing she wasn’t superstitious; she looked up at the moon again, she’d well and truly done it now if that old rubbish was true.  Anyway, it hadn’t done her Mum much good. A brief longing flared, if only she could have her Mum back, she’d be much kinder to her,

She pressed the cool rim of her glass against her forehead and rolled it around.  She really must sleep; she had to get up early, there was lots to do.  Top of the list was the delivery of her new phone.  A top of the range iphone 13 Pro Max.   She’d been saving up for so long but had never got very far before her money disappeared; there was always something that caught her eye that she must have.  She looked into her glass thinking that money and ice cubes had a lot in common, both had a habit of melting away fast.  Luckily, dear old Dad had come to her rescue as he always did if she whined enough.  

         “Okay, my love, don’t fuss.  You’ve got a special birthday coming up, so I’ll foot the bill.  You’ll have to pay for the running costs mind, and when November comes, don’t forget  you’ve had your present.”

         She’d thrown her arms around him, thinking November was far away.  She wouldn’t forget but he might.  It had happened before.

         Number two on her list was her date with a chap she’d been emailing for some time.  He was perfect, on paper.  Tall, dark, handsome and with a job in the City.  She sighed, It was about time she got herself a new fella, might rinse the taste of Jason out of her mouth.  She’d been quite smitten with Jason and he’d seemed keen on her.  Then one evening, he’d taken her to the Red Lion for a pub meal and as they’d sat sipping their beers, the bare bones of their feast still on the table, Jason excused himself “to be a gentleman” - a quaint old-fashion phrase he often used that always tickled her.  After he’d disappeared in the direction of The Gents, she’d waited for what seemed like forever.  She’d sat, staring at the door of The Gents until she began to worry, perhaps he’d been taken ill.  The worry deepened until she was quite sure he was lying dead on a cubicle floor.   Eventually, she plucked up enough courage to share her concern with the barkeeper and he’d gone to have a look.

         “No one in there, Miss.” He reported back.  She’d stared, not believing it.  Then, it dawned, she’d been ditched, abandoned, left in the lurch.  Whatever words you used, it hurt.  To deepen the trauma, she’d no money and the bill hadn’t been paid.  Luckily, the owner had been very understanding but the embarrassment!  She still squirmed whenever she thought of it.  She stopped thinking about it.  Instead, she tried to think of all the good things that had happened recently.  There weren’t many, like a lot of Scorpios, she seemed dogged by bad luck.  One good thing though, her recent root canal had stopped hurting - at last. 

Not expecting much, she went back to bed and at last, sleep threw its black cloak over her and the next thing she knew a blade of sunshine was trying to access her eyeballs. She squinted at her watch.  Nine o’clock already, thank goodness she’d taken a day off work, knowing she’d not be able to concentrate.  She flew out of bed and almost fell downstairs.

         “Has it come yet?”

         Her father knew what she meant.  After all, she’d been talking of nothing else for the past week.  He swallowed and tiny toast crumbs decorating his beard fell onto his shirt.

         “Give it a chance love.  You could be waiting all day.”

He was right.  Cindy had waited all day, most of the time perched on a seat by the window staring out at a street that was mostly empty apart the odd cat and women with buggies ferrying their kids to the local school.  At last, she gave up and decided to give Yodel a ring.  She opened her ‘phone and yelped loud enough to wake her father who was just catching a crafty nap to gird himself against the drama of the new phone’s arrival.

         “It says it’s been delivered.   Look …”  Her mouth rivalled her eyes as she stared.  “Ten minutes ago, but it can’t have.  I’ve been practically stapled to the window for the last coupla hours.  And OMG look there’s a picture….”  A blurred picture of a package leaning up against a brick wall accompanied the message.  It could have been anything anywhere but just to make sure, she made for the door, just remembering to open it before she cannoned out.  It was just as she’d thought, zero package, zero van, zero anything.  She looked up and down the street but the only thing that moved was the glint of sunshine on parked cars.

         Wearily, she went back in to phone the delivery company.  She dreaded it.  It would be the inevitable recorded message endlessly repeating that they were sorry for the delay and thanking her for her patience, accompanied by the same endless, brain-damaging music.  It was enough to tip anyone over the edge.  She sat slumped in her chair, waiting for the end of days.  Then so suddenly she almost forgot to press 1, a voice answered.  It was so faint she could hardly hear it and sounded if its owner was chewing gum.

         “Help you?”

         “I’ve been waiting in for my new phone all day.  It hasn’t come but you say it has!”

         “Order number?”

         Cindy repeated the number and heard the far-away tapping of keys.

         “Your packet was delivered 45 minutes ago.”

         “No, it wasn’t.  That’s the whole point.”

         “Got a picture here.”

         “That picture, doesn’t mean a thing.  There’s nothing to see - just bricks.”

         “Are they your bricks?”  Cindy hadn’t a clue, to her a brick was a brick.

         “Have you asked your neighbours? P’raps they took it in.”

         “My neighbours are at work.”

         “Is your ‘phone insured.”

         “No, of course it isn’t.  I haven’t got it yet.”

         There was silence at the other end, Cindy realised the girl hadn’t a clue what to do next.  Anyway, they were getting nowhere, it was time to pull on her big girl pants.  She raised her voice.

         “Can I speak to your supervisor please.”

         There was a shrill whine as the connection was broken.  Cindy would have thrown her phone across the room except it was the only one she had.  After a while she pulled herself together.  P’raps Dad would sort it out tomorrow; after all, he had all day.  Meanwhile, she had to get ready for her date tonight.

From inside a cloud of fragrance, Cindy gazed into her mirror.  She’d done her best; and sat admiring the effect of lipstick, mascara and foundation.  She’d even managed to thread her eyebrows with glitter.  She couldn’t lie to herself, she looked stunning.  She was particularly pleased with her new set of Turkey teeth.  True, they’d cost a bomb but nothing like English prices.  She gave a big open-mouthed grin and was rewarded with a dazzle of white teeth.  She was so glad she’d had the big ones, the ones that jealous people called tombstones.  True, she couldn’t close her mouth properly but as her Dad had said,

“What’s the use of spending all that money on your choppers when half the time they’re covered by your lips?”

She looked at the time and jumped up, she had to go.  Didn’t want to miss him when he looked so gorgeous – a cross between Christian Bale and a much younger Johnny Depp.

It didn’t take her long to walk to the station although long enough for a butterfly ball to start up in her stomach.  To make matters even worse, just as she left her house her Dad had completely spoiled her mood by warning her that if her phone didn’t turn up, legally she’d be liable for its running costs.  Thanks Dad, she thought, that was truly the icing on the cake.

Apathetically, she glanced around the station forecourt.  She’d bet the farm he wouldn’t turn up.  Then, everything else was forgotten as she realised she was wrong.  He was there talking to an ugly guy standing next to him.  OMG he looked even more sick than his photo.  She scrabbled for her ‘phone with a hand that was suddenly so sweaty she almost dropped it.  She saw both men look at each other then she was left with her mouth hanging open as her date winked, patted the dork on his shoulder and walked towards a waiting train.

She was still fuming as she walked back home.  How the hell did men think they’d get away with a stunt like that?  Were they so arrogant they thought women were thick and wouldn’t notice their date had suddenly been hit with an ugly stick?  Mind you, she’d got her own back.  The look-alike gremlin had suggested a drink and biding her time, she’d agreed and ordered the largest and most expensive cocktail on the menu.  She watched him waddle to the bar and just as he ordered, she slipped out of a side door.  If she hadn’t been so angry she might have laughed at the thought of him with a surplus drink on his hands.  The pub was quite crowded and somebody would be bound to notice a fat nerd sitting on his own moodily sipping his beer with a double gin cocktail, complete with cherry, as a chaser.

Instead, she sighed, her depression too deep to care. At least, nothing else could go wrong.  Suddenly she leaped a full foot into the air as 240 volts swept through her jaw.  The pain was sickening and all too familiar, her root canal had decided now was a good time to join the party.

Copyright Janet Baldey

 Mr. Albert Moon Got what he deserved

By Bob French

Jeremy Wentworth looked up at the office clock.  It was ten past ten on a Friday evening, long past the time he should have gone home.  He relived the rocketing he had received from his boss, Mr. Alfred bloody Moon, as he was known by his staff, was a right horrible piece of work. Sadly, Moon was Jeremy’s boss at the Estate Agents in Braintree, Essex.

Mary, his personal secretary, looked up in shock as Moon burst into her office at ten to six.

          “Sir, what time do you call this? Your meeting at the town hall must have gone on for such a long time?”

Albert staggered slightly having spent the afternoon on the golf course with a couple of his mates, then down the Rose and Crown for a few ‘sun-downers’.

          “Oh, be quiet Mary.  No, as a matter of fact, I missed the bloody meeting.  I told Wentworth to cover it. Anything important to tell me, if not I’m off home.”

          Mary quickly studied the diary.  “You have a meeting with the bank manager at ten on Monday and the town’s charity commissioners at three in the afternoon.”

          “Thank you. Off you go then and I shall be in early on Monday, so don’t be late.  Oh, and get me, Wentworth, on your way out.”

          Mary stepped into Jeremy’s office and quietly informed him that the boss was back and wanted to see him asap.  She had a soft spot for Jeremy and did what she could to protect him, so pulled a face at him, warning him that Mr. bloody Moon was in a foul mood.

          Jeremy thought the worst as he took up his notepad and made his way to Moon’s office.  He knocked and waited until he was invited in.

          “Enter.  Ah, Wentworth, how did the meeting go at the town hall?”

          “Sorry, Sir.  What meeting?  I was attending the meeting at the Building Society most of the afternoon.  Was there a meeting at the town hall?”

          “What do you mean?  I told you to attend the meeting on my behalf.”

          Jeremy Wentworth had grown used to Mr. bloody Moon’s behavior; forgetting to do something, then swearing blind he told him that he was to attend to it.  He sometimes asked him to meet him off the train at a certain time, only to find that Moon had taken an earlier train, leaving him waiting like an idiot at the station for an hour or so.   

“Sorry Sir, you did not ask me to attend the Town Hall meeting in the afternoon.  Had you, I would have told you.  Even your secretary would have told you that I was already engaged all afternoon.”

          “Are you calling me a liar Wentworth?”

          The room fell silent for a few minutes, then Moon went into one of his frenzied outbursts. 

“Listen you incompetent waste of space, I don’t care what your excuse is, you were supposed to be at the town hall.  Anyway, I have a meeting at ten on Monday with the bank manager so I want a full run down on our accounts with the bank; sales figures expected gains and losses with the two new housing estates, plus the possibility of staffing cost increases.  I want it on my desk by nine-thirty or else you can find new employment, and don’t expect a recommendation from me, now get out of my sight.”

          Jeremy knew all too well that to argue with this arrogant bully of a man was a waste of time, so kept his mouth shut.  Moon stared at Jeremy with his cruel eyes for a minute, then picked up his overcoat, pushed past him, and slammed his office door behind him.

          It was an overcast Monday morning when Mary quietly approached Jeremy’s desk and waited until he had stopped adding up some figures.

          “Sorry Jeremy, but it's five to ten and Moon hasn’t shown up yet.  Please can you take his place at the Bank Managers meeting?”

          Jeremy looked up and smiled at her.  He liked Mary.  They were about the same age and she had, on a number of occasions, protected him from Albert bloody Moon when he was in a foul mood.

          “Not a problem Mary.  If you can telephone the manager and explain that I will be there in a few minutes.” 

          It was nearly eleven o’clock when Albert Moon rolled into his office.  As Mary placed his black coffee on his desk, she quietly mentioned that Jeremy had attended the meeting as he had failed to turn up.  All Mood did was grunt as he picked up his telephone.  He started to speak to one of his friends about playing a few rounds of golf this afternoon.  Mary tried to warn him again about the charity commissioners meeting, but he just waived her away.    

          Around one-thirty the bank manager telephoned and wanted to speak to Mr. Moon.  Mary put him through and after a few minutes, Mood stepped out of his office with a smile on his face.

          “Where is Wentworth?”

          “He’s on his way back from the bank Sir.  Probably stopped off to get a coffee.”

          “Tell him I want to see him the second he gets into the office.”

          Mary began to get concerned when the office clock struck two and there was still no sign of Jeremy.  Then she heard his footsteps clumping up the stairs.  She rushed towards the door and pulled it open, only to bump into a large bunch of flowers, which Jeremy was holding.

          “Oh, my goodness!  They look wonderful.  Who are they for, someone special?”!

          “Yes, as a matter of fact.  They are for you, to say thank you for always looking out for me.”  Then thrust them into her hands.

          Mary stared at the flowers, then at Jeremy. “No one has ever bought me flowers before.  That’s very kind of you Jeremy, thank you”

          The spell was broken when the office door was flung open.  “Where the hell have you been Wentworth?  I need to talk to you, now.”  And with that, he turned on his heels and stormed off to the office.

          By the time Jeremy got to his boss’s office, Moon was in a foul mood. “Look I have a special meeting at three, so I want you to attend the charity commissioner's meeting.  Brief me when I get back.”

          When Jeremy got back to his office, Mary was rearranging her flowers.  When he told her that he had to attend the charity commissioner's meeting because his Lordship had another meeting, Mary’s mouth fell open.

“He does not!  He’s arranged to play golf this afternoon.  God, the man is a swine.”

Jeremy knew the brief for the meeting off by heart as he had been working on the charity portfolio for the past few years for Moon and was happy to attend.  He came away from the meeting with the distinct impression that Albert bloody Moon was going to be rewarded for all his charity work.  This annoyed him as most of the briefings and background work in the past had been done by him.

In the middle of April, Mary came into the office looking very sheepish.

“Fancy going out for lunch today?”  Jeremy knew that Moon was away for two days.

After the waitress had taken their orders, Mary slipped a posh letter under the table to him.

“What’s this?”

“Just read it, then give it back to me discretely please.”

She saw his eyebrows rise in surprise as he saw the green embossed port-cullis crest of the Prime Minister’s office. then she saw the anger spread across his face.”

“I don’t believe it.”

Mary quickly took back the letter and said that she would respond to it, but would not tell Albert bloody Moon.

Jeremy stared at her in confusion, but she gently placed her hand on his. “Don’t worry, I’ll sort it.”

The month of June brought sunshine and the good news that Moon and his wife were off to Barbados for three weeks.

During the first week, Mary had invited Jeremy down to Devon to look at a really nice cottage on the side of the moors.  She asked if he would like to live in such a place and grinned when he nodded enthusiastically. 

During the second week, she invited him to take a tour of London for a couple of days, including Buckingham Palace but insisted that on Thursday he had to wear a dark suit to look his best.  Jeremy didn’t mind, in fact, he was really looking forward to spending time with Mary.

Early on Thursday morning she met him and gave the seal of approval of his suit.

“Now today we are visiting Buckingham Palace.  When we are inside, please listen and do exactly as I tell you, alright.”

Halfway through the tour and the constant calling of their tour guide to keep up, Mary tugged Jeremy’s arm and led him away from the group.  Jeremy just stared at her.

“Just do as I say alright.”  Jeremey, thinking that it was some sort of practical joke, played along.  She guided him towards some all-wide gold doors with a tall, serious looking officer standing outside.  Mary stepped forward and handed the gold embossed invitation to the officer.

The officer handed the invitation back to Jeremy and then spoke. “Mr. Moon, please follow me, Sir.”

Jeremy frowned and was about to say something when Mary simply told him to do exactly as he was told.

Jeremy was ushered into a long high ceilinged room where his invitation was again checked.  He was then ushered into another room where he was surrounded by lots of people; some in uniform, some in morning suits, and some in dark suits.  He listened to the briefing given by an elderly Guards Officer and stood where he was told.

The room fell into silence as the Prince of Wales entered the room and stood on the platform at the head of the room.  Then, one by one the people were called forward and decorated by the prince.

“Mr. Albert Moon.  For outstanding charitable work to the community.”  Jeremy froze.  Then he felt the gentle hand of one of the ushers, easing him forward.

He was surprised at how easy it was to talk to the prince about all the charity work he had been working on down the years, as the prince pinned a shiny decoration on his jacket.

Then in a flash, he was outside the palace and Mary was running toward him with a huge smile on her face.

“Well done Jeremy.  You got what you deserved, and so did Albert bloody Moon. Now we are going to vanish down to Devon where no one can find us and retire, just you and me.”

Copyright Bob French

 A FAMILY AFFAIR  (Part 2 of 3)

by Richard Banks 

         My preference was for the spirits and on a coolish afternoon, I was more than content to wile away the several hours until dinner with a large G&T in the conservatory. It was while observing a strange plant of Triffid-like proportions that I inadvertently made the discovery that my fellow guests were attempting by more active means. In the intestines of this transparent monster was not only the necklaces but a hoard of gold coins that I took to be the fabled pieces of eight. Alas, I had fallen asleep, but my dream, although disappointing for not being reality, had at least brought me within an hour of dinner and the French cuisine of Aunt Flora’s faithful retainer, Madam DuSavoury. 

         Having located Teddy on the veranda of the Drawing Room we departed to our room where we again attended to our ablutions before changing into our evening things. Our subsequent entry into the dilapidated grandeur of the Queen Ann Dining Room was made all the more pleasant by the demeanour of our fellow diners which while expressing conviviality gave no indication that any of them had scooped the jackpot. The meal took its usual form with three excellent courses that, in the absence of the elusive necklaces, were likely to be the only highlight of our stay. 

         Coffee served, we endured the usual speeches eulogising Uncle Hector and bowed our heads respectfully when the vicar offered up a prayer to the old rogue who apparently was in Heaven and fondly looking down on us. “Here, here,” I muttered briefly breaking ranks to look up at the ceiling which responded by jettisoning a large flake of whitewash that spiralled slowly downwards until coming to rest in Cousin Izzy’s coffee cup. If this was a sign from heaven it was not one likely to benefit Izzy who might, perceivably, provide some entertainment by choking on the whitewash. With that thought in mind, I felt a pleasant tingle of optimism that within the next few hours the necklaces would be mine. 

         The dinner broke-up around 11.30 and after ushering Teddy into the male preserve of the smoking room I lost no time on returning to our bedroom ready to make good use of everything I had learnt at the twice monthly meetings of the East Dulwich Spiritualists. Having exchanged my evening dress for a see-through nightie that I thought likely to attract Uncle’s attention I offered up my first incantation at precisely twelve midnight. To my delight, this was immediately answered by a knocking on the ceiling above me. On my calling out, “Is that you Uncle Hector?” The knocking promptly ceased and a male voice answered,”no” and that he was sorry to have disturbed me. “But who are you!” I demanded. There was only one way to find out and having placed a chair on the bed I climbed up onto it and pushed aside the loft hatch in the ceiling. A dazzling blue light was shining in the otherwise inky blackness of the loft. “Are you a spirit?” I asked, bracing myself for a confrontation with one of Brookvale’s former owners. “Identify yourself and come in peace.” The light shifted from side to side and with much heavy breathing drew closer revealing in its wake a helmet and a grimy face I was beginning to recognise. 

         “Hello, Aunty, it’s Archie here, your nephew. Just doing a bit of potholing in the loft – awfully good practice, you know.”

         I did not know, although it was only too obvious what he was up to. “Found anything of interest?” I said, in an accusing sort of way, and on receiving the answer, “only a dead rat” I bid him continue his potholing out of earshot of myself who did not wish to be disturbed again. This I said with all the icy censor I could muster which was more than enough to send him scuttling-off in the direction of the Beck-Cooper’s room. Pausing only to entertain myself with the notion that he might fall through their ceiling and into their bed for an uninvited three-some I descended to the steady foundation of the bedroom floor where I cleared my mind ready for a second outreaching into the spirit world. It was not long before my call was answered by an unfamiliar voice speaking in an unfamiliar language that might have been Italian. It was not Uncle Hector. 

         I needed to clear the line, so to speak, but spirits, once they answer a call, are often reluctant to hang-up. The logical thing of course was for me do so but the psychic words that should have sent him on his way had no effect whatsoever. “Push-off!” I demanded in the vernacular, to which I added a rude word in Italian that I had learned on a school trip to Florence. While it had been reasonably successful in discouraging the bum-pinching activities of Italian youth it had no effect on my unwanted visitor until another voice gruffly told him to bugger off, which the spirit did with an indignant sigh. My new visitor not only spoke but, without being summoned, materialised in front of me.

         “So what does my little temptress want?” he asked. “Is she missing her dear old uncle? And why not, after all we did have some memorable moments together. Although, of course, it wasn’t just me. What a gal you were. I was your number fifty-two I recall and you were once kind enough to reward my efforts with a ten. You wrote it in that little black book of yours. But that was in the old blood and flesh days. There’s no going back to them, at least not for me. Now put on a cardigan or something before you catch a cold and tell your poor departed uncle why you have dragged him away from the sweet smell of tobacco in the smoking room. Incidentally, I saw Teddy there; is he still putting up with your tricks?”

         “Teddy does what I say and believes what I tell him. He’s an ideal husband and providing I light his fire once a week he’s happier than he has any right to be. He’s not half the man you were.” 

         “Very flattering, I’m sure, but you haven’t answered my first question, as if I didn’t know the answer. Well, let’s ask you something else: why should I tell you where the necklaces are? What right do you have to them?”        

        “So I can pass them on to Robert, of course.”        

        “You mean, Robert, your son?”

         “Yes, of course, I mean Robert. Your favourite nephew, a chip off the old block you once said, and with good reason.” 

         “What do you mean?”

         “I mean that Robert is not only my son, he’s yours too.”

         “Poppycock! Mind you I never thought that Teddy was the father, nothing more obvious than that, even Teddy must have had his doubts, but why me? And don’t tell me that he was born nine months after one of our assignations. There’ll be a dozen other candidates for sure; knowing you, more than that. No, no my dear you’ll have to do better than that.” 

         “Then I will. If it’s proof you want, then proof you will have. Not that I needed any, a mother always knows the father of her child. However, with this interview in mind, I resolved to put the question beyond doubt.”

         “How so?” 

         “DNA testing, of course, first I took a lock of Robert’s hair, and then a few days later at the wedding of your brother’s younger son, I encouraged his brother to become the worse for drink at which time I also cut-off a lock of his hair. Both were sent to a clinic in London and their forensic analysis is to be found in the several documents on the writing desk. Take a look at them, take a good look. Robert is indeed a chip off the old block. He’s your son, there’s no doubt about it, none at all.” 

         Uncle’s spectral image flickered like a florescent tube about to expire, his face registering surprise bordering on incredulity. At last, he steadied himself and with eyes, only on the papers I had set out crossed the room and stared down at them in their numbered order. 

         “Congratulations,” I said, once he was through. “You are a father. Now let us consider what you can do to help your son.”

         “I take it you are referring to the necklaces?”

         “Of course I am. Only you can ensure that he receives what is rightly his.”

         “And how much would he get once you sold them to your Hatton Garden friends?” 

         “Uncle, how ungallant of you, I am the mother of your only child, surely you don’t begrudge me a few little comforts in my middling years. Anyway, let’s face it, what choice do you have? If left where they are they will either be lost forever or discovered by one of the navies who one day will be demolishing this crumbling ruin. Is that what you want? No, of course not, so tell me their precise whereabouts and I will guarantee that what should happen does happen.” 

(To be continued)

 Copyright Richard Banks

                                                                           

Three Tanka

 Three Tanka 

By Rob Kingston

Recently published in issue 9 of HaikaiKatha.

HaikaiKatha is a journal published through the Triveni haiku India website.

A journal dedicated to Japanese short form poetry in India where the form is growing at a very fast rate.

 

Tanka is a short love song.

 

a walk

by the river

how these gulls

remind me of days gone by

arguing over nonsense

 

on repeat

the blackbird's song ...

recalling the days

when dad whistled the tune

i whistle today

 

 

stretching rainbows

from his new fishing rod

that memory

of a time in Southend

when all he caught was a cold

 

Copyright Robert Kingston

Tylywoch ~ 21

 Tylywoch ~ 21 Fighting Back I

By Len Morgan 

   Placing their best warriors in the van, they attacked the Barracks.   Luck was with them, and they caught most of the occupants of the first barracks were asleep, their attack was swift and bloody.   The second room was almost empty, they stripped it of weapons food, and anything likely to prove useful, then set it ablaze.   The serious fighting began when they attacked the third barrack room.   They were still able to count on the element of surprise and made a telling blow before the occupants reacted.   Then for a while, there was a hard fight until, at a signal, the lamps were extinguished and the reds withdrew.   For minutes the defenders were attacking each other, then somebody realised and ordered them to put up their arms.   At that precise moment, the Tylywoch entered the killing zone and the fighting came to an abrupt end.   

Scouts returned to report there were two other fully manned barracks close by.   Flushed with success Veille and his reds were all for pressing home their attack but Schell insisted they stick to the plan, not losing sight of the objective, to release Galyx.   So, they attacked and retreated as planned.   Finally, the alarm was raised and all available enemy units converged on the lower-level detention areas in far greater numbers than had originally been anticipated and Veille quickly acknowledged the wisdom of sticking to their plan. 

It took the attackers ten minutes to demolish the containment doors to the lower levels, by which time the defenders were well on their way.   The glow from the torches of the rearguard led them on into the maze of tunnels in hot pursuit.   Hildi, Soren, and four of the Red Guard slowed to ensure their pursuers did not lose contact before plunging into the next tunnel.   Five minutes later… 

“I think we’ve missed a turn,” Soren said, “We will have to go back.”   But as they turned to retrace their steps the first of their pursuers came into view.

“We’ll never get back in time, I know the way, follow me,” Hildi dashing down the next tunnel on the left.   They were now heading in the same direction they’d have taken had they previously made the correct turn.   The chasing pack followed with renewed determination, they were gaining on their quarry.  

“It's time to lose them!”   Soren said half an hour later.   They increased speed to match the slowest of the red guards quickly losing their tail.   Fifteen minutes later they caught up with the main group poised ready to attack at the opposite end of the palace.   In went ‘Stealth quad’, to silence the watch. 

(to be Continued)

Copyright Len Morgan

  A FAMILY AFFAIR   (Part 1 of 3) 

 by Richard Banks

We were early intending to be the first to arrive, but by the time we did, my Wyngate cousins had already laid claim to the only guest room fit for the purpose. Invited by our host, Aunt Flora, to take our pick of the third floor bedrooms in the East Wing, Teddy and myself finally settled on one less neglected than the others with a ceiling so far unstained by the ingress of rainwater. What the late arrivals had to put up with I shudder to think, although in the case of the Beck-Cooper’s I derived great pleasure in imagining them being rained out of their bed or bitten by one of the many small mammals contesting ownership of the old ruin; it was no more than they deserved.

         Having previously visited Brookvale I had come prepared and within my suitcase packed half a pound of cheese, four sturdy mouse traps and an aerosol labelled ‘Bugkill’. These I unpacked along with our bathroom things leaving everything else within our suitcases where I judged they would be better off than out. After performing our ablutions in the cloudy waters of the only functioning tap in the bathroom we ventured down to the Great Drawing Room in which our fellow guests were beginning to assemble.

         It was the usual crowd and we did the usual thing of pretending to be glad to see them. They reciprocated in similar fashion. We made the usual small talk, exaggerated the achievements of our teenage children and swanked about foreign holidays to exotic places that some of those present had only seen on TV or the web. Our conversations, while scrupulously avoiding any mention of money, were intended to give the impression that we had rather more of the stuff than we needed; fortune hunters we were not, and we professed an affection for Aunt Flora and Brookvale that fully justified our presence in this family gathering of her nearest and dearest.

          The least fortunate of her guests was Eric, the grandson of Aunt Flora’s youngest sibling. It was he who would inherit Brookvale and the death duties that would bankrupt him unless, come the time, he could persuade the National Trust to take the property off his hands in lieu of said duties. This was an outcome he daily prayed for and which would have been as welcome to him as the commutation of a death sentence. Unfortunately for Eric the almost derelict condition of the house and the sale of much of its estate had made Brookvale an improbable candidate for public ownership.

         If Eric’s prospects were bleak to the point of despair Aunt Flora’s other guests had nothing to lose and the tantalising possibility of improbable gain. For this they had Uncle Hector to thank. Hector was the first born son of his father Joseph Entwhistle a self-made millionaire from Quebec who had hit upon the idea of marrying Hector into the English aristocracy. It was to be a loss maker that would raise the prestige of his once impoverished family, into the starry orbit of a noble and ancient family, with a proven, if distant, connection to Royal persons living and deceased.

         The deal when struck, over fifty years ago, was that the eldest son of Hector’s marriage with Aunt Flora would inherit the family title and in return Henry would write the cheques that kept Brookvale afloat. This he did for seven childless years, finally delivering an ultimatum that unless his son and daughter-in-law got on with their side of the bargain he would cease all future payments into the Brookvale estate. As Hector had no significant funds of his own we can only imagine that he redoubled his efforts at fatherhood, but with no more success than before. The monthly payments duly ceased and in an unfatherly act of abandonment Joseph remade his will leaving his great wealth to his second son. The only mention of Hector was now a bequest of ten dollars included only to show that his disinheritance was the firm intention of the testator rather than the oversight of an elderly man of increasing eccentricity.

         However, it was rumoured that Hector’s father had not entirely abandoned his elder son and that he had sent him over a million dollars in a wooden chest labelled ‘tea’. This he had done on the solemn understanding that none of it was to be frittered away on maintaining a crumbling property no longer relevant to the aspirations of the Entwhistle family.

         What happened next was also rumour until the discovery of a bill of sale by Aunt Flora. Uncle Hector anxious to conceal his father’s clandestine gift from official scrutiny used the money to purchase two diamond necklaces which he no doubt reasoned could be concealed about the house or grounds until such time as Brookvale was somehow disposed of. This, however, was never going to happen in Aunt Flora’s lifetime. For her, ownership of Brookvale was a sacred trust that she would never relinquish even though the folly of remaining there was becoming increasingly obvious. Uncle Hector’s hopes of deriving any material benefit from his father’s gift therefore depended on him outliving his wife which he spectacularly failed to do by falling off the battlements and drowning in the moat.

         So, here we all are, three years on, solemnly assembled to commemorate an event that’s still the common tittle-tattle of the county. Our motives for being at Brookvale were undoubtedly mixed. Of course we all loved Uncle Hector and were saddened by his unfortunate passing but a mystery has an attraction which is difficult to resist and the possibility that one of us might somehow find the fabled necklaces was a magnet somewhat stronger than grief. Not that any of us were going to admit this, after all to do so raised the question of what we did next  with said diamonds. For now no one in the assembled company mentioned them, not a single word, which confirmed my suspicion that their thoughts were not so very different from my own. Having all been descended from Donald the Duplicitous, the seventh Marquis, we were, of course, all cut from the same cloth. Ditto for Aunt Flora, but in her case this family trait was remarkably absent. Indeed in old age she had acquired a kind, almost saintly aura that suggested that she would soon be a candidate for Chief Angel. Clearly she had no need of diamonds in the next life and would only use them in this one to shore-up an ancient estate that was a lost cause. Our discovery of the necklaces, if by chance that happened, was therefore likely to raise a moral dilemma requiring subtle and complex reasoning. Inevitably this would raise many questions such as what would Donald the Dup have done? But I’m getting ahead of myself, first of all we must find the necklaces.

         The same thought was very much in the minds of Aunt Flora’s other guests and if the last two years were anything to go by their modus operandi would be both varied and enterprising. Try as we may no one was quite able to conceal that intoxicating feeling that one of us would soon discover what we should not be looking for. 

         The welcoming refreshments consumed, the guests were free to walk the grounds or play croquet with the only mallet and ball that could be found. For now there was nothing for me to do but relax. My search would begin at midnight but for others, the hunt was already on and they were determined that not a moment should be wasted. What exactly each of them was up to was less than clear, although I soon became suspicious of cousin Hugh’s new walking stick which emitted faint but discernible bleeps that he tried to muffle by humming loudly on his lengthy perambulations of the front and back gardens. Hetty and Arthur retired to their room for an afternoon nap which they appeared to abandon in favour of a noisy rearrangement of its furniture, and Eric departed to the woods, spade in hand, to dig, so he said, for truffles.

         My preference was for the spirits and on a coolish afternoon, I was more than content to wile away the several hours until dinner with a large G&T in the conservatory. It was while observing a strange plant of Triffid like proportions that I inadvertently made the discovery that my fellow guests were attempting by more active means. In the intestines of this transparent monster was not only the necklaces but a hoard of gold coins that I took to be the fabled pieces of eight.

(To be continued)

Copyright Richard Banks

 THE LONG GOODBYE

 

By Peter Woodgate

 

They turn, depart, into the mist,

A fog that doesn’t hide the shape,

Thoughts, however, sink from view

Behind a cloak, a shroud, a cape.

They are there but cannot share

Quotidian actions day to day

Causing distress, anxiety

And concealed visions of dismay.

They are lost and yet remain

Your love obstructed by a shield,

A barrier that blocks your care,

Normality to them concealed.

But worst of all, a timeless wait

When hope for change will never be,

When all the love and care there is

Will be, shut out, eternally.

 

Copyright Peter Woodgate 16/7/22