Saturday sunshine - honey on a slice of white - spreads the length of South Street. Its smear blesses nearly every pale thing. The windows in the terraces cannot help but grin. Front doors yawn on their hinges. The traffic rolls up and down in slow motion, the engine sweat beneath the bonnet; a cyclist … Continue reading ‘Brocken! – serious offers only!’
The bay cradled The Hungry Gull, rocking her gently from side to side and Ffooks, his baritone, berceuse, just beneath the pitch of the engine, wooed her. Knott couldn’t make out the words or the tune just yet but, as the town faded, everything settled into a rhythm - the motor, the motion, the timber … Continue reading The Beguiling.
He left the house one evening and walked the coast road toward Weston. Occasionally he would hear a vehicle in the distance and as the sound grew closer he would stand at the roadside, raking his hair, straightening his coat, waiting its appearance. And as it drew near, he'd snap out a thumb and with … Continue reading Funky Town.
Aft, cabined behind the smear of glass, Ffooks attended the engine. The Hungry Gull awoke. He keyed her, she shuddered. She spluttered. He coughed and, putting his face across his shoulder, let loose a splendid purse of spat into the oily harbour water. Now Knott, sat on what appeared to him to be a … Continue reading The Hungry Gull.
Skirt gathered at her knees, chin on a table, she’s asking now something of the ear of a wild-bearded man. She sweeps her hair from her cheek. He appears not to listen. His black leather cowboy hat and bike jacket speak sinister wisdoms. There is a tiny gunmetal death’s head pinned, longtime, to the lapel. … Continue reading A Perfectly Good Table.
There is little in the way of illumination beyond the come hither of the one-arm bandit, the dim bulbs and the fluorescents striping in repeat in the mirror behind the teak. She works the tables, throwing hello, hello, hello. He orders a drink and he admires her over the rim. Eventually, she nudges him at … Continue reading Grotesque The Glass.
