In a world not too unlike our own, in a town you could almost recognise, a young woman sits alone in her apartment. Sitting cross-legged in her apartment in front of three different computer screens, lit only by their soft glow, she harbours a look of intense concentration. All manner of windows are open, from official-looking documents to particularly kinky...
"That piece certainly shows promise. But it needs more. It lacks fluidity, it seems rigid. I would sum it up by saying it needs more heart, less inhibition." Fulton Davis was the critic and mentor who always tried to help young artists at the annual community art show. It helped when they actually had talent. With gray hair and steely gray eyes he had a dist...
It had been three or maybe four years since I first met Kerry. That first connection was purely by accident. I was a forty-year old single man just going to my Father's house on the beach down in Florida for a badly needed two-week vacation. Things for me had been tough for quite awhile. Just a year before my Wife passed away from Cancer. Sherry had put up...
The next morning dawned bright and far too early for Jess. She rolled away from the oppressively warm body next to her and groaned in pain as she sat up. Her head felt like it was going to split in two - right after her stomach ridded her of the remains of last nights dinner. "Where the fuck did the bathroom go?" She whimpered trying to figure out who's...
It had been a tough but interesting four days for David on his first management course. His company had been good enough to send him along as a precursor to a full time course that he hoped would prove a key career step for him. He had been surprised on the evening he arrived to be introduced to the course tutor, a petit and attractive thirty-something dre...
I'm always sorry to get into a discussion of anyone's morals. But sometimes it just breaks my heart, especially when I see things which shouldn't have been controversial since the culture wars of the first half of the 21st century. And yet...and yet and alas! The old nature-phobe's expression "the shoe is on the other foot" can surely apply to those of us w...
The new automated car wash had succeeded in drawing a number of drivers who were willing to pay over the odds to get their car cleaned and waxed. The queues were often down the road with people putting in their money and putting their vehicle through the machine. The car wash itself was a low building with huge windows which allowed the casual observer to wa...
How did it all start? A year ago, we were still unmarried. I was 27, she was three years younger. We had big plans for our life together. We wanted to conquer the world together. But then, real world problems crept in. Even though we had big plans, we had no impetus to go out and do what we wanted to do. We wanted to be dominant, rich, in charge of our desti...
Sally Laymans was a picturesque vision of the perfect housewife. She was tall, trim, shapely and took excellent care of herself. She had a hot meal for her husband every evening and a clean home to welcome him into. He was the apple of her eye when they'd first gotten married, and the things she'd long found endearing about him had begun to wear on her. She...
"Well," Tom sighed, "what other romantic songs do we have for Valentine's Day? More Dean Martin?" The little piano bar was more crowded than on some nights. It had been a shore day, St. Martin. No big production show tonight, just one of those juggling comedians that seem to find their way on to cruise ships. Washed up, like him, flotsam bobbing against the...