"Where is everyone?" I asked when after an exasperating journey on Philadelphia's public transport system I'd finally got back to the hotel and found Crystal sitting in the hotel lobby with only Jenny Alpha and our luggage for company. Crystal pretended to look around the hotel lobby at the scuffed velour chairs and the sticky linoleum floor. "They're not...
At eight twenty-two, Daniel walked into his home office with a double-shot espresso—a rarity these days for when decaf was just not enough to cover five hours of sleep—in his right hand and his chiming phone in his left to discover that all hell had broken loose. To his great dismay. "Persephone!" he bellowed. His drill sergeant voice reverberated through w...
Life has intervened and I've not been able to proofread this part as fully I would like. So I apologise for any typos or other mistakes. FORTY-TWO I rang the bell at Stephanie Fanshaw's front door and switched on my recorder. There was a long pause and then the door opened. Stephanie Fanshaw was a striking woman. She was very tall with a thin angular body...
I was in awe of the gothic splendour of the main hall of the Wills Memorial Building. A magnificent place, unfortunately funded by the proceeds of tobacco and, indirectly, the slave trade. We filed out into the bright Bristol sunshine and I was joined by my son, William, whose graduation ceremony I had attended. I shook his hand and congratulated him on his...
Elena stood on tiptoes to peer over the top of the immaculate glass display case. She inhaled the heady aroma of freshly baked bread with an almost lusty appreciation. This time of day was a genuine treat. Not only was she able to get crusty yet impossibly light baguettes still hot from the oven, she was allowed to stroll about a city she'd only dreamed of b...
Chapter 7 – An English Honeymoon Maddie squealed in delight as the plane lifted into the air. Even with Dave explaining the concept of flight to her, it was still the most surreal experience she had ever felt in her life. Though Dave could have simply teleported them to England, he didn't want to rob Maddie of the exhilaration of her first flight. It was t...
I entered the compound with Eimi in tow. She said nothing as she traipsed along in her dark violet, open-toed platform shoes. She looked all around her, from the fence encircling my estate, to the low buildings that surrounded the central house. From our vantage point, she could see the three small houses in the front yard, and the escarpment that demarked t...
When I first retired, well, was forced into a spell of inactivity by redundancy and the lack of effort, both on my part and the employment office, I found myself kinda at a loose end. I only had twelve months left on me mortgage plus the outstanding balance of a bank loan on the car and a couple of hundred on a washer drier, which was all covered by PPI. S...
This is the third in the series of "A Stud is Born". I hope you enjoy it. After 20 stories I'm finding it harder to keep up the writing. Feedback is my motivation, your comments and encouragement is what I need to write more so please if you like what you read and wish for me to keep writing send me some feedback. * Finally after a restless nights sleep th...
3. The Valley "I don't get it," Tascha frowned. "Well, you know Grieg's 'In the Hall of the Mountain King,' right?" "Of course." "Well, there's this classic prog rock album, by King Crimson, called In the Court of the Crimson King. Somebody apparently thought it was clever to put the two things together. At the time I thought it was hysterical." She coc...