Stories

The time had come. In the warm darkness of his egg, the flamingo chick moved. Crack! His mother stood up. She fussed about, touching the egg gently ...More

It’s been nearly 70 years since my children left home. That sounds ridiculous but I am 120 years old. When they left, my house felt empty. I began to notice ...More

My Granddad is a strange old man. He is cheeky, but yet, so serious, like a monkey, a very old monkey. A very old monkey who can’t climb, and who lik ...More

Con walks down the streets of Newtown from Berhampore, past the damp, narrow houses, tipped into the wind, cold rain spitting into his face. There’s th ...More

‘How’s Alex?’ Hope said. She and Molly were sitting in a café by the river in early spring drinking tea from the same pot. Molly sighed, looked ou ...More

Pull-my-Finger the Giant only had one joke, probably like your dad or grandad. But he was very fond of it and he told it as often as he could. This ...More

John paused and turned away from his screen to glance at the steaming cup of coffee. Something felt a little off but he couldn’t place his finger ...More

“And the prize for the bravest pirate goes to …” Greybeard, the oldest of all the pirates, held up a piece of paper and waved it around dramaticall ...More

Jerry and his friend, Ross, were playing in Jerry’s sandpit. Charlie appeared. “What are you playing?” Charlie asked Jerry. “Planes.” Jerry held up h ...More

It was spring and the valley would shine if the winds weren’t battering the place. From his armchair in the attic study, Philip Fetch could look out the w ...More

They’d been walking for about an hour. They’d started in Madras Street, at the office. William was down for the week, the presentation had gone well and ...More

She chewed her biro, and read the evaluation form. “On a scale of one to five, five being highest, how much did you enjoy this activity?” One. “O ...More

I ate my brother. I was always fond of him, looked up to him. He was older than me. I measured myself against him. We stood back to back. At first I o ...More

Eve is busy setting the long thin tables – fork knife fork knife fork knife – and doesn’t see him approach. “Do you want some help?” She thinks ...More

It was a glimpse into Paradise. The sun caught the old town first, its jumble of faded pastels glowing like the gilded ceilings of the Vatican – yellow, ...More

It’s morning. I know this because the clock says 7.23 and a finger of light is trying to pull back the curtains. My room faces east. So that makes it morn ...More

The car drove up the highway, the inside temperature was like 1000 degrees. .             “Mum ….” came the nagging voice of my bratty s ...More

At my father’s funeral an old man in a crumpled black suit gets up to speak. He rises slowly on old man’s legs from among the dark suits and neatly co ...More

First, find a location. Find a shabby farm that keeps its neighbours at arm’s length. Find a house with a rusted roof, with guttering that dribbles down the ...More