Stories

I shuffle forward, cautious of not popping the two-metre bubble that surrounds every person around me. I look behind and see people lost and confused. ...More

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

A wedding in the Depression could be – well, depressing when a girl’s happiest day was pinched by poverty. So when Pauline and Eddie married i ...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 i ...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 – yel ...More

The photo shows two dozen red and yellow beetles inside a dog’s mouth. A trail of ladybug-like insects thumbtacked to the roof and wedged behind the front t ...More

Leila stood in the doorway, her little legs shaking in her blueberry pjs. “I don’t want to, Daddy,” she whispered. “Come on, sweetheart,” Michael sa ...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. “On a scale ...More

My life is divided into two revolving states. During one, I eat healthily, run almost every day and don’t drink. I call this ‘Zen’. The other sta ...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 s ...More

Some relationships are destined to last. Others end in tears, mass destruction or an intractable skin rash. My love affair in the winter of 2002 was ...More

Inspiration: Artwork by Jacob Yikes Artwork location, details and photo credit https://watchthisspace.org.nz/artwork/416   The afternoon sun has m ...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 gon ...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 on it. Th ...More

Hazel leaned over, brushing her lips against her sister’s forehead. “Goodbye.” She fumbled with the window, shoving it open, greeted by a gust o ...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 t ...More

“Come on, Moon, it’s time to hunt.” Sunrise went first to check if there was any danger. Moon tried to go before Sunrise had said the coast was clear ...More

One by one he turns the pages of the book. The paper rustles against his dry fingers and I swallow in anticipation. He reads the words and his face crac ...More

Grayce huddled in the dark of her bedroom. The slithering sound came again, something scraping, knocking. Scrape-knock-knock-slide-slither. Somewhere ...More

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 wit ...More

I was rushing around like a headless chicken; measuring, collecting cardboard and forming the plan of attack. My mission? To build a scale model of a Volks ...More

On the first night, Grace dreamed of country music. Traditional troubadours like Hank Williams, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson. She woke up with the t ...More

The sun is lazily rising from the horizon as the harakeke steps in time with the wind. It’s almost as though they are dancing to a song, only they can ...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 dramatic ...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 noti ...More

Sitting on the small brick fence outside the night shelter, watching the early morning commuters. Thinking about the dream he had last night. He was in the h ...More

Right in the middle of trying to keep the schnitzel from burning and the broccoli from becoming a waterlogged mess and while Lucy fed the goldfish and the ...More

My garden was always my haven. How could it not be, when I spent half my life in a sulphury darkness? I had a villa, marble and gold, fragranced with the sce ...More

I am lost in countless dizzying turns and endless corridors. A bare light bulb flickers as I pass beneath it. I flinch involuntarily. Ping! The familiar we ...More

Inspiration: “Hide and Seek” by Wongi “Freak” Wilson Artwork location, details and photo credit https://watchthisspace.org.nz/ar ...More

Inspiration: Artwork by Jacob Yikes Artwork location, details and photo credit: https://watchthisspace.org.nz/artwork/454   Construction, the thought of ...More

They didn’t want my name to be conventional. It’s a quick, sharp sound, a sound that belongs with cricket chirps and snapping twigs, brilliant a ...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 ...More

Dear Earth, Before we go, we’d just like to say a few things. When we first arrived, we were born into a world that (so it seemed) you had adapted ...More

So, there are two people walking up View Street after the five o’clock session. He is walking ahead. She is walking behind. View Street is steep, rising fr ...More

Miraculously the Yellow dagger Somehow appeared on the Table next to the Elevating bottle Really, this was all very strange Yet, started making sense. ...More

We rode with the wind at our backs. Cut across Mr Sandbird’s yard even as he yelled at us to get off his property. Gave him the finger and laughed and laugh ...More

Nobody knew who he was. Or where he came from. Only that he lived on the traffic island in the middle of the intersection and had one arm. When he first app ...More

His fur is silky black, blue eyes wild, teeth glistening white – white like the snow that fell last winter, like the oleander that grows by the ravin ...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 was ...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 combe ...More

Inspiration: Artwork by Haruko Furukawa Artwork location, details and photo credit https://watchthisspace.org.nz/artwork/775 The sun settled as it drifted acr ...More

“What do you intend to do about this disgraceful situation?” Alison Carrington seethed. Mayor Harper stared at the outraged, elderly woman, li ...More

She lay in bed, eyes tight shut against the grey light, trying not to notice it as it becomes paler and paler through her eyelids. “Concentrate” ...More

Walking across the multi-story car park, her heels clicked and echoed amongst the few silent vehicles. The sound vanished into the dark exit ramps. Her f ...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 ...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 thi ...More