Month: Mar 2019

Minute Poem – ‘Upside Down’

Minute Poem

1 (8 syll) The straw that broke the roofer’s back

2 (4 syll) A roof of thatch.

3 (8 syll) With match to watch, his aerial 

4 (4 syll) Came unattached.

7 (8 syll) First mend the fault, then watch the sport.

8 (4 syll) That was his bid.

5 (8 syll) First roof, then tile, then aerial,

6 (4 syll) That’s when he slid.

9 (8 syll) He clung to life on gutter weak.

10 (4 syll) And fall he did.

‘Hot and Cold’ – short story by Lesley Atherton










‘You’re Tarim.’ More a statement than a question.












The China Kitchen: Chapter One

In front of my face a hand hovered. Wrinkled and lined with cracked and split fingernails, it was also dirty with the kind of filth that can only be described as ‘caked-on’.

How long I’d been crumpled behind the ‘China Kitchen’ bins, in a mess of boxes and overflowing black bin bags, was hard to tell, especially as I didn’t even know who I was anymore.

The hand brought its own problems with it. It brought the danger of others. People like this man. People who might have known me, and who might have wanted to cause me harm. Though, of course, the person may have also wanted to help me. He may have been reaching out to me with love in his heart and nothing but empathy in his reach. Still, my heart hammered in my chest. This was real fear, because I knew that when that hand neared my hair it wasn’t for reasons of empathy that his fingers were approaching me. Perhaps I knew it because of the pincer movement of those grasping digits, but I think it was more the expression on the man’s face which emerged out of the darkness, unattached from its accompanying limbs. The expression plus the noise that emerged from that weasel-like toothless visage. It was the noise of grunting, choking swine, emerging from a stinking, pointy-nosed specimen of feeble masculinity. I was sweating with fear and could barely see straight.

‘Give us your ring,’ he croaked, between wheezes.

‘And give us your necklace.’

My hand immediately rose to my neck. I couldn’t lose the gold sovereign, though I wasn’t sure precisely why. There was no reason in the whole of the world that I would just hand it over to that repulsive man.

‘No,’ I croaked, my voice low and deep.

‘Yes,’ he insisted, and his blackened finger reached down to stroke my stubbled chin. I cringed and pulled back as much as I was able. The man cackled breathily, and his gasps brought about a long, deep coughing spell. The force of his body’s spasms pushed the revolting man backwards towards the other side of the alleyway. I took my chance and stumbled to my feet, while he was still wiping his eyes of moisture and calming his overactive lungs.

I seemed to be physically unharmed, and fully dressed. I wasn’t in pain, and didn’t feel as if I’d been attacked, but I just didn’t know why I was there, what was my name, and how to get home. Judging by my clothing which was smart and brightly coloured, though somewhat stained and creased from my time behind the bins, I wasn’t a person of the streets. Unlike that wizened old man who glared at my newly upright form, who took in my clothing and scanned my height and build, and who clearly realised his own attack was pointless. I was twice his height, almost, and more than twice his breadth.

He growled a mouthful of obscenities in my direction and trudged towards the warm spot I’d just vacated, and as he mouthed his final ‘Arrogant ponce’ at me, a sliver of a memory began to return. Yes, that was it. I knew how I’d ended up in the alley behind the ‘China Kitchen’ bins, but I almost wished I’d forgotten forever.

It was the word ‘ponce’ that did it for me. Yes, I was a man who benefitted from the on-the-back work of street girls, and gradually the gaudily made-up faces of Crystal, Ellie and Jools wafted into my consciousness. My girls. Crystal, blonde and cute, with a drug habit that hasn’t yet spoiled her looks, and the tiniest feet I’ve ever seen on a grown adult. I’ve seen a fair few too, being in my line of business. I remembered Ellie and Jools, twin sisters who’d gone on the game owing to both parents abdicating all responsibility for their upkeep as soon as they turned 13. I did enjoy the company of those two. Such sweet girls, and Jools had pretty much the best sense of humour of any person in my employ. God, she should have been a stand-up comic. And Ellie, darling Ellie, could drink like a fish and hold it. She was a laugh and a half too.

With pounding head, I walked to the restaurant’s kitchen door. I didn’t knock as I knew I didn’t need to. It was my place. They were my girls, and here – the cook with the machete knife, he was mine too. Sam, the head chef, noticed my arrival and stared at me with an expression I couldn’t quite evaluate.

‘Mr Filey. Don. What’s happened?’ He began to walk towards me then realised he was still holding his knife. He replaced it on the counter top and grabbed my hand. As the knife clattered and glinted on the counter top, the other kitchen staff froze and stared in my direction, vacant-faced, like sheep on a windy night.

‘Good God, Don, you look terrible,’ said Sam.

‘I don’t know where I am.’

Sam dug around in the pocket of my overcoat and drew out an empty bottle. Vodka. I knew I’d bought it earlier that day, and suddenly I realised that the stinky man in the alley behind MY restaurant who wanted to steal MY jewellery, was nothing but a figment of MY soused imagination.

‘You’ve gotta stop drinking, Don. You’ve gotta stop drinking. Now, mate, now.’

I nodded with effort and patted Sam on the upper arm. The noise within the kitchen seemed to return, and the previously staring staff reanimated themselves. A path was cleared for me, as I trudged to the stairwell, then up towards my office. Never again, I thought. Never again.

I virtually fell onto my chair and rested my head on my mahogany desk. I looked towards my hands, and knew. Just knew that the hands I’d seen reaching for me in the alley had been my own.

Sam was right. I needed to stop drinking. I also needed to liberate my girls. Let them have their own lives. Manage my proper business again. Get organised. Take back control.

I fished in my zippered jacket pocket, found my secret key, and unlocked my largest desk drawer. The contents were as I expected. As they always were. A bottle of White Star vodka; a densely filled note book, a canvas bag that I knew contained £85,000 in £50 notes, my new passport purchased from Sly Larry only last month… And, of course, my untraceable revolver. It was down to me, and me alone, what happened next.

I unscrewed the vodka cap.

‘The Bridge’ by Rebecca Fraser

There once was a bridge that no one ever forsake to cross. It stretched across a stream that led in the direction of the nearest town. And within that town, everyone knew about the bridge. Tales would go around the town about how dangerous and terrifyingly haunted it was. Of course, no one had the courage to find out the truth, except one young teen who adventured out into the woods to find this monstrosity so called a bridge.

As they approach the bridge, the air is oddly thick. Trees are left bare without their leaves, the branches almost resembled long arms that made the teen feel distress. The grass is worn and dry, every step the young teen took made a crunch below their feet. Their eyes trail to a path of cobble stone which is connected to the bridge. The young individual looked upon the bridge to feel a sense of uneasiness all over their body. The barrier of the bridge has vines covering it of its mucky sea green leaves. From where the person is standing, made the bridge look endless from the foggy atmosphere that prevents them to see the other side. “Beyond the bridge would just be a continuous pathway of a lifeless forest but, what if it something so incredible that no one ever could imagine.”, the teen ponders to themselves. And with that thought in mind, a figure can be seen stumbling towards the teen. A wrinkly old man, with droopy, light skin, grins at the young individual. His back slouches, bending downwards ever so slightly, his long trench coat covers most of his body shape. He stares at the teenager for a while and then points at the bridge with his shaky, skinny finger.

“You wondern’ whas on the other side? Well, lad… dinny make those daft stories stop ya.” The man spits out.

“What do you mean daft stories?” The teen asks distinctly, the old man’s eyebrows rises, he begins to smirk at the young boy.

“Yer-r an outsider I see. Dis bridge hasn’t been walked on since when I twas a little boy.” His croaky voice answers as he tugs the teens shirt and turns them to the direction of the town.

“The town think dis bridge is haunted but nah it just those petty wee lies going a ’boot. I should keen, my own dad built it, best work he ever done,” He then looks over to the boy with the bright jade eyes. His hair was neatly combed back, his brunette hair complimented his green eyes.

“Whas your name? Gary? John? Scott, maybe?”

“It’s Harold, sir. Me and my mother just moved in about 4 weeks ago and I was informed about this bridge. I don’t understand why everyone talks about it, isn’t it just a bridge?”. The man laughs hysterically, before realising that the boy, Harold was being serious.

“The bridge has had its worst of times, ya know. Look at the state of it, rotting away just like ma self.” He exclaims before taking a second to think, he then reaches inside his trench coat and hands over an old journal to Harold.

“Here have dis, my dad wrote bout’ the bridge durin’ his lifetime and I tell you now lad, dis is worth it. Also, might as well you keep the journal, I no longer need it, fed up readin’ it repeatedly.” He jokes as he turns his back on the young teen. Harold places his hand on his shoulder, handing back the book to him.

“I can’t have this, it’s just awfully rude of me to take something that your dad wrote. Why do you want me to keep this journal?” The old man faces to Harold, his nose twitches ever so slightly.

“Read it and find out, trust me.” And then the old man strolls of with his trench coat dragging of the ground. He then disappears into the dark bushes and Harold can no longer see him. He felt like he should of ran after him and insist to give it back, but the old man’s words kept echoing in his head, ’Read it and find out, trust me’.  Harold then came to his senses and leans against the barrier of the bridge, opening the journal. The pages are sticky and has an aging brown colour to it.  He reads the first words on the page,

‘1923, Mark and his lass getting engaged’

‘Me and my wife decided to go visit the bridge and show her how well done it was. She was dead proud of me once we came by the stream and she told me that the bridge look like it belonged there. My attention was caught by my mate Mark, on the bridge with his lass, Laura. That boy knew exactly how to propose, that day was one of the best in summer. I never seen the water so reflective before and there were so many animals in one place. Me and my wife thought it be best to wait until Mark finished off proposing. It reminded is of my own proposing, although I just said it to Aimee that night. I saw Laura’s mouth open in surprise when the ring appeared up of Mark’s pocket. She was almost crying of happiness even my own wife started to bawl her eyes out. Woman are too emotional, but I told Aimee that and she just slapped is against the head, she canny take a joke, never has. While watching from afar, I remember saying to myself that I want my own child to grow up falling in love like this. Just the way they held each other after she said yes was too romantic, even for me. Aimee ended up dragging is along to congratulate the engaged couple. Her and Laura went off to see the ring on her hand as for me and Mark, we just nodded at each other. Even though it wasn’t much, I felt like if this bridge wasn’t here, they wouldn’t have the perfect day and perfect place to do this. I am the one who suggested the proposal to Mark.’

Harold flips over to the next page to see a new entry that the old man’s father wrote down,

 ‘It was a Friday morning and my son has come to age where he wanted to start exploring what was around him, so today I took him down to my bridge. I told him that I build the bridge with few of my mates and that I hope that one day he makes something that he is proud of. The boy just ran about up and down the bridge despite me telling him that he was gonna fall. And what did that stupid boy do? Fell on his knees, scraping the skin off. I told him to stop running bout ten times but kids these days don’t listen at all. He started to whine about his knee, and I told him to let is see it. The wee dafty’s leg was bleeding and I had no choice to wipe the mess with my favourite hanky. As I took the hanky out, Jason looked at me all worried. I asked him what was wrong, and he told is that I couldn’t use the hanky that his mum gave is on our first date. I said that it is was just a piece of cloth and cleaned up his wound. I wished I didn’t bring the hanky because I was trying to show the boy that he should care about the things he cares for. But I underestimated him, and he knew that I didn’t care about the hanky but that I only care about him and his safely. My wee boy is going to grow up a good lad, I just know it.’

The teen stops reading for a moment and glances at the bridge. He could see that it doesn’t look as scary, after knowing that there once were people living around here. But his question is that why they weren’t here now. What happened to make everyone hate the bridge so much?

‘I was told devastating news today, I couldn’t believe it at first. I never thought that Brian Watson would take his own life on the bridge that I built. I almost forgot about the bridge overall when me and my family moved down into Glasgow in 1967. I just remember my wife coming into the kitchen with her face tripping, and she held a note tightly in her hands. I asked her what was wrong, but she didn’t say anything, so I took the note off her and opened it. As soon as I read what his mum wrote about what happened, I told Aimee that we need to go back home. She fought about it for a while but then she finally came to her senses and came down with me. We thought it would be respectful to visit Brian’s family, and apologise about the incident that has affected them. I remember I snuck out later that evening and headed down to the bridge. Once I got down there, it was closed off and I remember the chills that went down my spine. Brian was a good lad, so talented with his music skills. He was never apart from his guitar, in my opinion he played it the best out of the whole country. I am sitting here thinking to myself that no one would want to walk on my bridge ever again. I don’t blame them-’

The words abruptly end, and Harold is left in confusion. What was the man going to say? Why did he stop writing? All these thoughts were in his head, but one stood out. What is on the other side of the bridge? He slowly closes the book and sets it down onto the barrier and look intently at the other side of the bridge.  He places one foot in front of the other and then he proceeds to walk faster. He was crossing the bridge, something no one wanted to do. He knew that it could be nothing on the other side but what if he was wrong. Soon enough the once thick air became clearer, and the presence of fear disappeared. Before he knew it, his foot landed on soft, lime green grass. Harold sees the most beautiful flowers scattered across the ground, and it finally made sense of what the old man’s father saw when he was younger. The bridge leads to one of the most beautiful forests that Harold has ever seen in his life. At that moment, the boy felt like he had to run back home and tell everyone of this place. As Harold ran across the bridge and down the path to the town, he left the bridge a different place from when he arrived.

‘The Snowflake Necklace’ by Rebecca Fraser

A car comes to a full stop, the sound of the engine becomes silent. A man with a scruffy beard and dark messy auburn hair, turns behind his seat where a little blue-eyed girl looks intently back at him. Her face remains still, blank like a white canvas. The man gives a grin to the little girl and then opens the car door gradually. The young girl observes the man walking over to her door to open it. She undoes her seatbelt and scatters across the seats where she climbs out the car. Father and daughter look upon a huge lodge in front of them. The walls are damp from the snow but remain a nice wood colour. The windows is a mucky brown from all the dust and mud, cobwebs are hidden in the corners of the frames. Snow laid on the roof like a comfy blanket. The father takes of hold his daughter hand as they approach the front door. He places a golden key into the key hole, the daughter imagines it as a treasure chest key that you would see a pirate with. The door gently opens, showing a dark and discreet room. The air is thick, and it felt like no one had been inside for years. But it’s only been months since they last stepped foot in the lodge.

As they make their way inside, the little girl searches her surrounds, they are so familiar, but she senses something different about it. And she knew why, something or someone is missing. And with that thought her eyes trails over to a picture frame. Her eyes focus on the photograph in front of her. It is a picture of the daughter and her beloved mother holding each other like they were never apart from one another. Her mother wore an enchanting snow-white dress that contrasted with her blue caerulean eyes. Her calm posture that wrapped around her child made it seem like you can feel the love through the photograph. The young girl eyes start to become heavy with tears, it streams down her rosy cheeks. She bites her lips to prevent crying out loud even though deep down she wanted to scream. A hand grabs the photograph out of the little girl’s palms and places it back in its original position on the cabinet. The daughter turns her head gradually to be met by her father’s chest. He holds her securely, stroking her back tenderly. The father kneels to face his daughter and moves his head closer to kiss her head. She intertwines her fingers with her fathers, and with that the father stands up, guiding her over to the lounge.

They enter, switching the lights on revealing a Christmas tree that was decorated exquisitely. A present, a small box with a tartan pattern wrapping paper, rests under the Christmas tree. The young girl gazes it from afar before glancing to her father who has a heart-warming smile on his face. He nods his head as she proceeds to go over to the gift. She picks the box up, staring at it intensely before tearing the wrapping paper off. She holds a navy velvet box, which she opens and her mother’s necklace rests inside. It is a beautiful, silver, chained necklace with a diamond snowflake, a handcrafted piece that her mother wore all the time. She takes the necklace and wraps it around her neck. Her father comes over and assists her putting it on. The diamond snowflake lays against her chest, it all most felt to her that her mother is right there with her. The father catches his eye on an envelope that is laying on the floor by the Christmas tree, he picks it up cautiously. He takes a seat on the leather couch and unseals the envelope. Inside is a letter which the father opens to read. He stares at the letter for a while, he has a bare expression on his face. The daughter looks at him curiously, sitting beside him to glance over to the letter. He knew exactly what it was, disappointed that he be unable to recall that the letter even existed. A hand-written love letter, of the father asking his wife hand in marriage. He was a very shy and timid man, and he remembers struggling to get his words out to ask her to marry him. And he recalls that he took a napkin from the dinner table and wrote the words that were trapped in his throat. He glimpses at the bottom of the letter, where his wife had written something that he hasn’t spotted before.

My love, I lived an unhappy life until I met you and I wanted to give our daughter a life that I always dreamed of when I was young. But I knew that my troubles from the past would catch up to me eventually. Please protect our daughter, Katelyn, from this horrible world, and I want you to know that I love you so much. I’m so sorry that I was selfish enough to leave you and our daughter behind, but I could never be able to continue with my life knowing that I was miserable. You are forever in my heart – Alessia’ The young girl didn’t understand what she is reading but she did understand the emotions on her father’s face. His eyes fills with water, they are red and sore as he is holding back the tears. He didn’t want his daughter to see him crying. But she didn’t think much about it and instinctively places her head on his shoulder. His mind fills with memories with the woman he loved, he thought to himself.

‘I just wished she held on a little bit longer for a goodbye that I never got to say.’ Is his body cold from all these feelings or was it the lodge? The only thing that is warm is his daughters’ body, he then relaxes and cuddles close with his child. The room is filled with silence but the only the heart beats of the two can be heard. It’s calming to their ears as their eyes drift off into a deep sleep. A sleep they haven’t had since the passing of their beloved mother and wife. Finally, they felt the grief that overwhelmed them disappear and they both knew they could move on without guilt. Alessia would want them to move on and not live their lives in such misery. She knew deep down that her daughter will live a life where she is happy, and that made her feel delighted knowing that. And with that the daughter and father together, can overcome anything in their way.

Short Story, 15/01/09

Review of ‘The Last Runaway’ by Tracy Chevalier









Mother Gracie

‘You have to eat your chucky egg everyday, don’t you, Raq?’ said Mother Gracie, affectionately gesturing with her one good eye towards her aged schnauzer. With opaque and rheumy eyes, Raq cocked his ears in the direction of the woman who had been an old crone even thirteen years ago when she first took him in. She was virtually blind herself nowadays, so they made a fine, though barely functional couple.

Mother Gracie shuffled over to her stove. Raq remained where he was. Long gone were the days when he followed at her skirt hems if she moved more than a few footsteps from her craggy watchdog.

On the stove were placed an eclectic mix of pots large and small. The biggest, Mother Gracie’s cauldron, was exuding a stench that even she herself disliked. But there was rhyme and reason behind the cauldron’s rancid contents. Frozen tripe, boiled with barley and vegetable peelings was to be Raq’s evening meal.

‘Chucky egg, then, little chicken?’ said Mother Gracie, and Raq the dog reluctantly rose from his ragged bed. Every morning for the last thirteen years, this old lady would use her precious firewood to fuel the stove and make Raq a poached egg, then rest it for a little, allowing it to harden as it cooled. She’d then present it to him on an ancient, cracked saucer, and Raq would devour it in one mouthful. This morning was different in only one respect. The new location.

As Raq chewed on his egg, the old crone refreshed the water dish he always sought straight after his breakfast. Mother Gracie replaced the lump of rock sulphur in his water and laid the bowl on the floor in front of him. She wet her fingers in the cool water and, encouraging him to lick the drops she led his bearded face to the bowl and the scraggy, grey dog lapped up the cool, grey liquid.

Mother Gracie turned off the heat to the back burner. Even though she had all mod cons in her brand new flat and all the bills were prepaid, she intended to make no real changes to her habits, and to live as if she was in her old house where every stick of wood had to be collected, brought home, dried and stored for fuel.

The front right burner of her new electric stove fired up and heated the contents of the pans above. The brown Pyrex pan burbled and bubbled with its watery contents and the sticks, leaves and dried seeds that would be stewed then infused for another 24 hours. Mother Gracie had made this particular concoction every two days for the last fifty-seven years, and moving to her new sheltered accommodation certainly wasn’t going to stop her from continuing her tradition.

Raq shuddered as he stumbled back to bed and almost collapsed into his ragpile, then let out a long and deep sigh. ‘You’re not sure of it here, are you boy?’ Mother Gracie said. ‘We’ll get used to it.’ Mother Gracie echoed her dog’s sigh and began the laborious process of removing some of the twigs and leaves from the Pyrex pan with a slotted spoon, while ensuring that those ingredients which required a longer steeping time remained in the pan. That way Mother Gracie could get her money, time and effort’s worth from them.

Dried turmeric root, acrid and yellow would heal her pain and reduce her swollen joints as well as keeping both memory and heart strong. There was no sign of the dreaded dementia as yet, but it didn’t do any harm to do a little bit of preventative therapy. Sage, both the leaves and the woody twigs, were included to assist in the expulsion of phlegm and to ease her regular coughing fits.

And cinnamon went in too, along with ginseng, lemon, garlic, gingko biloba. All would be strained and the resultant liquid would be mixed with equal parts of apple cider vinegar. The potent mixture had kept Mother Gracie alive to this wonderful old age, and the fumes from that same potent mixture had seeped into the steam-filled air of the tiny flat.

Mother Gracie sat on her easy chair with a sigh, and prepared for her morning snooze. Had she forgotten to turn off the heat under the hobs? She had not. Had she forgotten to eat her own breakfast? She had not. Had she said her final goodbye to Raq the dog? She had not. She had not realised it would be necessary. But it was. The old dog passed away, happy, content, warm and dry in a small flat with all modern conveniences, and with a tummy full of chucky egg and sulphur-water. His tripe and barley mix would not be eaten.

When she woke, Mother Gracie cried and wished for the thousandth time that she’d been able to get him to drink her own eternal life formula. Just the once.