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Stories

Stories

His name was Alfred Hughes

His name was Alfred Hughes. There was a lot about him in the paper that week. They called him the Hastings Hero. He not only saved my life, but apparently he then ran straight into the hotel and dashed inside. If you look carefully at the helmet you can see…
Sally Patricia Gardner
10th September 2010
Stories

We are all still here

How am I still enthralled by this place? After how long? Since I broke the watch Noriko gave me, I can’t tell the hour of the day let alone the year. But its been at least twenty five monsoons from when I first started counting. Five since Ichiro died, an…
John Cox
21st July 2010
Stories

A Circus with no clowns

Circus and childhood are like bread and honey – excitement and the sweet smell of sawdust in a large multi coloured tent, whilst one sat hunched on a rough wooden bench – waiting for the whip to crack and the voice of the red-coated ringmaster to peel out, ‘Welcome to…
Jan Hedger
17th July 2010
Stories

My dinner guests

I didn’t expect him to turn up with a monkey. Very cute though; the monkey, that is, not David. He said he had picked it up in Indonesia and out of all the animals he had filmed, he had found this one hard to resist. So, as Mij the otter,…
Jan Hedger
17th July 2010
Stories

Model Manuscript Retribution Part four

For the next two days Nick emerged only for the toilet. He worked into the early hours of the mornings and then slept on the very comfortable couch at night. Each of the two days at mealtimes a tray was placed outside of the study door with plain but well…
Leslie de la Haye
29th June 2010
Stories

Model Manuscript Retribution Part five

Two days later they flew by Quantas Airlines to Changi Airport, Singapore. During the flight Nick had time to acquaint himself with his new assistant Twinkle. Born in East London to Gillie and Ron Campbell, the boy had been a bit of a rebel at school and after a spell…
Leslie de la Haye
29th June 2010
Stories

Model Manuscript Retribution Part six

It was dark and quiet in the basement cellar of the office block with just the murmur of the air conditioning unit. A mouse scampered across the floor then stopped, all nerves trembling because it could smell cheese and was hungry enough to risk anything. Carefully and quietly it crept…
Leslie de la Haye
29th June 2010
Stories

Model Manuscript Retribution Part seven

Paul met them at Zurich airport as instructed. His wound was only a bullet graze to the temple. The ambushers left him as dead, but he was able to follow them to a warehouse on the perimeter of Zurich airport. The main floor of the building was used as a…
Leslie de la Haye
29th June 2010
Stories

The Model Manuscript. Retribution Part One

It was a winter night, wet and dark: not the sort in which to be walking back to the hotel. Christ, Nick Alum thought, I should have driven to the meeting, but it's too late now. Better to be curled around a good book and a fine bottle of Australian…
Leslie de la Haye
28th June 2010
Stories

The Model Manuscript Retribution. Part two

He opened the door to be confronted with the Manager of the hotel arguing with two very smartly dressed men. - One of them was carrying what looked like Nick's jacket. The very same jacket that Laura had wrapped the young girl in that afternoon's fracas. Nick observed that the…
Leslie de la Haye
28th June 2010