“Martin! Hurry up! You'll be late for school! And you too, Jeannie! What are you doing? You'll miss the bus!” Sally shouted up the stairs. On the stove, the kettle whistled loudly. A voice from the landing yelled back. “Sally! Where's my shirt? Have you ironed it?” “Use your eyes, Bill!” she answered, equally loudly, trying to make herself heard above all the noise. Moments later, her thirteen-year-old daughter appeared a...

It was strange really, how it began. So totally unexpected. Hmm... let me explain from the beginning. It was a normal day. My role as the village blacksmith kept me firmly in the background. I had been doing this kind of work all my life. When I was young, I started as a simple villager, running errands, selling fruit and vegetables, just blending in really. But it was the Smithy that really attracted me, so I learned how...

Ædith walked slowly, her heart was beating powerfully as the adrenalin flowed through her veins. This was the moment she had dreamed of as she stared straight ahead through the thin mesh of her veil. She looked neither right nor left, ignoring the admiring glances of the gentlefolk who were lining the path leading to the Cathedral. Ahead, standing before the closed oak doors, the priest stood silent, his hands clasped bef...

“You wanted to see me, Sir?” The middle-aged man behind the big oak desk, looked up as Robert Mitchell stood to attention and saluted smartly. “Ah, Pilot Officer Mitchell. Yes, indeed I did. At ease, relax.” Mitchell moved his feet apart and removed his hat. It wasn't the first time he had met the station commander, Group Captain Griffiths, but it was the first time he had been summoned to his office. Sitting back in his...

It is peaceful now, the lake silent and cold. I am the last as I look back toward the now-distant shore. My wife and my children are safe and warm in our home. I will never see them again, not in this life. The hoards from the north have made sure of that. Raedwulf is still but a child. He will grow strong and become a brave warrior, like his father. Raegan, as her mother, Ragnhild, is already becoming a skilled shield ma...

Chapter 2 “You know what?” Jack said to no one in particular. “These last eight months have been really busy.” Little Albert and Georgie took no notice but continued to bicker over some insignificant disagreement. “Is it really?” he continued, the sarcasm was blatant. Cissy looked up from her sewing. “Oh, Sorry, Love, what were you saying?” Jack smiled. “Nothing much. Just that we have been so busy lately. You know, at wo...

I thought I'd write a poem, I imagine it can't be hard, A few words that ebb and flow. Something avant-garde. Should it be a story? Write about a war? Something quite original, That's not been done before? What about a work of peace? In praise of friends, not foes? Now let me think, where should I start? I'm sure that I don't know. Oh wait, I know, A host of golden flowers! Chanced upon? But no, That would take me hours....

“The settlement of the Czechoslovakian problem, which has now been achieved is, in my view, only the prelude to a larger settlement in which all Europe may find peace. This morning I had another talk with the German Chancellor, Herr Hitler, and here is the paper which bears his name upon it as well as mine. Some of you, perhaps, have already heard what it contains, but I would just like to read it to you. “We regard the a...

Penny Lambert sat in the darkest corner of the bar, nursing a glass of Orange juice. She checked her watch... again! Still only ten o'clock. She had never felt so lonely and miserable. In fact, the whole week had been miserable. Only one week before, she had spent Christmas day with her family. Her husband and two young children had a wonderful day whilst she had tried, quite successfully, not to show the emptiness and gu...

“Hi, Mum!” “Jeannie! How lovely to hear from you. Where are you?” “I am on the motorway. I'm finally coming down to see you at last! I hope it's alright at such short notice.” Jeannie Powell had not seen her mother for nearly two years, not since before the Coronavirus pandemic had hit. The last eighteen months had been difficult. Her mum, Harriet, was just over eighty years old, and, whilst of sound mind, she suffered fr...

To everyone in the room, she seemed like just a normal girl wearing Vans, bluejeans, and a red hoodie. Nobody looked. No one cared. She was just another customer with a laptop, like so many others in the coffee shop. She ordered a drink, waited patiently, then took her cup to a table in the corner of the room. Not once did she look at any of the other customers as she sat down and opened her laptop. The clicking her finge...

“Goodnight, Miss. Go safely, now.”   I closed the door behind me, leaving the warm fireplace and friendly chatter behind, and stepped out into the cool night air. It had been a wonderful evening. I had only moved into the village the week before, exactly six months after my divorce had been finalised. This had been my first visit to the Shipwreck Hotel, and the locals couldn't have been nicer. They treated me as though I...

As soon as he entered the kitchen, Detective Inspector Tate knew that this had to be the same perp. Cupboards were thrown open and their contents scattered mercilessly about. His feet crunched on Cornflakes and Rice Crispies as he walked. A box, its innards ripped apart and surrounded by Cocoa-Pops, lay on the counter. On the table, another box, Shreddies, battered and torn, a sticky white fluid soaking into the jagged ca...

Don't ask me why. I probably couldn't tell you if I wanted to. I had been given an opportunity in New Orleans. It wasn't a tough assignment, and would only take a couple of days to complete, so I decided to drive there. Okay, now, that doesn't sound like a problem except that I work in Chicago.   Let me try to explain. I am employed by a large airline based in Great Britain as an Aerospace Engineer. Because I am not marri...

Little Danny was excited as he stood and stared at the locomotive and its rake of nine carriages. He thought it looked like a dragon with the plume of steam rising from its chimney and from the cylinders either side of the front wheels. Suddenly, there was a loud hiss as another blast of pressurised steam shot upwards from the safety valve on top of the long boiler. Danny turned and ran, hiding behind his father. To a thr...