Danny Rogan slumped disconsolately on the edge of his bed. Just one more punishment. And for what? Lingering too long at the farm enjoying the sight of a newborn calf. Things were just getting worse and worse in this awful cottage. Being brave was one thing. No matter what his mother and father expected of him, being home was the only thing. He gazed out of the bay window to where the branches of the trees in the shadowy...

For Danny, it seemed that since his mother’s letter about being unable to visit for a while, the Flints’ attitude towards him had hardened. Albin Flint, in particular, became more involved, and not in a good way. Danny was sure that the man had declared his own personal war on him. Threats were constant. Flint was frequently warning Danny about staying away from the woods. Tempting as the sheltering branches of the trees...

Approaching the cottage from the long country lane, with the sunlight shining directly on it, it held so much promise. Behind it was an inviting deep wood, and in one corner of the garden hens strutted, clucked and pecked behind mesh. Across open fields, corn gold in the summer lay the farm where Frankie was staying. Rabbits appeared all the time, stoats and foxes could be seen from time to time, and birds, all kinds of b...

Danny Rogan, nine years and three months old, was sick of his life. Facing his second fight in a week, he wanted to be somewhere else. Anywhere else, as long as it was home. Games were stopping around the village schoolyard, as boys, and a few girls edged towards them. Eyes hopeful, mouths gaping in anticipation. Max Hindley’s pudgy face was six inches higher than his own, pure sneering malice. Big, hard and round, Max wa...

Thurman appeared to me on a Tuesday, in a wall tile of my newly renovated bathroom. It was a little after six P.M. and I was drawing a hot bath. I perched on the edge of the tub and waited for the water to reach that perfect temperature. I was tired. Worn out. Exhausted. My day had started just like any other day. Alarm at five A.M. got dressed in the dark, scurried out the door by five-thirty-five to open the cafe by six...

I didn’t even see the nail. It may have been a screw. It didn’t really matter what it was, all that mattered, at the time, was that it snagged my sweater. Actually, now that I think back on it, it was a nail and it was rusty. Clumsily fastened to a tree by someone probably advertising a tag sale or maybe offering guitar lessons. Either way, as I passed by, the mindless head of this nail perfectly latched onto a wayward th...

It had been hot, stifling hot and, having been stuck in her sweltering, non-air-conditioned office all day Carrie-Ann was glad to be out in the fresh evening air. It was the middle of June and England was baking in a record-breaking heatwave. Even with all the windows opened wide and a fan on every desk, the air that was circulating was still too warm. For once, the management had seen sense and allowed the clerks to remo...

It has been another long and miserable day ferrying scrap metal and hazardous materials across the state and I am tired. I don't complain much, as it still it beats driving over the road because I am home every night. I activate the remote for the garage and slow the Harley down so I don't have to come to a dead stop to wait for the door to open. The absence of my wife's car reminds me that she is attending an out of stat...

What people don’t realise is that death isn’t what they think it is. ~ You find yourself in a waiting room…Sitting comfortably on the couch. It’s not too cold, it’s not too warm…It even comes complete with old school elevator type music. They probably figured a setting as familiar as a doctor’s office would be calming, but then they never met my orthodontist. He is still very much alive and torturing little children with...

He had a weakness. One which he guessed may be quite embarrassing should his workmates discover it. However, he was not ashamed of it, because he saw no reason to be. It was perhaps quite a contraction in regards to who he was and to his profession that he should indulge himself in such fantasies, and fantasy, was exactly what it was. Bill Simmons was 36, worked on a building site, and lived a bachelor life in a bedsit. H...

Ginger   I heard my Mom's voice, she sounded sad, her voice was the first comforting voice I ever heard and now it will be the last voice I will hear... I loved my Mom, she held me against her chest and her tears dripped on me, I wanted to use my paw to take away the tears that ran down her face, but I was tired and her voice sounded farther and farther away, I heard her voice as she told me she loved me and will always l...

  1   It was the light percussion of a triangle that did it. The soft ting of it incorporated with what would be a rather drab tune, that roused him from slumber. Head pounding, eyes swimming in a sea of their own fluid, he blinked away sleep to the real nightmare (not that he remembered if he had been dreaming, or what it would be about anyway). The old-fashioned style corded phone’s receiver lay beside him on the leathe...

"....well my chaffinch has been looking rather off-colour lately, I'm sure it's caught a bug. The other day I saw a fly buzzing near the cage, and you know how many diseases they have". "Millions. Well, a lot. I'd get it checked. Take it the vet soon as you can". "Yes, I think I will". I listen with interest to the bird-fanciers around the tables that have been pushed together in a large rectangle, and can’t help but hate...

Everyone has a story to tell, about who they are, where they came from, what their names mean. Not to boast (okay, I’m boasting a tad) I happen to believe there’s something extra magical about mine. While I don’t believe in organized religion, you might even say it was God’s doing; I happen to believe it’s fate. In order to know my story, you first have to look before me, even before my parents, but to theirs. Their Fathe...

To my loving and skeptical daughter, OMG. It was just a joke. You knew it was. I never intended to be taken seriously but somehow everyone but you took me seriously!  Now I’ve gone and done it. I’ve won the billion-and-a-half-dollars lottery with a donated ticket. Remember what I said on FB? I'm asking all my friends and family to go out and buy ten dollars of MoreMillions tickets and donate them to me. You donate them to...