The whistle had just been blown and the students were trooping in. Ray Anderson, the Deputy Head, was standing at the doors as they filed past him, uniformly attired in their regulation blazer, matching trousers, sensible shoes and red tie. The tie and the blazer were adorned with the establishment’s crest, with something in Latin written underneath. Hair was neatly parted and not too long, or short. Mr Anderson smiled at...
6th of December –Season 3 Jim looked at his watch nervously. It was nearing 8 o'clock and he still had one customer to take care of before he could leave for Fuel. While he knew it was common restaurant courtesy to serve any customers still in the building after closing hours, surely this was pushing it. She'd been here for two hours already! The woman sitting by her lonesome in the eating area was gorgeous with dark choc...
I’m leaning against the bar when she walks in. I’ve just got home for Christmas and am in the function room, upstairs at this pub in town, where there are supposed to be some bands on. She spots me, tosses her blonde hair back, and gives me a strange look. It’s a look that says you’ve been away and now you’re back. You’ve stayed away too long. I’m pleased you’re back. But I’ve managed quite nicely without you, thank you v...
Following my separation time passed. I kept myself busy but others watching me were worried. I was not to know that until one day, a woman who had been watching started talking to me. We went for a cup of coffee then a drink at a bar. During our conversation, she told me to keep my chin up. Then she said, "Just don't you quit." It was her way of telling me that those around me were watching and were worried. I went home l...
I shouldn’t have to say it – it should come as no surprise, I’m thinking rhyme and meter when I look into your eyes. Everything you say to me, and everything you do, is captured in my crafted lines and sent right back to you. I pack your words and actions in a perfect rhyming verse that’s wrought with raw emotion that I carry like a curse. I’ve given all I have to give with little in return – I wasted so much love on you,...
Eldon Woods was dark and quiet as I walked the path from Riordan Crescent to the park. I rarely entered those woods after dark. There were reports of coyotes and, more likely, the risk of human predators. But on this night, I took my daily walk after sunset. The day had been busy and I needed fresh air and natural surroundings. I was about fifty meters in when something moved to my right. It was large and white, slipping...
A corpulent man dressed in a red suit with an ermine collar stepped off the sleigh onto the roof. The full moon shone brightly on the new-fallen snow and he walked in semi-midday luster to the chimney. He paused at each of his reindeer to give them a pat of reassurance. ‘Another Christmas old pal,’ he seemed to be saying. He stroked the neck of his incandescently snouted team leader. Despite his wide girth, the besuited e...
When she was a girl, her world was shaky. Her father had left them and the mother, well, she needed those meds to keep her brain clear. Instead, the mother shoved them down the drain and listened to the gurgle of the disposal. It seemed to match the hush sounds, all those whispers in her ears. When she was a girl, she searched for love the way you’d search for tulips, daisies, or roses in a lush garden, choosing carefully...
Rain rattled on his large black umbrella, as Mark Dexter leaned over the promenade wall. It had pelted down non-stop since early that Sunday morning and looked set in for the day, accompanied by a gusty breeze. Below him, the sand was hardened all the way to the seawall. Now, the exceptional tide had receded to reveal normally unseen rocks and bladder rack seaweed that were further testament to how heavy the tide had been...
29th of November – Season 3 Solo Magubane tried to relax as the plane made its final descent, making fists with his toes. Solo always flew with flip-flops on so that he could slip them off when he needed to and he needed to now, having never liked this part of the journey. When the plane finally landed, Solo exercised patience, taking his time to make his way to luggage collection. He was surprised to find adverts for ton...
The cattle drive was over and the men had drawn their pay – was time to lose those weeks of blues and to find a place to stay. They wandered past an old saloon built of wood and rusted tin – a place where scamps and saddle tramps came to gamble, drink and sin. The place was filled with drovers who had just come off the trail, a ranch’s crew, a drunk or two, and a boy who’d just made bail. The air was hot and humid and a b...
I’m standing next to the sideboard, dusting the ornaments. The light’s coming through the large window. The room has an airy feel about it. I’m holding a big, blue piece of cut glass. It looks expensive. It could be a paperweight. I glance over at Richard, lounging on a black leather sofa, in a white polo shirt and jeans, with his feet on a coffee table, smoking a cigarette. Vanessa’s been out. She walks in, in her short,...
July 1822... Percy Shelley had been reckless ignoring the storm warnings, and the violent squall would not be outrun. Moments before tumultuous waves engulfed the Don Juan and its sailors, Percy shoved a book of Keat's poems into his pocket. Most appropriately, poetry would be this Romantic poet's last thought before his death on that fateful day. Adding to the trauma of their loved ones, the uncaring sea wouldn't spit th...
I wake up every morning from a total lack of sleep, soaking wet with tears and sweat from notions that I keep. I still can feel the bruises from the beating that I got, a belt to mesh with tender flesh – it happens quite a lot. My parents say they love me, but I know it isn’t true, another ruse my dad will use to beat me black and blue. When every session’s over and my blouse – a bloody mess, I try to gain composure, and...
28th of November – Season 3 Eleanor Coetzee was uncomfortable. She was currently sitting in the back of a black Hyundai SUV with the Formula-X Racing Club President, Terrance 'Moodswing' Moodley. She didn't know what was worse: being called to his office or being picked up by him to go to the pay-per-view. Ellie – as she preferred to be called – was a 23-year-old Afrikaans woman who had taken advantage of Moodswing's penc...
