Her hair pulled severely back in an oil-slick ponytail, she nodded gruffly at us in the stairwell. “Bonsoir”, the voice grumbled, the dapper cocker spaniel wagging by her side. She pulled the lead tight and climbed on, her stride never faulting. We would cross paths almost daily, never managing to break the ice nor scratch …
With the heavy scrape of laden legs he made his way along the corridor. The pace was irregular, the scrapes resonating to an uncomfortable offbeat timing. Some were lingering while others rose to a curt crescendo as his well worn sandals used the flagstones as a braking surface. He cut a gloomy figure in the …
Lunch on a park bench. Anti-SDF armrests forcing my elbows uncomfortably upwards. The slip of a camping spoon in a plastic box. Hot air, a grey haze, a deep sense of insatisfaction. The grass was overcast, tinted with the ink of the glowering sky. A gardener walked by, his idling strimming machine puffing the earth’s …
Ouch, ow, ooh, the inner gnashing of teeth. I hold my back ramrod straight, tensing my muscles against the cold slop of cream. I buck involuntarily as each dollop shoots bolts across my back. Once done, I rejoice in my newfound freedom of movement, the skin hydrated and supple once more. Tomato, beetroot, a spongecake …
Her mouth pursed by a scaffolding of deep set wrinkles she looked on in wide-eyed stupefaction as I spooned another helping of warm sticky porridge into my mouth. Her attempt at subtle reprobation was upset every so often by a wet cluck. This was followed by a rapid upwards and sidewards shift of her head …
Bop, bop, bop, the leather mittens resting lightly on the steering wheel, our reflections bouncing off the night washed windscreen. Bop, bop, bop, he turned around to look at us, her eyes leaving the road for an unnervingly long time. Bop, bop, bippity, bop. “Collomb used to take this bus” her eyes lit up. I …
