Tales From The Town #103: A Dream Of The Watch

Antoine opens his eyes and wonders what the time is. He looks at his watch. Or where his watch would have been if he still had a watch, if he hadn’t lost it in the woods years ago, if it was still on his wrist and the numbers still glowed like tiny green phosphor stars in the gloom of the cave.

He lies back down, closes his eyes, begins to dream. In his dream, he opens his eyes and wonders what the time is.

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Notes:

1. Written on March 20th, 2023

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Tales From The Town #102: The Football

“Claire! What did you kick it up there for?! We’ll never get it down now.”

“It wasn’t me!”

“Well who was it then?”

“Mum!”

“It was not Mum. You know she refuses to kick things. She’s a pacifist.”

“What? Really? Well that’s just stupid.”

“So it was you?”

“Of course it was me! Who else would it be?”

“Mum?”

“But you said…”

“I was tricking you into confessing, Claire! Of course Mum’s allowed to kick footballs!”

“See, I told you it was stupid! And it was stupid because you made it up, and you’re stupid.”

“So? It worked, didn’t it?.”

“It did not. I was going to confess anyway. How else would you know it was me otherwise?”

“Why would you want anyone to know it was you?”

“Because I was the one that did it!”

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Notes:

1. Written on March 17th, 2023

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A List Of The First 101 Tales From The Town And Who Primarily They Are About

For no real reason other than it’s kind of useful, here’s a complete list of Tales From The Town episodes so far (and who they’re primarily about):

Tales From The Town #0: A Cast Of Characters (introductions to every one and every where)

Volume 1: Part 1 – Summer

Volume 1: Part 2 – Winter

Volume 2: Part 1 – Other Stories

Tales From The Town #53: The Penguin (The Penguin)
Tales From The Town #54: Pollen Days (Tina)
Tales From The Town #55: The Worst Idea Ever (Claire, Daniel, Ethel, Tina)

Volume 2: Part 2 – The Lodger Suite

Volume 2: Part 3 – The Lodger Suite

Volume 2: Part 4 – Other Stories

Tales From The Town #87: The Very Best Idea Ever (Claire, Daniel, Ethel, Tina)
Tales From The Town #88: The Ever Growing Urge To Do Something Else Other Than This (Claire)
Tales From The Town #89: The Penguin Again (The Penguin)
Tales From The Town #90: The End Of The Year (Agnes)

Volume 3 (Not Yet Named)

Bonus Tales

Pocket Editions #1 (2021)
Pocket Editions #2 (2021)
Pocket Editions #3 (2022)
Pocket Editions #4 (2022)
Tales From The Town: A Summer Book (2022)

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Tales From The Town: Volumes 1 & 2

Tales From The Town reached its 101st episode last week, so to celebrate here’s two free anthologies collecting the first two years of this never ending series of stories from some sort of small-sized city.

Volume 1 (Summer, then Winter) collects the first 52 (standalone) episodes, while Volume 2 (The Lodger Suite), which was an attempt at an ongoing episodic story (with a bonus, pointless, palindromic structure, which was the style at the time), collects the next 40 or so.

Download: Tales From The Town Volume 1 & 2 (zip file containing epub files)

And as an even more exciting bonus, here’s a sneak preview of Tale #107, featuring a skeleton and also a spacesuit.

Tales From The Town #107: A Skeleton In A Spacesuit

The skeleton in the spacesuit stands at the entrance to the pier. The stitches are unravelling, the helmet fogged, the insignia faded to the point of illegibility, but still it works. Put in a pound and it laughs and laughs. It even gives an awkward little wave.

No one has ever put in a pound nor ever will.

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Tales From The Town #101: Hide And Seek

1. Morning

“Where is everyone?” Agnes asked, as she pegged out the washing.

“Hiding,” said Claire, as she swung back and forth on the swing.

2. Noon

“Where is everyone?” Agnes asked out of the kitchen window.

“Hiding,” said Claire, as she swung higher and higher on the swing.

“Still?”

“I suppose.”

3. Just Before Dinner

“Where is everyone?” Agnes asked out of the kitchen window.

“Hiding,” said Claire, as she swung as high as it was possible to swing on the swing without swinging right the way over the swing.

“Still?”

“I suppose.”

“How come no one’s found you yet?” Agnes said.

“No one’s looking for me, Mum,” Claire said. “I’m looking for them!”

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Notes:

1. Written on October 24th, 2022

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