Tales From The Town #95: The Shop (A Trilogy)

1. The Shop

The shop sells whatever it can sell. You never know what you might find. Once it’s gone it’s gone, replaced by something new from the basement down below.

2. The Basement

The basement is full of all the things it can hold. They enter through the doors at the back, push forward towards the stairs at the front, all clamouring to be next on the shelves in the shop far above. It’s dark down there and they don’t like it at all. They dream of arc lights, window displays, glimpses of the sky, and so much more.

3. Beyond The Basement

No one knows what lies beyond those doors at the back of the basement beneath the store. Things come in through them, but when, but how, but from where.

Of course we do not care to know the answers to these questions we often ask. Whatever we found out would not please us, that much we know. Better to live in ignorance, better to invent some tale all our own.

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Notes:

1. Written on 20th October, 2022

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Tales From The Town #94: Infinity Explained (part 1)

“It is not a number, Claire!”

“Of course it’s a number. It’s the biggest number! Like a really big 8!”

“It’s a concept, Claire!”

“You’re a concept!”

“Claire doesn’t know what a concept is, Tina.”

“I do. And you’re both concepts!”

“What about me?”

“You’re worse than a concept, Daniel! You’re a notion!”

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Notes:

1. Written on December 31st, 2022

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Tales From The Town #93: Poems From Minor Characters

#1: The Spider

scuttling across ceilings
spitting at me
all my splendid children
demand to be free

#2: The Cat

only in sleep
are we truly ourselves
and no one is themself
more often than me

#3: A Crow

you cannot
you will not
ever
scare
me

#4: David

My beard is like a tangled bush
filled with cobwebs
and bees
rotting fruit
and sparrow’s nests
crisp packets, carrier bags
and old coke cans
turned pink over time
by rain
and sun

#5: The Ghost In The Well

I am no longer alive
and you are not yet dead
but give it time
and we’ll be together again

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Notes:

1. The Spider was written on May 20th, 2022
2. The Cat was written on June 4th, 2022
3. A Crow was written on January 3rd, 2023
4. David was written on May 10th, 2022
5. The Ghost In The Well was written on November 11th, 2022

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Tales From The Town #92: Tasting Menu (Courses 1-4)

1.

“What’s that?”
“It looks like some slugs.”
Dead slugs.”
“It’s liquorice. It’s nice.”
“Urgh! It’s not nice, Nanny!”
“It’s not nice at all.”
“It tastes like slugs.”
Live slugs.”

2.

“This stuff tastes like flowers!”
“And perfume.”
“And shampoo.”
“And eyeballs.”
“Eyeballs?”
Eyeballs.
“I don’t think it tastes like eyeballs at all.”
“I don’t even know what eyeballs taste like.”
“Well then how do you know it doesn’t taste like eyeballs, Nanny?”
“How do you know it does taste like eyeballs?”
Everyone knows what eyeballs tastes like.”
“I was a crow once. That’s how I know what eyeballs taste like.”
“You were never a crow, Daniel.”
“I was! I flew into a cloud and thunder came out.”
“Daniel was never a crow, Nanny.”
“He’s making it up to impress you.”
“Well, I certainly am impressed, Daniel. So, who wants another piece of Turkish Delight?”
“No.”
“No.”
“Definitely NO!”
“Yes.”
“He doesn’t, Nanny.”
“I do.”
“You don’t, Daniel.”
“You definitely don’t.”
“That’s how they get you, Daniel.”
“You’ll never escape!”

3.

“What is this?!”
“It tastes like ice cream!”
“But it looks like lemonade!”
“It’s cream soda.”
“Cream spider more like.”
“That doesn’t make any sense!”
You don’t make any sense!”
“I do!”
“You don’t!”

(repeat to fade)

4.

“You never ate these, Nanny.”
“We can’t believe anyone EVER ate these.”
“They’re not even food.”
“They’re weetabix, Nanny!”
“With butter on them!”
“And no milk!”
“I’m not finished yet. Look, next you sprinkle sugar on the butter like this…”
“Nanny, this is disgusting!”
“If Mum finds out you’re feeding us this she’s going to send you back to the moon!”
“Well, actually, this used to be your mother’s favourite, back when she was your age.”
“It wasn’t?!”
“It was.”
“Not Mum?!
“She would NEVER.”
“Mum only eats spaghetti bolognese.”
“And cheese on toast.”
“And christmas cake and wine.”
“But not this.”
“Never this.”
“Dad was sent to the caves for less than this.”
“The lodger went to prison for less than this.”
“The witch was banished to hell for less than this!”

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Notes:

1. Written on 27th May, 2022

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Tales From The Town #91: The Watch

They found it in the woods. The glass was shattered. Its hands refused to move. But once or twice a day it worked as perfectly as could be.

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Notes:

1. Written on June 4th, 2022

__________

Support An Accumulation Of Things

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Patreon subscribers get not just early access to content and also the occasional gift, but also my eternal gratitude. Which I'm not sure is very useful, but is certainly very real.

(Ko-fi contributors probably only get the gratitude I'm afraid, but please get in touch if you want more).

Thank you!