Tales From The Town

Tales From The Town #71: The Mirror Of The History

For all of us to see hangs the mirror in the hall.

The mirror reflects perfectly, yet leaves nothing looking quite the same. It lives on spite, on kindliness, on despair, on care, love, insecurities, fear, memories.

It is as permanent as our sense of self, as ephemeral as the glance of our eyes, as fragile as the glass of its making.

The mirror itself is never seen. We look beyond its surface. Everything it contains is borrowed from outside.

In the hall the mirror hangs for all of us to see.

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Notes:

1. Written on May 10th, 2022

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Tales From The Town #71: The History Of The Mirror

In the hall the mirror hangs for all of us to see.

Everything it contains is borrowed from outside. We look beyond its surface. The mirror itself is never seen.

It is as fragile as the glass of its making, as ephemeral as the glance of our eyes, as permanent as our sense of self.

It lives on memories, lives on fear, on insecurities, on love, care, despair, kindliness, spite. The mirror reflects perfectly, yet leaves nothing looking quite the same.

For all of us to see hangs the mirror in the hall.

__________

Notes:

1. Written on 10th May, 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!

Tales From The Town #70: The Children’s Court (first session)

Topic: The Lodger And How Awful He Is And What We Know He’s Done So Far
Attendees: Claire, Ethel, Tina, Daniel, a doll, some dogs
Location: The Hollow On The Hill
Evidence To Be Presented: (verbal admissions only)
Ambience: Grasshoppers, contrails

Claire: …and he filled the freezer up with bread and I hate him. (pause) That’s the end of my evidence against the lodger. Oh and he broke the swing, remember?
Tina: That was ages ago.
Ethel: And he apologised.
Claire: What’s that got to do with anything? It’s still a crime. So who’s next? Daniel?
Daniel: He’s been trying to steal my dreams.
Ethel: What?
Tina: How?
Daniel: I dreamt he was asleep and dreaming he was me and when I asked him to stop he said no.
Claire: That doesn’t even make any sense.
Ethel: It does.
Claire: It doesn’t. Which makes it even worse. (pause) Good evidence Daniel.
Tina: I think he stole my poetry book.
Claire: No one stole your poetry book. It was exactly where I said it would be! In that drawer in your bedroom that you forgot to look in before for some reason!
Tina: Well, maybe he put it back there. Anyway, I still think he stole it. He definitely looked at it.
Claire: That’s not evidence. That’s supposition.
Tina: Well it’s better than insinuation.
Claire: It’s not!
Ethel: So why do you think the lodger stole your poetry book, Tina?
Tina: He quoted one of my poems back to me.
Claire: What does that prove?
Tina: My poems are a secret!
Claire: That’s stupid. Secret poems might as well not even exist.
Tina: Well now they exist and I don’t like it.
Claire: I hope Ethel’s evidence is better than that!
Ethel: It is! (pause) Wait, I mean, it’s exactly as compelling as that, Tina.
Tina: Thank you!
Ethel: So anyway… the lodger has been spying on Anna and Oya!
Tina: What? That’s awful!
Ethel: I know! And even worse, he’s been passing off Anna’s opinions as his own!
Claire: How’s that worse?
Ethel: They’re her thoughts, Claire! Not his! It’s plagiarism.
Tina: Plagiarism of the mind.
Claire: Maybe she’s passing off his opinions as HERS!
Ethel: She wouldn’t!
Claire: She would!
Ethel: Whose side are you on Claire? I thought you hated the lodger! I bet he’s never even read a book! Anna’s read loads of them!
Claire: I do hate him. But that doesn’t mean I should just believe anything you say about him. This is a court of law!
Ethel: Why can’t you agree with anyone, Claire? Just once. Please.
Claire: Because I’m right and you’re wrong! (pause) Although actually this time I do agree with you, Ethel. Because no one would pretend to have opinions as awful as his. Not even stupid old Anna!
Ethel: Stop being mean to Anna, Claire!
Claire: No! This is all her fault. If she hadn’t fallen in love with Oya and made Oya move out of her room and into Anna’s room then Mum wouldn’t have needed a new lodger and then the new lodger wouldn’t have moved in to the new rooms and the new rooms would still be empty and I could have moved into one of them instead and had it all to myself instead of having to sleep in the same room as all of you!

(silence)

Tina: What are we arguing about again?
Claire: EVERYTHING!

The court was adjourned until the afternoon.

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Notes:

1. Written on 22nd May, 2022

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Tales From The Town: A Summer Book

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Notes:

1. Written between the 5th and the 11th of August, 2022
2. Although the cover was drawn on the of August, 2022
3. And also the back cover.
4. And also I suppose technically The Cat In Summer was written whenever The Cat In Winter was written.
5. Which was last summer instead of this summer, it appears.
6. Also it’s too hot to transcribe these today so I hope you can read them all.
7. I assure you the crossed out word at the end of Flags Of Forgotten Nations is not rude.
8. At all.
9. Unless you consider C&A rude
10. It’s quite rude I suppose.

__________

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Tales From The Town #69: Surveillance Tapes (5-7)

5. Anna and Oya’s room (evening)

Oya: Sometimes I wonder if we already know everything there is to know about each other. Everything we’ve said. Everything we’ve done. Everything we’ve felt.
Anna: There’s always more to learn than we currently know.
Oya: That sounds like the sort of thing you’d find painted on a piece of driftwood in a coffee shop by the sea.
Anna: I actually used to own a coffee shop by the sea.
Oya: Really?
Anna: Well, not exactly own. I sort of inherited it one summer.
Oya: How do you sort of inherit a coffee shop?
Anna: One of my aunts was ill and everyone else had jobs and I was 18 and considered by almost everyone in the family to be both responsible enough and boring enough to run it instead. Which basically meant nobody else wanted to look after it for my aunt while my aunt was ill so I had to instead.
Oya: I see. How come you’ve never mentioned this before?
Anna: Well, it’s not exactly interesting, is it?
Oya: It sounds quite interesting to me. I want to hear all about it now. So where was it?
Anna: By the sea. I already told you that. Sometimes the waves would come rushing through the door and you had to sit on the tables instead of the chairs. I’d send the cups of coffee across the room on little paper boats.
Oya: Is any of this actually true?
Anna: It might be. It could be. You’ll never know for sure.
Oya: (sigh) I really need to find my phone.

6. Bathroom (bedtime)

Claire: Who’s been using my toothbrush?!
Tina: No one’s been using your brush, Claire.
Ethel: Your brush is the worst.
Claire: It’s not.
Ethel: It is. You bite it all the time and now the bristles go everywhere!
Claire: They do not!
Daniel: It’s like brushing your teeth with a hedgehog.
Claire: It’s nothing like that at all!
Daniel: Or a porcupine.
Claire: So you have been using my toothbrush?
Daniel: Or a pinecone.
Claire: I told you someone had been using my toothbrush!
Daniel: A pincushion pinecone porcupine porpoisecone.
Claire: Shut up and brush your teeth, Daniel! No talking!

7. Corridor (night)

(unidentified voices rising then falling)

“… watching!”
“He’s listening!”
“He’s stealing!”
“He’s nasty!”
“He’s creepy!”
“He’s evil!”
“He’s in our rooms!”
“He’s in our heads!”
“He’s in our dreams!”
“We have to tell someone!”
“We have to get help!”
“From the little ones!”
“The little ones!”
“The little ones!”
“They have to stop him!”
“Before it’s too late!”
“It’s too late!”
“Too late!”
“Late!”
“…..”

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Notes:

1. Written on May 20th-21st, 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!