Tales From The Town #39: The Moons Of Earth

“Look at the silly old moon,” said Ethel, as she stared out through the window that had recently appeared in the ceiling of their room. “It’s so beautiful.”

“It’s so boring, more like,” said Claire. “It barely even moves. It’s the worst moon ever.”

“It’s not!”

“It is,” said Claire. “The best moon is the moon that’s always on fire.”

“That’s the sun, Claire,” said Ethel.

“Not it’s not.”

“It is.”

“It isn’t. If it was the sun you wouldn’t be able to see it at night but you can.”

“You can’t.”

“You can’t,” said Claire. “I can.”

“The actual best moon,” Daniel said. “Is the moon made of metal.”

“That’s not a real moon,” said Claire. “It’s made up.”

“You’re made up,” said Ethel.

“I’m not!”

“Nor’s the moon made of metal,” said Daniel. “It’s just you have to be in Australia to see it. They have different stars and everything!”

“You’ve never been to Australia, Daniel,” said Claire. “Or New Zealand.”

“Anna’s been to Australia,” said Ethel. “And New Zealand.”

“Well, good for her,” said Claire. “I still don’t think Daniel’s favourite moon should be a moon he’s never seen.”

“Your favourite moon is a moon we’ve never seen,” said Ethel.

“My favourite moon is the ghost moon,” said Tina. Everyone thought she was asleep but she wasn’t at all. “I’ve seen that. Twice.”

“I’ve seen it, too,” said Ethel.

“We’ve all seen it,” said Claire. “And anyway there’s no such thing as a ghost moon. It’s the apparition moon.”

“That’s just another word for ghost,” said Ethel.

“It’s not. It’s totally different,” Claire said. “And why would there be two words for one thing, anyway? It’d be completely confusing!”

“And bemusing,” said Tina, quietly.

“Most perplexing,” said Ethel.

“Confoundingly mystifying,” added Daniel. “Discombobulatingly flummoxational.”

“Everyone shut up,” said Claire. “Those aren’t even words.”

She flopped back down on the bed and banged her fists against the mattress.

“And we’re supposed to be watching the silly old moon, remember?” Claire shouted up at the sky. “Not talking.”

The four of them lay quietly on the bed and stared up at that mysterious new window of theirs. The moon shone through the glass like a beacon, huge and full and as bright as snow. It seemed to fill the entirety of the sky. If you looked into it long enough you could see almost anything you wanted.

“I told you the silly old moon was boring,” Claire sighed. “It’s even more boring than no moon at all.”

But by then everyone else was asleep, and when the moon that was always on fire finally made its appearance, Claire had to watch it all on her own.

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Notes:

1. Written between May 24th and May 30th, 2021

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Tales From The Town #38: The Frozen Sea

Above The Frozen Sea

The sea was frozen from the shore to somewhere beyond the horizon, as far out as anyone dared to tread. The whole town came out to see. It was like a dream. In years to come no one would be believed when they spoke of it.

Some walked timidly on the ice, some ran, slid, spun, others still skated up and down, around and around, pirouettes and arabesques, smiles to the crowd, kisses, applause.

Behind a wave of ice, out beyond the headland, in a world entirely of their own, Oya and Anna slid into each others arms. Nothing could keep them apart.

The Frozen Sea Itself

Not flat like a frozen lake, but undulating, like the gently rolling curves of some furrowed hillside. The ice groans and creaks, moans and sighs. But it does not move.

The philosophers amongst us wonder, Is a wave still a wave when it’s been frozen in place?

Below The Frozen Sea

For a mermaid there is no loneliness like days spent swimming beneath frozen seas. The footsteps above sound like explosions from some distant war, the scrape of skates against ice like tortured screams.

The sea itself seems smaller, darker, the sky now a roof, the sun as dull as the moon, her home reduced from its limitless splendour to this dismal claustrophobic cave.

The mermaid sings and sings, weeps and wails, but no one can hear. On days like today, not even the gulls return her calls.

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Notes:

1. Written between May 14th and May 25th, 2021

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Tales From The Town #37: A Simple Winter Scene

There was a fox sleeping on the swing. Footsteps in the snow. A brittle sky about to crack. Wisps of breath like smoke. A dragon without wings.

That was the whole of the scene. There was no need for anything more.

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Notes:

1. Written between the 23rd and the 25th of May, 2021

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Tales From The Town #36: Saturday Morning Spending Spree

The Land Of Pounds

Whenever the children get their pocket money, they head straight to The Land Of Pounds, where everything for sale costs exactly a pound. It is the most beautiful shop in the world.

[Legal Notice: The Land Of Pounds would like to make it clear to all readers, shoppers, entrants, voyeurs, and participants that it is unaffiliated with any and all other single currency unit based shopping emporiums, including but not limited to Poundland, Poundworld, World Of Pounds. World Land, Pound Island, or any other combination of words, symbols and expressions that may constitute a hitherto unknown but organically arising shop name either now, in the past, or the future, whichever future it is we finally happen to inhabit. Any coincident of naming is purely natural and within legal parameters concerning such aspects of law as trademark, copyright, emblemanisation, or hallmarking, where applicable. All legal avenues of complaint have been exhausted, and shall prove fruitless if attempted. Any broaching of this subject by customers will be met with complete and total humourlessness until the topic is dropped as awkwardly as possible and the purchasing of items can continue.]

The children know nothing of this, of course. They don’t even know Poundland exists. Even if they did it would not matter. For them The Land Of Pounds is all that there is. All that there ever needs to be.

Tina

Tina plans her purchases very carefully in advance. She wants nothing left to chance, and dares not let herself be placed at the mercy of impulse and desire. Who knows where such things could lead…

Today she goes straight to the bouncy ball aisle, and buys four identical bouncy balls (in a single pack), so that once they get home the four of them can race them down the slide together, without any arguments or complaints about who had the best ball, because all the balls will be identical now.

She’s been planning this for weeks, never mentioning the idea before now so that nothing could spoil it. She can’t wait to get home. She’s so excited. By her calculations, if they’re quick enough they’ll be able to sprint up the stairs to the loft quicker than the balls could slide down there themselves. Two races for the price of one!

In her mind everything goes perfectly. There are no arguments at all.

Daniel

“I’m going to buy a sword,” Daniel told Ethel.

“You’ve already got a sword,” Ethel said.

“I’ve already got eleven swords,” Daniel said, as he held his newest one aloft to marvel at its magnificence. “And now I will have twelve.”

Ethel could not argue with such irrefutable logic.

Ethel

Ethel bought herself a tiara because she knew Claire really hated princesses.

Claire

“What’s this?” Claire asked the man behind the counter, as she held up a plastic egg.

“It’s a plastic egg,” said Simon.

“Yeah, but what does it do?” Claire enquired. “What’s it for?”

“It’s a plastic egg,” said Simon.

“But why? Why? What’s the point? I don’t understand! I just want to know what it’s for!” Claire beseechingly implored.

“It’s a plastic egg,” Simon said.

Claire began to scream. “I don’t like it at all!” Claire told him. “I hate it!”

“You don’t have to buy a plastic egg if you don’t want a plastic egg,” Simon said.

“I do! I have to buy something!” Claire wailed.

“You could buy something else,” Simon said.

“Everything else is even worse!”

Claire slammed her pound down on the counter as furiously as she could, and then ran outside to show the others exactly what she’d got.

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Notes:

1. Written between May 21st and May 25th, 2021

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Tales From The Town #35: Five Dreams Of Space

1. Selene puts on her blindfold and dives into the pool. Floating there in the dark is as close again to space as she will ever get. It’s so comforting she could cry.

2. Someone once told Patricia that Venus was so hot the fillings would melt in your mouth. She wonders often how this would taste.

3. Ted would blow up a planet if he could. He would blow up the stars. He’d blow up the sun. But he would never harm the moon.

4. Every summer Anna dreams of winter. Every winter she dreams of Pluto.

5. The whale has no knowledge of space. It remembers oceans in the night. Galactic blooms of luminescent algae. Constellations of jellyfish pulsing in the dark like the neurons of some vast distributed brain. Volcanic vents glimpsed through crushing depths beyond the understanding of human hearts. All as beautiful as any comet’s tails or rocket’s trails carved across the impossible skies of our dreams.

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Notes:

1. Written on May 21st, 2021

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