Tales From The Town #34: The Boy With The Box (parts 1, 2, and 3)

The Boy With The Box (Part 1)

He smiles at you and opens it up. Just a crack. Enough for you to see… what? Something. There’s definitely something in there. But what? What is it? What does he have in there? You step forward to take a closer look, but he snaps the lid back into place and leaves you always wanting more.

The Boy With The Box (Part 2)

“But I didn’t get the chance to see it properly!” Ethel said. “Show me again!”

“No,” said Ted. “It’s Claire’s turn now.”

“I don’t want a turn,” said Claire. “It’s just a spider.”

“It didn’t look like a spider,” Ethel said. “It was so dark it could have been anything!”

“It’s always a spider,” Claire said.

“What if it’s not, though?” Tina said. “What if it’s something new and amazing?”

“Like a newt!” Daniel said. “Or a worm.”

“Spiders are amazing,” Ted blurted out. “Really amazing.”

“See! I told you it was a spider,” Claire said. “Come on, let’s go. I can’t believe it’s snowing and all you three want to do is look in a box!”

“Oh, well, okay, yeah,” said Ethel, her eyes still longingly fixed on the box. “I suppose I don’t need another look. Sorry, Ted, but I’ve seen your spider before.”

“It might not be a spider,” Ted said desperately. “It might be something entirely different.”

“Like a newt!” said Daniel. “Or a worm.”

Ted smiled at Ethel and opened up the lid. Just a crack. Enough for a glimpse of that strangely alluring darkness, all those hints of something secret inside.

Ethel couldn’t resist. She tried but she couldn’t. She stepped forward, bent down, peered in, gasped. It wasn’t a spider in there at all.

The Boy With The Box (Part 3)

(It was seven thousand seven hundred and sixty eight spiders.)

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Notes:

1. Written between the 14th and the 21st of May, 2021

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Tales From The Town #33: David

He moved through his days like an iceberg. Slow and adrift, the immensity of his loneliness hidden beneath the surface, and denied even by himself.

He would have denied the existence of his very soul if he could. He would have denied the existence of his existence.

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Notes:

1. Written in May 2020

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Tales From The Town #32: A Gathering Of Crows

The crows gathered on the roof of the house. A hundred of them or more, all in a row, a cacophony of caws as they jostled for position amongst the crowd. On observing this event, many of the wisest sages and scholars from the town pondered the exact meaning of such an occurrence.

“Look at all the crows!” said Ethel. “I wonder what they’re all doing up there?” “I bet they’re hungry,” said Tina. “And now they’re looking for food.” “Crows eat eyeballs,” Daniel said seriously. “Dead eyeballs.” That was all he knew about crows. “Our house must smell of rotting meat then,” Claire said. “We must live in a house of dead flesh!”

“A gathering of crows like that means there’s going to be a storm,” Agnes called out to the children as they played on the swing. “You better all come inside before you get wet. I’ll make some hot chocolate and we can watch the lightning through the window.”

“An ominous warning,” the witch said, as she watched through her telescope from afar, in the comfort of her cottage, in the safety of the woods. “A portent for the horrors to come.” She cackled so gleefully the dolls covered their ears.

Back at the house, the crows, unaware of the speculation over the purpose of their existence, slid one by one down the icy gutter as if it was a slide, then joined the back of the queue to wait for another go.

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Notes:

1. Written between May 12th, 2021 and May 21st, 2021
2. I love crows
3. And wish of course to be one

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Tales From The Town #31: The Town Hall

The doors had been locked for as long as anyone could remember. The curtains were always drawn. There was a new mayor in there now, apparently. No one knew what this would mean, but it was all anyone talked about for a week.

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Notes:

1. Written between May 11th and May 17th
2. Although quite why it took so long to write three lines I do not know

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Tales From The Town #30: The Lake

“There it is!” Claire called out. “I saw it!”

“Where?” said Ethel.

“There!”

“That’s just a rock, Claire,” Tina said.

“It’s not a rock. It’s the whale!”

“If it’s the whale, why isn’t it moving?”

“Because it’s dead!”

“If it was dead it’d sink,” Daniel said. “And it’s bones would become a castle.”

“For mermaids!” Ethel said.

“Mermaids don’t exist, Ethel,” Claire said. “And dead things float, Daniel!”

“The whale is not dead, Claire,” Tina said. “So stop saying it is. I’ll get upset.”

“You’re always getting upset,” Claire said. She sat down on the grass with the others and started brushing her hair. “Anyway, maybe it is a stupid rock AND the whale is dead. That way we can both be unhappy.”

“Can I be unhappy?” Ethel asked.

“No!”

“Well, that’s not fair at all,” Ethel said.

They all sat there in silence, and dreamt of whales, bones, castles, mermaids.

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Notes:

1. Written on May 14th, 2021

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