The Thing

It pulsed.

I watched them watch it pulse.

It strobed.

I watched them watch it strobe.

It shimmered, trimmered, mimmered, mummed.

And I watched them watch it shimmer and trimmer and mimmer and mum.

It raised itself slowly up onto its legs and undulated strangely in a way that would never work and I watched them watch it raise itself slowly up onto its legs and undulate strangely in a way that would never work and their faces signalled a mixture of emotions I had never seen there before.

It tottered and flapped to the edge of the table and jumped or fell it was quite hard to tell and it fell to the floor and smashed into pieces and I watched them watch those pieces as they twitched and whirred and whined and wept on the floor until the bell rang and the lesson was over and they all scampered away out into the corridor and I watched the door swing back closed behind the last one and I was alone again it was the end of the day.

I wondered if these would be the lessons they would never forget, and I hoped that they were, for the sake of their exams if for nothing else.

I swept up the remains of my son and put him in the bin and then went to the cupboard and prepared to hatch myself another.

__________

Notes:

1. Written on August 29th, 2016

The Crow

There’s this crow that sometimes comes in our garden and I’ve been slowly befriending it.

At first it’d only come along occasionally and you’d only see it out there when the garden was empty and you looked out the window and there it’d be, prancing about, sniffing out some food, or lounging around on the bench out there.

Then a few times I was sitting in the garden and it would leap up onto the fence and then look a bit startled when it saw me, and it’d back away, and usually then go back down and disappear, although sometimes it would just sit there on the fence and warily watch me.

After a while though it got brave enough that if I was in the garden and it saw me there it would still come down into the garden but sort of skirt around me in a big circle, always keeping a big beady eye on me, as it went about it’s business. And if I ever made any sudden movements or startled it in some other way it would squawk at me and flee.

But I never made any sudden movements. And I never will.

Now it’s so thoroughly used to me it’ll hop up onto the table when I’m out there and sit on the keyboard of my laptop so I can’t do any work and then it’ll let me stroke it and it’ll purr and purr and purr

I think it’s a crow

__________

1. Written on July 16th, 2016

The Hole

Jason put his finger in the hole first, then me, then our mum. Alice refused, but she was only three and the instructions said not suitable for children aged under 48 months so it was just as well.

Jason’s finger came out covered in sherbet. Mine came out covered in jam. Our mum’s finger came out covered in marmite and she laughed in delight as she licked it off and then she put it in the hole again and again.

Our Dad came home later and bent down and looked into the hole for a while, first with one eye and then with the other.

“What is it?” he said.

“It’s the future,” said our mum, and showed him how it worked.

__________

Notes:

1. Written on August 30th, 2016

Tale #9: The Saddest King Of All

There was a king in the woods who was ever so sad. Every day he looked out of the window of his castle and sighed. “If only these trees did not block my view,” he thought. “Then I would be happy.” So he ordered his soldiers to cut down all the trees in the forest.

The next day he looked out of his window again, only now he could see another castle on the horizon. Again he sighed. “If only I had never seen that castle, I would still be king of all I surveyed,” he thought. “Then I would be happy.” So he ordered his treasurer to buy the castle from whomsoever it was that owned it.

The next day the king and all his court travelled there to the castle by the sea and set themselves up in their new home. In the morning he looked out of his new window and saw before him the sea. “I hate the sea,” he realised, sighing more deeply than ever before, for he knew the sea could not be controlled, and nor could it be moved away. “If only I was back in my old home, quietly away from the endless roar of the waves. Then I would be happy.”

So he went back to his old home, which was silent and empty. He sat down upon his throne, and began to weep. “If only there was someone here to talk to,” he said. “Then I would be happy.”

But there was no-one for him to talk to, for his family and the members of his court much preferred living by the seaside and would not return. And so he wept and wept, all alone, for the rest of his days.

As the years passed, the forest grew back up around the castle until the trees were thicker and darker and deeper than ever before (for there was no-one there to cut them back), and the many empty rooms of the castle were claimed by crows and foxes and other creatures of the forest (for there was no-one there to shoo them away), and in time the walls themselves began to crumble (for there was no-one to repair them) and eventually the king died, unhappy and unloved and unremembered, in the ruins of his home.

And all the while the city by the sea prospered.

__________

Notes:

1. Written June 6th, 2014
2. The title, premise and opening line of this story are inspired by (or parodies of) The Saddest Bear Of All