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

Thank you!