Author: Alexander Fawn

She had never liked the old lady next door.

Ever since, thinking that she might be interested, she’d tried to tell her about some of the advances she had made with her magic spells. She was shocked at the response. The woman had laughed and told her that she shouldn’t be so silly. She said that as a school pupil she should be concentrating on her homework and not fooling around with that kind of nonsense. Because she had been so happy with the success of her spellcasting, after finding the old book tucked away at the bottom of an old box of junk in the basement that no one ever used, she felt that she had to tell someone. It had obviously been a mistake to take the woman into her confidence, however, it did give her an idea.

Although a number of incantations she had used had given encouraging results, like moving things around without touching them, making things levitate and having spiders curl up and drop off their webs, there was a section of the book that dealt with enchantments that involved people. Some of them looked very interesting, most were fairly horrible, but she’d not had anyone in mind to practice on. Not until the ignorant old biddy next door had been so dismissive, that is.

It was for this reason that the girl found herself ringing the woman’s front door bell holding a wicker basket containing the required accoutrements. The woman opened the door with a frown.

She scowled. “What do you want?”

“I’ve come to show you how my spells really work,” cooed the girl, giving her best neighbourly smile.

“Humph!” was all the woman said at first. Then she peered down into the basket and said, “What have you got in there?”

Delighted with the request, the other began lifting items out, one at a time. “These are black candles,” she said, “and I have a book of spells, a folded plastic sheet, a stick of blue chalk, a roll of sticky tape and a large knife.”

The woman gasped when she saw the knife. She stepped back, obviously preparing to close the door. “Well, young lady, if you think you’re coming in here with all your nasty bits and pieces, you’ve got another think coming!”

At this point, putting the basket down, she took the book out again. She placed the book on the upturned palm of her hand, laid her other hand on top and began mumbling something the woman couldn’t quite hear. When she’d finished, the girl asked, “Would you like a demonstration?”

The woman seemed to brighten. With a pleasant smile, she said, “Oh! That sounds nice, dear. Do come in.”

His work took him away regularly.

They had both agreed that to get out of rented accommodation and into something they owned would only be possible if he kept doing regular shifts at the mineral mine, several hours flight time away. This particular stint had been a double period, where he was filling in for an absent worker. It would mean that this year would see his income grow that little bit more, taking them that little bit closer to getting a place of their own. He lay there snoring for ages before waking himself up with a loud snort. His eyes flickered open for the briefest moment, but long enough to see her staring at him.

“Are you OK? He said.

“Yes, I’m fine thanks.” She said.

He propped himself up on his elbow. “You sure?”

“Sure.”

“Was I snoring?”

“You were.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s OK. When you’re away for long periods, all I hear at night is the clock ticking.” She stares up at the ceiling. “It’s very quiet when you’re away; too quiet. Any noise is consoling, even your snoring.” She smiled. “Go back to sleep.”

Looking back, she saw that he already had.

She was looking for an old toy when she found the photo.

The old wardrobe that was kept in the loft seemed the best bet. She was rummaging through when she found an old shoebox, right at the back. She took it down and opened it. It was full of paperwork, a few letters and several old black and white photos. One in particular intrigued her. It was of a young teenager, about her own age, cradling a very young baby in her arms. She had no luck finding what she went there for, but pocketed the photo. She would ask her mother about it later. In fact, it was much later that evening when she thought of it. They had just finished tea when she found it was still in her pocket.

She held it out and said, “I found this today.”

Her mother took it and stared at it for a long time before looking up. “Where was it?” she asked in a whisper.

“It was in a shoebox up in the loft… who’s the baby?”

The mother said nothing for a while. She finally put the picture down and took her daughter’s hands in hers and squeezed. There were tears in her eyes as she began. “I would have told you before long, anyway,” she said with a faint smile and nodding, “it’s a picture of you, my love.”

The girl picked up the picture and said, “Me?”

“Yes, dear. It’s you, a lovely baby girl.”

The daughter frowned. “Who’s the woman? She doesn’t look like you.”

After a long pause, she sighed deeply and going for a tissue, she wiped her eyes. “That’s your mother, your real mother, my darling. She was only fifteen.”

The girl just sat, eyes wide.

“As you know, your father… I should say my husband, he died in an accident soon after we were married.” She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. “Over a year went by before this picture was taken.” She sat thinking for a while, then went on. “It was taken just moments before you were placed in my arms. At that very moment you became mine.” At this point, she burst into tears. After a bit, she mumbled, “Mine to love and to hold.”

Her daughter hugged her tight; really tight!

He didn’t like to think of himself as old, but he really didn’t like shopping.

He did have a bit of a limp, which he tried to hide, that’s when he remembered to do it. They had been in the shopping centre for over an hour, going from shop to shop together. He often considered his wife’s doggedness to keep going without tiring or any sign of losing interest in the activity quite amazing. He figured it was a woman thing. He on the other hand would contrive to find a reason to remain at home when these expeditions came up. However, he really did need to get a new pair of shorts, and it really was up to him to try them on in the shop. He supposed this made sense.

They stopped outside a supermarket. She waved towards the entrance. “You’ll find what you want in there,” she said, with an air of confidence.

“I will?”

“Of course, dear, they sell lots of clothes, including shorts.”

He looked into the horrible vastness of the place. “OK,” he mumbled.

She smiled with just a hint of condescension. “Now, take your time. I won’t be back around to this part of the centre for at least half-an-hour… so you can try on as many as you like.”

He turned and made his way to the security entrance.

“Good luck,” she called.

He looked back and managed a small wave.

Inside the great cavern of a room, notices hung from the ceiling for as far as the eye could see. He couldn’t find one saying ‘Shorts’ anywhere. He wandered aimlessly for a while, actually finding it fascinating that the range and variety of products was so, well… so varied!

“Can I help you,” came a voice out of nowhere.

Startled, he looked around. A uniformed girl was emerging from between isles. He cleared his throat quietly and said, “Yes. I’m looking for men’s shorts.”

She walked out into the main gangway and pointed. “That’s my full men’s area there for you,” she said.

He nodded and moved off quickly. The exchange had left him feeling uneasy, he softly repeated her words back to himself. “That’s my full men’s area there for you,” he whispered.

He kept going until he was far enough away to be able to pause for a while, pretending to be interested in socks. Of course, the incident had taken him by surprise, but it was what she had said. It seemed so… intimate, yet somehow submissive. There was something strange in the way she said it. Certainly, for such a young thing to state that the area was hers was a bit of a stretch. He felt decidedly uncomfortable.

He spent a good thirty minutes walking around clothes hung on racks, without touching any of them. He managed to avoid crossing paths with the girl again, and finally made his way out to find his wife waiting.

He knew she’d be disappointed to see him coming out empty-handed, but as usual her frown turned to a smile. She came forward. “Did you find anything, dear?”

“No.” He looked back at the shop. “I… I was discombobulated.”

“I do wish you wouldn’t talk like that. What happened?”

“There was this girl…”

“Yes? What girl?”

“You know, a shop assistant.”

“Yes, OK dear. What about her?”

“I found her phraseology disturbing.”

She sighed. “There are times when I really don’t understand you. Did you try anything on?”

He shook his head.

At this, she gently put her arm through his and gave a little squeeze, in a manner that confirmed their years of affection for one another, and slowly they made their way out.

He knew that often in the past she had not understood him. He reflected on the fact that discombobulation can come in so many forms. It can come out of the blue, anytime, anywhere… and does.

The two men sat at their usual corner table.

They’d known each other for a long time and would catch up at the club occasionally. There was no sense of regularity to their meetings, an arrangement that suited their quite different walks of life. They had always been very comfortable with each other’s company. One had picked up a complimentary copy of that day’s paper and was perusing while the other gazed out of the window. He broke the silence that had settled between them.

“You know, I don’t really belong here.”

From behind the paper. “You don’t?”

“No, not really.”

The other lowered his paper and looked around. “But you’ve said on a number of occasions how much you like this club.”

“Not the club, the world. No, not the world, that’s not what I mean. This planet. That’s a better way of putting it.”

The other, knowing his friend well, put down the paper and sat back in anticipation. “Go on,” he said.

“Haven’t you ever felt like that?”

“I can’t say I have, no.”

“Perhaps you belong here.”

The other shrugged.

“I’m not sure, but I think it started with holes.”

“Ozone layer holes, you mean?

“No. Jeans.”

The other smiled and repeated, “Jeans.”

“Yes, you know, when it was the fashion, only, I didn’t know that. We were shopping when I saw this woman wearing a pair that had great open holes at her knees. I didn’t think much about it at the time. Felt sorry for her, maybe? Oh! I don’t know what I thought, really. Anyway, then I saw another, another pair. It was the third pair that did it. I asked. You see, I just asked her, my wife, I just asked and she said that they sell them like that now. That’s what she said. I said, you mean that they sell new jeans like that and people buy them, and she said yes…” He sat back.

The other remained silent.

He leant forward and sipped his drink. “I know, such a small thing, such a silly thing, but a wakeup call, I suppose. Anyway, it had a profound effect on me I can tell you that. I began to question it all, something I’d never really done before.” His hands flapped to show he was finished.

The other sat thinking for a while before saying. “All right. On this issue of belonging, where do you think you do belong?”

“Ah! That’s the issue, isn’t it? That’s the thing people go on about all the time, isn’t it? That’s the question everyone keeps asking; what am I doing here? Why am I here? Questions that I have never even considered asking myself. Have I been too busy? Have I always been too dumb to ask?

The other stirred. “All right. I repeat, where do you belong?”

“Ah! There’s the rub, eh? It’s so difficult to describe.” He sat thinking for a moment. “Out there, somewhere, I see a great swirling cloud of beings, all floating around in harmony with each other. Then… then one says to the other, of course they don’t actually say anything, they don’t have to, but let us say they do. One says to the other, I haven’t seen him for a while, have you? And the other replies, well, now you mention it, no, I haven’t. Then a third one says, no, he’s not coming back.” He pauses. “Of course, they don’t use any of this ‘him and he’ stuff, that’s just me talking, because I can, or should I say because I have to.” He fell silent for a bit before going on. He looked at his companion and sighed. “Then… then this third one says he’s been sent to one of those planet’s, the ones that have beings that operate those human forms and undergo life cycles.” He grimaced at the other. “That’s me, of course!”

His friend nodded slowly.

“Anyway,” the man says, taking a drink, “this has to be a very good scotch”

He put his empty tumbler down and asked the waiter for another.

The little girl sat sobbing.

The father watched her for a while. He had tried to console her, but the loss was too great. Her mother just wasn’t there anymore. He stood looking at his wife’s photograph on the sideboard: her hair, her complexion. He looked back at his daughter. The void she had left was obviously unbearable for her. A child so young should never be left without a mother…

He was saying, “No, sweetheart.”

“Please!” she beseeched.

“No, honey, we can’t do that.”

She began to cry again, saying, “Daddy, I really miss her.”

He felt the emotion of it and stoically said “I know.”

“Can we go to see her? I just want to see her!”

Very gently, he said, “Sorry my love, we can’t do that.”

With a sudden burst, now close to anger, she cried out “Why can’t we?”

“Because Daddy gave her a coupon for her birthday… right now she’s out at a special shop having a luxury beauty treatment.”

Every evening the old lady settles down in front of the television.

She knows it won’t be long before Misty jumps up onto her lap. The ageing cat seems to give her owner time to settle down and make herself completely comfortable quite deliberately, before appearing at the side of her chair. The old woman loves the way her companion waits patiently for her to pat her leg, signalling that she is ready for the sweet animal to join her for the evening. Soon, the soft vibration of her steady purring is felt on her legs. It is a wonderful ritual.

It is only on very rare occasions that the old woman allows the thought, no, the question, to come into her mind.

Does this really still happen or is she simply reminiscing?

He was in his local bookshop looking for his next book.

He’d been working his way along the section where the paperback fiction was displayed. He was reading titles and occasionally taking one out. He’d been doing this for several minutes when he saw a slim volume that for some reason made him curious. He pulled it out. It was a dull looking thing with very few pages. He turned it over to read the back.

It read: To be really honest, there is not much chance of you enjoying this story. I’ve never been much of a writer and wouldn’t argue with anybody who thought the plot was a bit thin. It’s hard to follow sometimes. The story (if you can really call it a story) has a main character who’s pretty boring. He doesn’t do much. When he does try to do something he usually stuffs it up. This lack of a proper main character is so pathetic that you can’t even look on his failures as humorous. To say that nothing much happens in this book probably sums it up nicely. If you manage to read through the whole thing, which I very much doubt, you are likely to wish that you hadn’t bought it in the first place. But, there again, if you should decide to take a punt on the basis that it sounds intriguing, go ahead. After all, theirs’s one born every minute, but I think you’ll regret it.

He put it back.

He often went passed the old weirdo’s magic shop without thinking.

On this occasion he spotted an old Box Brownie camera in the window. Of course, these were completely outdated, but he’d always wanted to own one and try it out. He went in. The old guy seemed to be glad to get rid of it. It was cheap enough and the shop owner threw in a role of old film. It was a real bargain. The film had a few days left before the expiry date. It looked as though it had enough left on it to take a few of his own before getting it developed. At home he took a couple of pictures in the garden, a couple indoors, and the final one of himself. He did this by rather cleverly standing in front of the full-length mirror in the bedroom. Naturally, he couldn’t wait to see the results, so he took the film to the chemist shop the same day.

When it had been developed, he collected it and was pleased to see that they all came out. At home he sat down and took the photographs out one at a time. The first ones he looked at, being the originals that were left on the roll, were rather dark, but were mainly of people dressed in black, with hoods, dancing around a fire. The next two, taken in the garden, were disappointing. Apart from being blurred, his flowers looked wilted. The two he took inside were also fuzzy and made the room look as though it needed decorating. The final picture was of a skeleton standing in front of a full-length mirror!

He had a really bad feeling about what he was looking at. Something told him to panic.

He began frantically looking for the ‘use by’ date.

The man in the Emporio Armani slim-fit wool suit ($980.00) sat at his private table, having finished his Black Lip Abalone with hen’s egg yolk and fumet blanc ($275 a plate). He was now sipping the last of his Armand de Brignac Brut Gold Champagne ($599 a bottle). Satisfied, he rose, smiling at the Maître D’, and tipping as he left (two $50 notes). Outside, in the growing dark, he climbed into his arancio Argos orange, Lamborghini Aventador Super Veloce Jota ($726,000) and drove up into the hills to his three-story mansion in manicured grounds ($3.2 million). He entered and went immediately to his study where he settled behind his Victorian Mahogany Antique Pedestal Desk ($24,278). He opened a drawer and brought out a Beretta 92 FS Burnt Bronze 9mm handgun ($619.00).

He felt the metal against his temple, just before he pulled the trigger.

Back down in the darkening city, with his stint of greatly needed overtime finished, another man, of similar age, dressed in Skinny Blackened Blue Jeans ($47.99) and a grey, Raglan T-shirt ($24.95), finished his Quarter Pounder burger ($6.00) and the last of his Chocolate Shake, medium ($4.05). Out in the carpark he got into his aging Volkswagen Golf 90TSI ($17,490), drove to an outer suburb and parked behind the block containing his small, unfurnished rented apartment ($220 per week). Sitting on the edge of his single, put-together, metal-frame bed ($69.95) he kicked off his lace up sneakers ($20). Then, in the meagre bathroom he sprayed from a tiny bottle of cologne ($8.78). He had promised someone, his girlfriend in fact, that he would let her know when he got home. So, moments later he sat in the main room at his tiny, second-hand coffee table ($35) picking up his Internet-purchased preowned mobile phone ($62.95).

After tapping the screen, he made the phone comfortable against his ear.