Unexpected in October

Recent recording of a piece I first posted a year ago.

Unexpected in October – recorded reprise – Eulogy for Scott

If I can make a landscape for a dream, let it be this place. Some day soon the winter will fall, but this afternoon in this garden the sky is still clear and brazen blue, the wind still rustles in the leaves not yet turned and birds chatter on in deep greenery, insects still flutter in dappled shade. The sun still warms my face, the grass still growing under my feet, a squirrel climbs to the highest waving branches where glossy green ivy leaves entwine, waiting for the year to pass on. I close my eyes, a tranquil moment for the dead and dying, held in trance-like waiting, the sun still calls my eyes to the sky. I don’t want to lose this moment, I don’t want to go indoors, but the chill air rising creeps up my spine, a flying crow caws overhead, the wonder is breaking, broken by a growling jet that cuts the sky in two. Some day soon the winter will fall again, but now, today, this afternoon in this garden, summer still lingers on, and hope is still strong. If I can make a landscape for a dream, let it be this place.

The Passing Tale of Rimmer and Moomy

His nickname was Rimmer, sometimes just Rim. I don’t know why he was called that, thankfully I only met him a couple of times.

The first time was when his girlfriend invited me out for a coffee. The girlfriend’s nickname was Moomy, I only went the once. I only went the once because Moomy simply couldn’t stop talking, speaking loudly and rapidly, barely comprehensible in her non-native English. I don’t know what was wrong with her to be so aggravatingly and pointlessly vocal, some said it was an undiagnosed mental illness, I think it was cocaine. To be honest, she did look like a cokehead, and she was self-absorbed, overbearing and boring enough to be on cocaine.

Anyway, Moomy invited me out for a coffee through the friend of a friend, and she brought Rimmer along because he couldn’t be left on his own at home, I don’t know why. Moomy was relentless, rambling, arse-achingly dull. Every once in a while Rimmer, whose voice was booming and plonky, would start pontificating himself, like when one disturbed barking farm-dog sets off all the others aroundabouts. Moomy would indulge Rimmer a little, allowing him to run his mouth for a few minutes, then she would shut him down “No minding if him, he just autistico” she would shout and continue with her own tediously incoherent monologuing.

I never went for coffee with them again, between them they made me feel socially violated.

It took me a week to wash them out of my head.

The only other time I spent with Rim Rimmer was when Moomy had flown home to have her anal glands expressed, I think that’s what she said. She said “I cannot NHS fucking stupid. In my country dentist make all anal glands for sixty euro. In this fucking country NHS you wait five years on list for down there is same relief. I no fucking wait for NHS. I go my own country is better than fucking England.”

So Moomy was away for a month or so and she was furiously messaging my friend to visit Rimmer, have drinks with him and check he was okay. The friend, horrified at the thought of spending a whole evening alone with Rim had insisted I come along too.

We arrived at Rimmer and Moomy’s flat as late as politely possible, he showed us to the sofa, and quickly poured us what he called “cocktails” pink gin and tonic in full pint glasses, it looked like he was going to really stretch the evening out. “There’s more where that came from, plenty of drinking here” He shouted as he sat himself down at his computer desk, his chair back facing us. The interesting thing about Rim was, that without the controlling influence of Moomy’s constant verbalising, he himself was an insufferable monologing bore. For two hours, which is when we finally managed to get away, Rimmer spoke incessantly into his computer screen, although I think he thought he was talking to us. The first thing he said was “Back in the day we would make proper cocktails, we made molotovs and let them off in bus shelters”. My mind was boggling, I wish now that I’d been recording him on my phone, then I could be sure of what he actually said. Anyway, here is my undoubtedly unreliable recounting of his speech.

Back in Barn Hill where he grew up, a village outside the city, the teenage Rimmer and his school chums regularly raided a disused factory where there were abandoned explosives. They would drain jam jars full from pierced steel drums of unspecified flammable fluids, priming them with readily available noxious household poisons. They would combine and mix and prime and refine these little glass bombs, then they would take them to bus shelters at night and put a match to them. Rimmer’s friends would crouch in safety behind the bus shelter glass, while he would boldly ignite the jam jars and run. Sometimes the explosions were terrific, shaking the bus shelter to it foundations, sometimes the young men were deafened, ears ringing and leaking blood for days, sometimes he barely got behind the safety glass before the detonation. And sometimes nothing at all happened, and they would walk back home, despondant, leaving the dangerous jam jars behind in the bus shelter for children and dogs to find the next day.

And that is The Passing Tale of Rimmer and Moomy, and why I hope to never see them again.

Short Tale Shrew

The flash fiction below was first published as an honourable mention on the flash fiction website Short Tale Shrew back in 2016.

Film Night at The Rebirth Convention

Body Limits - Bella Basura 2023. Photograph taken at Marina Abramovic exhibition at The Royal Academy
Body Limits – Bella Basura 2023.
Photograph taken at Marina Abramovic exhibition at The Royal Academy

The Delegates gathered, waiting for the ‘Samsara in Cinema’ event. Ouspensky sat broodingly alone, contemplating Ivan Osokin. A few rows behind him The Gautama and The Christ boisterously contrasted resurrection and soul-migration. In a hot-tub, left of the screen, naked therapists breath-worked their birth-traumas. Classically reincarnated deities – Mithras, Persephone, Taliesin, Vishnu, Baldur – sat rapt as the houselights dimmed. The crowded auditorium hushed as the diminutive figure of the Dalai Lama edged onto the stage. “My favourite film” He said simply. And the screen sprang into life, illuminating the film’s title “Groundhog Day”.

Unexpected in October

If I can make a landscape for a dream, let it be this place. Some day soon the winter will fall, but this afternoon in this garden the sky is still clear and brazen blue, the wind still rustles in the leaves not yet turned and birds chatter on in deep greenery, insects still flutter in dappled shade. The sun still warms my face, the grass still growing under my feet, a squirrel climbs to the highest waving branches where glossy green ivy leaves entwine, waiting for the year to pass on. I close my eyes, a tranquil moment for the dead and dying, held in trance-like waiting, the sun still calls my eyes to the sky. I don’t want to lose this moment, I don’t want to go indoors, but the chill air rising creeps up my spine, a flying crow caws overhead, the wonder is breaking, broken by a growling plane that cuts the sky in two. Some day soon the winter will fall again, but now, today, this afternoon in this garden, summer still lingers on, and hope is still strong. If I can make a landscape for a dream, let it be this place.

Turn The Page

This is a reprinting from The Short Answer pamphlet from 2016. “A chapbook of Drabbles – a dozen short fictions of 100 words”.

I decided to reprint this one after having an afternoon of wandering around drinking teas in cafes in town with my lovely friend, Munizha Ahmad-Cooke. Munizha said this is one of her favourites from The Short Answer chapbook.

Turn The Page

Golden Vagueness - Bella Basura 2016
Golden Vaguenes – Bella Basura 2016

Unspeakable beauty, like the floating harmonic deep in keening tinnitus. Words break free, and my sentence struggles away from me, my grasp slipping a grip, like a  hand slipping  a glove. She tears from my skin and flies. Ricocheting my awareness of “I” into a bounding and rebounding silence. A silent creeping vibration, like the tap-tap tapping of a solitary black widow on her dew-luminous web, alone at night. A fly has slipped it’s shackles and fled. A silent creeping vibration of voidness, null, empty and zero.
The one that got away.

Confectionary Psychosis

Waking early, he groaned inwardly, he hated Sundays. Sundays always meandered, everything went late, still, shut or slow.

And as usual, his larder was empty, he needed to go shopping. A trip to the local supermarket was always a trial, but on a Sunday! Phew! No thanks!

For a start, they never opened til ten, hours to go. And then, the crowds, the Sunday shopping crowds, they did his fragile head in no end.

Dragging around the kitchen in his pajamas, he searched the cupboards again. Still nothing. Just ¾ bottle of home-brand red, a mouthful of brandy and four hash truffles he’d bought for his birthday, but hadn’t yet found anybody to share them with. He poured the Brandy into the wine, took one hash truffle and went back to bed.

Perhaps he could get back to sleep til the shops opened.

Within an hour the munchies had driven him back to the kitchen. Rummaging through the empty cupboards. In blood-sugar free-fall he scoffed another of the hash truffles.

Then another

Sugar sugar sugar!

Then he scoffed the last one, went back to bed.

On a whim, he climbed out of bed, put on his coat and shoes, he decided to walk the streets till the shops opened. He was munchie-ravenous, but maybe a walk would help.

At the Pelican Crossing at the end of his street, he pushed the button and waited. Slow tailbacks of Sunday drivers clogged the road, inching in both lanes of the Ring Road, into and out of the city. He waited.

Slowly at first, then with increasing urgency his attention was drawn into a big blue SUV stopped at the lights. The car seems implausibly big, large and it began to fill his vision with its impenetrable blueness. He felt he was falling into it, into a midnight blue night sky. It took a huge effort of will to pull his eyes away from the overarching hugeness of the SUV’s blue bonnet. He dragged his eyes upwards towards the windscreen. There was a woman at the steering wheel, she had an implausibly huge head, a huge blue head.

The crossing lights changed to green, but he stayed, entranced by the blue headed woman, trying not to stare.

The lights changed back.

He waited, transfixed in ignoring blue.

With deliberate dispassionate curiosity he allowed his attention to focus on the woman’s huge blue head, and decided it was the woman’s hair that was blue, the same blue as the car. Quickly he closed his eyes. Too much. He switched his eyes to the pelican crossing lights, he waited.

The Lights changed, the green walking-man blinked. Repeatedly tearing himself away from the blue vision machine, he stepped into the road. Halfway across the lights changed “Don’t Cross” screamed in his ears and he beat a hasty retreat back to the kerb. He suddenly felt he was trapped, like in the Pink Panther Cartoon – Think Before You Pink! He thinks the Blue Lady in the blue car with blue punky hair glared at him, telepathically. He suspects she has an animosity towards pink and in particular  the Pink Panther, her being so blue and all.

But it meant he was psychologically prepared when the green-man lit up again. He skipped into the road

dudum dudum dudumdudum dudum dudum dudum duduuummm“.

Halfway across the lights changed, green man extinguished. But he didn’t get mown down like the Pink Panther because the ring road traffic was gridlocked and nothing moved.

He slid into the supermarket.

By now he was swimming in a sugar-philic haze, the cakes in the supermarket bakery seemed sentient, calling out to him. Perhaps latching onto the munchie-mania that seemed to surround him, like a famished aura.

In the street again, trudging with 5p carrier bags stuffed with red warning label sugar, fat , carbohydrate snacks, he crossed the Pelican crossing without pushing the button or waiting for the green man, he just stepped into the road.

But he didn’t get mown down because the ring road traffic was gridlocked and nothing moved. The blue SUV with the woman with matching blue head is still there. But the car now is kind of green-ish and the woman is wearing a hat, a huge silly green hat.

Still waiting, still gridlocked, still Sunday.

He hated Sundays.

Hey Joe!

In a crowded city centre high street an innocuous grey haired man called Joe is unceremoniously thrown to the ground by two burly uniformed men. With Joe’s chin pressed into the pavement, one security guard straddles him, twisting his left arm up behind his back. The other security guard is crushing Joe’s outstretched right arm, his steel toe-capped boot pinioning him down at the wrist.

It seems to Joe that they stay like this for a long time, a crowd of onlookers gather. It seems like a long time until the police come and arrest him. Enough time for Joe to calm down  and think out the situation. He wonders how other men might have reacted if they’d found their old lady messing round town.

The incident had started half an hour earlier that morning, in the Marks and Spencer foodhall by the market.

Mary and Joe, a couple approaching retirement, are dawdling by the bakery counter.

Joe is desperately clutching a pack of belgian buns.

“Oh! Come on Joe! Be a bit adventurous for a change” Mary is wheedling.

“But we always have belgian buns on a Saturday morning”

“I know, love, but the portugese custard tarts are delicious”

“I don’t want…” Joe is truculent in that usual middle aged passive aggressive way that always piques Mary.

When was he going to have his mid-life crisis?

She’d waited 30 years for him to go wild, buy a fast car, wear clothes too young for him, start going to discos. Lord knows she’d welcome an open necked shirt and gold medallion. She’d worked her entire life waiting for the freedom of Joe’s mid-life crisis.

“You’d love them” Mary tries enticing him “I bet you’ve never even tried one”

“I don’t want to. I want belgian buns like we always have on a Saturday”

“mmm, they’re lovely?” Mary licks her lips

“How do you know” he’s suspicious

“Trust me, honey” she pats his arm

“You’ve had one haven’t you!”

“Yes” she says “I bought a packet in the week”

“A packet!” Joe is losing his cool “So you’ve had four, you’ve had four portugese custard tarts without me” He’s waving the belgian buns in her face.

She turns away “I knew you’d be like this, that’s why I didn’t tell you”

Joe is in the murderous grip of jealousy, storming off.

“Hey Joe!” Mary calls after him, as he stomps out of the shop to the bleeping of the alarm.

And security are on him, crushing him to the ground.

Mary cries out “Hey Joe, where you going with that bun in your hand?”

Slush Pile Bonanza – Dod Pledges

Time for some more offerings from my Slush Pile Bonanza series, stories I wrote that have been hanging around in boxes or carrier bags under my bed, unpublished, possibly unpublishable.

So here is an unpublished short story that I’ve had knocking around for over 5 years.

Dod Pledges

“But I don’t want to stop.” Dod finally said. Standing up he sauntered to the bar to buy himself his third pint. I’d declined to join him after the first pint, it was only lunchtime, and I had to be back in the shop this afternoon. And in anycase, I was there to get a job done.

When Dod had stormed out of the bookshop where we both worked and slunk into the pub round the corner the Boss sent me after him, to talk him down. Truth is Dod had thrown one hell of a hissy-fit when the boss challenged him over the 3 empty and one half-full cans of special brew knocking around under the book tokens counter. Dod had screamed his resignation, and exiting had slammed the door so hard that the open/closed sign fell off. Boss sent me to placate him and bring him back.

Dod returned to the pub table and sat worshipping his new pint in silence.

I looked at my friend with sympathy. I worried for him even though he was a workmate rather than a friend, we were occasional drinking partners. Not that I put too much store on that – Dod drank with everyone, anyone. I knew he was going through a bad divorce, his daughter refused to see him and his wife was in therapy, still he carried on drinking. I liked him, I wanted him to be alright.

He was half-way through the third pint when I finally spoke “Look Dod, Boss-man is offering to finance you through rehab. He’ll pay, keep your job open, get off the booze at his expense. He’s being very fair, you know.” Dod didn’t respond beyond a raised eyebrow.

I waited in silence till the last minute, then I stood up “He’s giving you a big last chance here Dod, He’s offering to support you through rehab.” Dod gulped at the dregs of the finished pint, groaned and stared at the empty glass “I don’t want rehab” He said “And I don’t want a job at the end of it. I just want another pint” And with that he hauled himself up and off to the bar.

Greased My Palm

 When the head line, heart line, life line and fate line connect it can create a letter “M” in the palm of the hand. It means you are blessed with good fortune. It is a sign of strong intuition. Not everybody has an “M” in their hand, are you one of the chosen few?

I am sitting here, staring at the enormous “M” I have in my right palm, and feeling blessed and encouraged, I’m feeling validated.

 The “M” is a sign of strong intuition and creativity, as well as determination and career growth…

There is a stirring in my memory and I intuitively look at my left palm. Astonishingly, I also have a huge “M” in the centre of my left palm. I am very special, I am so rare, I have two “M”s, one in each hand. I am a doubly supremely perceptive person.

But there is a nagging memory in the back of my mind…

You are special, you are chosen…

And then the memory drops into the light.

I am eleven years old, and I am browsing in the bargain basement of a grim little seaside junk shop. I pick up a slightly damp-stained, battered blue linen bound Edwardian book, “Cheiro’s Book of Mystic Chiromantic Palmistry”. I sit in the corner of the shop and read the book and discover I have an “M” in my palm, on both my palms. I buy the book and devour it over many years.

Those with an “M” in the palm have great power of perception and curiosity…

And there again, is the nagging doubt in the back of my head, the vague remembering that everybody I spoke to at school about my palmistry discoveries also had an “M” in their palm. Or am I imagining that?

A person with an “M” in their palm will be successful in whatever field they choose, they will become famous painters, they will excel in the world  of literature…

It dawns on me that I have known for decades that I have the miraculous  “M”s in my hands – but then so does everyone else. I wonder what happened to that book after I left home.

 The “M” indicates a hugely successful, driven and intuitive individual, whose personality ensures money will flow to them organically…

On seaside holidays my Mum was an avid frequenter of fortune telling booths, I would be dragged around fairgrounds, left to wait outside the tent while Mum had her cards, or palms, or bumps, or tealeaves read. So I have stood aside at the threshold of the psychic carnival all my life. And with my great intuition I can see that all is not as it seems.

If you have an “M” you will never fail in your endevours…

The psychics would always ask my Mum if she was searching, did she search? was she a seeker? then they ask her if she herself is a psychic. And that was the hook, she greased their palms and stepped into the light. My mum was always beside herself, delighted, she would talk about it for days. “you know, I do think I am psychic” she would say. “I do believe I am”. Fortune tellers gave her the validation she sought.

As for me with my many years of failure and discontent lengthening by the day, I’m a bit more cynical.

  As a person blessed with the “M” marking on your palm anything is possible for you… Sign up to our monthly guide to psychic success for only £4.99 a month.

The Future Food

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a person in possession of a long-term vegetarian habit, must be in want of a bacon buttie” I was thinking, as I browsed the vegan meats section in the supermarket, when I suddenly spotted the fake bacon rashers on special offer. The gleaming strips of firm pink flesh and soft white fat lay side by side in the plastic tray looking for all the world like real bacon rashers.

I had no qualms, I’d already tried fake bacon lardons by the same brand and although it wasn’t at all bacon-like it had worked well in a fake Carbonara. Both the texture and flavour were off, it was flaky and had a strong salted taste of smoked fish. The fake bacon lardons wasn’t at all bacon-like, but it was pleasant enough and indeed satisfied a 30 year long craving for kippers that I never even knew I had.

I was keen to see what else I was missing.

At the checkout the cashier laughed “What is THAT?” she asked “fake bacon” I replied. “It looks like they let a 5 year old make it out of play-doh” She laughed again.

“I’ll let you know” I said.

And so for brunch today, I decided to do myself a proper fry-up, mushrooms, baked beans, linda macartney bangers, tomatoes, scrambled tofu, hash browns, wholemeal toast, a big mug of black tea and the fake bacon rashers, an all day vegan full english to write home about. I decided to fry  the fake bacon (as per the instructions on the packet) in the same pan as the mushrooms – two beautiful big open-cup portobellos sliced in fat wedges, I was looking forward to mopping up their black oily ink with the doorstop thick slices of organic wholemeal toast. The mushrooms had been sizzling away and were just getting there when I plopped in the fake bacon rashers, and in that moment brunch just went to shit. Two minutes each side (as per the instructions on the packet) and the fake bacon literally turned into actual fried play-doh, it rendered into stringy knots of white and pink twine, which melted, stuck, and sucked up my lovely mushroom jus. It indelibly coated the bottom of my frying pan in candy-coloured fibrous sludge. I think it might have permanently damaged the stainless steel.

Now, I think it is almost impossible to ruin a fry-up, you can slightly burn, over crisp, or blacken but it’s a fry-up so its always good anyway. Believe me,  this was, without a doubt, the worst fry-up of my entire life.

I was thinking I’d tell the supermarket cashier that she was right about the 5 year olds play-doh fake bacon, but at least a 5 year old knows that bacon is food. I have a theory that the fake bacon was created on a 3D printer, under the direction of an A.I that hadn’t been told that the fake bacon was supposed to be cooked and eaten.

This is the future I see – Artificially intelligent fake bacon, eaten by anthropomorphs with 6 and half fingers that bend the wrong way, who have “serving suggestion only” written on their foreheads.