There are some lives that don’t begin in earnest until they are almost over. Time is almost used up before the moment is reached, the decision taken that will give life some meaning. Until that moment, only holiday snaps show that time has moved at all. Children grow up, then move away and there are no more holidays, no more snaps. Time passes unnoticed. Continue reading “Friday by Jane Dougherty”
I want to show you a picture of me, before. When I was young, well truth to tell maybe not so young but oh I was a looker, a real looker. I bet you won’t believe it was me and you’ll think how did she end up like this, now?
Ha, I guess you can say it was greed did it, or just plain wickedness. Yes, to be fair it was greed. I just wanted more, more of everything really but mostly time, but even that wasn’t enough. I wanted time that was unspoiled, without the slow rot. So there we have it, everything has a price, and a time comes to pay and so it did. I’ll tell you now, just what it was like. Continue reading “The Bargain by Diane M Dickson”
Final credits. Show’s all but over. One last tune from Ed’s iPod and the crematorium doors widen. I’m going where the sun keeps shining, through the pouring rain. Randall lurches outside, wobbles in a thank-god patch of sunshine. Going where the weather suits my clothes. The family shuffle themselves into a line-up: the deceased’s mother reaching just the shoulder of the deceased’s wife. Ed’s brother next? Very tall and looks a little like him. Ed’s children, the daughter only up to her uncle’s waist. A face she loves interrupts the protocol and the little girl’s smile slashes the dark fabric of today. Ed’s son, adolescent and alone at the end, arms meshed over the outrage in his gut. Here now we see the stiff bar chart of the family, offering some kind of analysis. Continue reading “Post by Jenny Morton Potts”
On Friday next week (21st November) we will publish a story by another author we hope keeps on patronising Literally Stories, Jane Dougherty.
Coincidentally, the story is called Friday.
We found it in our Gmail Inbox. Last Friday I think it was. It was a joy reading it.
You see, we love reading and are having a great time sifting through all the stories you are sending in.
So please keep sending them in and we’ll keep on reading them, and some – the very best, we’ll publish.
literally stories 