“Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. . . .” It was a Saturday lunchtime, and I was doing my regular stint behind the confessional box screen, when unseen people nervously recited their offences, and I dished out the punishments, normally a number of Hail Mary’s to recite, after which I sent them on their…
The Greatest Lover
“We’re beautiful, we’re young, we’re sexy and we’re in love,” I said to Patsy, who was lying in bed beside me, relaxing after our lovemaking. “I should be ecstatically happy, having fallen head over heels for you,” she replied. “My goodness, Matt how do you come to be such a fantastic lover? I knew you…
The Ballantrae Strangler
The man was strangling a woman in front of my eyes. I couldn’t believe it was happening! I can still remember the terrible shock of it, my attention bizarrely drawn to his attenuated middle finger, cut off at the knuckle, pressed into the soft white flesh of her neck, then the moment her body sagged….
Second Time Around
“Oh I didn’t join the dating app to meet a man,” Caroline said, in between munching her way through a large mouthful of Duck A L’Orange, the most expensive item on the menu. I noticed some black sauce hovered on her lips before a large pink slab-like tongue emerged to sweep it away. “I just…
B Road to Manchester
The snow was falling faster, too fast for the wipers, banking up and whiting out the scene, second by second. It was a white world of misery, freezing cold, ice and terror. I gripped the steering wheel tighter than tight, but couldn’t fight the feeling of the car sliding once again on the freshly mounting…
Buyer Beware
“You mean that car has come back to us for auction again?” “Yes, there’s no mistake. That’s the third time we’ve sold it, the third new owner who wants to get rid of it after only a couple of weeks.” “So what the hell is wrong with it?” I’ve been the owner of Grenaby Car…
Time after Time
“Time,” Professor Braithwaite asked me. “What do you think about time?” “I don’t understand,” I answered, taken aback. Was it a trick question? “Come now, Peter,” the professor went on. “You tell me that you want to join our graduate course in parapsychology, the branch of science that looks into unexplained aspects of the living…
How to Save a Life
When I saw the child struggling in the water, I shrugged off my jacket and shoes and jumped off the bridge into the river below to rescue him. It wasn’t bravery. Because right at that point I was so sunk in misery that I honestly didn’t care if I lived or died. They say that…
Good Connections
I looked across and over the fantastic vista spread out below me. Sunny landscape, trees, fields and villages. Standing at the top of a telegraph pole is the best way on earth of seeing the world and its beauty, and I was thoroughly enjoying my new job. I thought back to my interview a few…
Outcast
“Hello Sarah!” I normally wouldn’t have looked down at the blanket-covered beggar who was camped out in the shop doorway, for his dirty clothes, straggly unkempt hair and silver stubble repelled me and I was anxious to get away. “Don’t you recognise me, Sarah? I’m Roger – you were my first girlfriend all those years…