“You must prepare yourself for the worst,” the doctor said, staring at us seriously. “You are aware that we can’t be sure of the outcome?” “But we know you’ll try your best.” Lynn’s mum could barely say the words before she burst out crying. It had been a tough twenty-four hours, and this was the…
Author: Geoffrey David West
Derby Day
I love working in a betting shop. I love the buzz, the excitement and the action, when you have to punch numbers into the computers, count out cash and listen to the sound of the racing results on the TVs all at the same time. But most of all I love seeing the smiles on…
The Red Jacket
“Well I like it.” “It’s awful. It doesn’t suit you.” “Well I like it and I’m going to buy it!” I was standing with my husband Gerald in the middle of the floor of the charity shop in the High Street, watching Gerald looking absurd, striding about wearing the bright scarlet jacket he was determined…
Writers’ Circle
“I hope you don’t mind me reading this one—I’m afraid it’s a little bit near the knuckle,” said the small middle-aged man with the beady eyes. “Good gracious no, no prudes here, Cedric, anything goes,” said Camilla Upton-Sleeve, beaming benignly at him behind her huge spectacles. Cedric was a newcomer to our writers’ circle, a…
Touch and Go
“Aye it can get a wee bit lonely up here, it can indeed.” “I like my own company. Besides I’ll be busy.” “So you will, laddie, so you will.” As Angus Macready and I looked up at the sheer majesty of the fine stone walls of Cregallan Castle a wind whipped up and I felt…
Born Lucky
Everyone hates me. I’m an inspector for Accountancy Solutions. I’m the guy who swoops into your place of work when your boss thinks someone’s nicking money or goods, and goes through the accounts to make sure things are in order. And if they’re not, it’s muggins here who points the finger at the likely culprit. I…
Good for Something
“Gotcha!” We were touching, chest-to-chest. I could smell his sweat. The whites of his eyes and the ebony black of his skin were an inch away from my face. And I was scared stiff. I knew beyond any doubt, that I was a few seconds away from death or serious injury. This was in 1962….
Black Shuck
Tales of a large black ghostly hound have been reported for centuries from all around the British Isles. However ‘Black Shuck’, also known as the ‘Spectre Hound’ or the ‘Hound of Hell’, the huge wild dog that portends disaster to anyone who sees it, is specific to parts of Norfolk and Suffolk, especially in coastal…
Winner Takes it All
“You’ve won a million pounds.” “Are you sure?”
Cut to the Quick
“I cut off my husband’s penis. But then of course you know that.” “But you’re sorry about it?”