I died when my motor bike crashed into the wall and I was thrown under the wheels of the bus. One second I was riding along, the next, a screech of brakes and then… What? I was in a big open space. All around me there were people standing around, looking as bemused as I…
The Hard Way
“Come on, Peter, come on! “Sorry, sorry, I’m trying my best. I j-just can’t.” “For heavens sake! God, what kind of man are you? How can you leave me up in the air like this?” “I can use the gadget if you like? You know, that vibrating thing—” “Don’t bother. I’ve gone off the boil anyway…
Chasing the Dream
I met myself in the pub, where I’d gone to celebrate landing the part of handsome middle-aged surgeon Daniel Kane, heartthrob doctor in the brand new TV drama series Doctor Doctor, which everyone was saying was tipped for massive success. Being an actor has its ups and downs, and most of us have more downs…
Gone With The Wind
“Thing is, Jamie, when my wife died, my little girl took it hard.” Ray Tomkins was verging on drunk, chattering away almost to himself, even though he kept leaning towards me, to make sure I was still listening. “How do you explain to a three-year-old that her mummy has gone for ever?” Ray was a…
Angel
“I’m a murderer, see?” “Wasn’t it manslaughter?” “Well. . .” Gigantic Tony Clifford certainly looked like a murderer, with his huge muscular torso, shaven head and massive frame. The old-fashioned tattoo on his arm of a large anchor seemed somehow in keeping with our gloomy Victorian surroundings. Murderer or not, I found myself liking Tony…
Village Life
“See these hands?” said the elderly man who’d introduced himself as George, holding up his fingers to show me. “These are killing weapons. The army made me sign a form to say that I’ll never get into a casual fight, because I couldn’t be responsible for the consequences. If I hit you I’d kill you,…
A Different Story
As the flames grew higher I saw the little girl in the upstairs window. She was waving frantically, banging on the glass. I had been walking along the road shell-shocked, stunned, still reeling after having had the biggest disappointment of my life. You see, during all the time that I was desperately fighting to break…
Payback Time
“Did you know him?” asked the nurse as we looked down at the dead man, seventyish Harry. In the grey early-morning light, the hospital ward with its bed-fuls of weary suffering patients, looked as dismal as I felt. I really didn’t want to be here. “Oh yes, I knew him alright,” I answered, feeling a…
The Gypsy’s Curse
“I’m leaving you, you pie-faced bastard! My mum was right about you, you are a useless, talentless waste of space. What did I ever see in you?” So saying, my girlfriend Sue, threw her cup of tea in my face and flounced out of my flat for ever. It had been an unpleasant period in…
The Morning After
“What’s the matter, mate?” said the man who came to sit next to me on the bench on the seafront at Brighton. Seagulls were swooping and diving and screaming above us, my headache was getting worse, and I was on the point of wondering whether to go to Beachy Head along the coast, climb to…