Short Stories to Entertain

A Devil’s Bend and a Bunch of Flowers The blue car screeched around the bend, flew past the cyclist and disappeared up the road at more than  enough speed. Dust kicked up off the country road. Dried mud from all those tractors. It pooled in the air in a long stream and followed in a trail blanketing the distance in a kind of haze. The road was narrow. The car passing close made the cyclist wobble, stop and get off his bike. He looked along the road following the passage of the car. It disappeared over a slight rise in the long straight section just before the sharp bend that was out of sight but he knew was there. He heard a loud screeching of brakes, a rolling bashing noise ending in a very loud crash. Silence except for a stuttering half-hearted horn that struggled to continuously sound. Holding his bike in one hand the cyclist just stared at the small cloud of dust that was appearing above the hump in the road. Gave a kind of that was inevitable shrug, mounted his bike and...

A Quiz and Tussled Hair The aluminium ladder banged against the wall with a rattling crash resting just below the large first floor window. The window to the main bedroom at the back of the house. Diamond pattern leaded lights fixed into old Crittall metal frames mounted in dark oak frames. The glass shapes distorted, slightly buckled where hot summer sun expands the tightly fixed panels. The fanlight was open. The curtains were closed. The sound of running water and sploshing. A bucket was being filled from the outside tap. The changing pitch indicating that it was nearing capacity. A whistling as the man picked up the bucket and started to climb the ladder. The curtains were open. The fanlight shut. He reached window height standing near the top rung and proceeded to clean the window. Inside there was movement as the husband and wife, both up and dressed, were going out the door and down the stairs. Alan Durban has been cleaning windows for years. Has an established round w...