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Showing posts from December, 2024

IT'S COLD OUTSIDE

George sat at his kitchen table sipping black coffee looking through the window towards the dusty play area in front of the road. Smiling was what he should be doing but he had a distressing suspicion preventing the smile from getting any purchase. The dark-skinned girl sitting on his fence, on her own, took no part. He could see she was just sitting silently suffering. He thought about it but actually knew it was futile to intervene so stood, put the cup in the sink, took one last look then wandered to his study to continue writing what would be his greatest work, unaware that without even the need to intercede, he was in fact, the catalyst to the girl’s salvation.     The fence swayed gently in time with Lucy, rocking back and forth as she sat on the low post joining two sets of two runners, just watching. The huge guard dog behind her growled and snarled, spluttered and coughed at the same time. A long chain clipped to its choke-chain collar tightened as he tugged and...

THE GREAT DESENZANO LAUNDRY WAR - FIRST CHAPTER (unedited)

  Responding to requests for a TEASER this is chapter 1 of LAUNDRY WARS IN DESENZANO. The book will be available EARLY IN THE NEW YEAR. Details will be posted. Emily opened her eyes as the jolting tugged her out of a light uncomfortable doze brought on by the tedium of the journey. She felt a bump on her shoulder, then another but quite a bit harder as the train suddenly lurched rather excessively and the man standing next to her seat staggered and apologised. So many people crammed into the long narrow space all swaying to the same rhythm almost in perfect harmony yet completely divorced from each other.       It was ten-fifty Monday morning at least that’s what Emily Ellis’s watch told her as she curled back the cuff of her cream blouse. The reason she had looked; the six-forty-three train from Desenzano rolled and rattled and rocked through a multitude of point changes as it passed endless rows of houses and warehouses finally approaching Roma Termi...