Trip to Barrington Tops 13 March 2023- 25 minutes writing blitz Following the MOST disastrous Valentine’s Day I ever had, worse than...

CRASH – shattering glass. “Yahooooo” with gleeful laughter – from the street.  Is this a dream? Rushing to the bedroom door, smelling smoke. I open and stumble into the hallway of smoke billowing up the high ceiling, the walls are a low orange glow.  To my left, there is fire under the back door.  It licks at the floor gap, five fingers of flame trying to grab a hold.  “Water – Fuck – Water”.  I rush to the bathroom, upend the bin and jam it under the bath taps.  Half full, I

I've called this story Flying.  I should point out that whilst we do travel a lot, this story has absolutely nothing to do with travel. ...

They’re picking the cherries one by one, and then by twos, and fistfuls. The wasps buzz as they move up the ladders. Up the tree, pushing past the branches, reaching. Fingers, arms, sides, legs, all scratched, red as casualties after a rough night down town. Impossible to tell whether the hum through the head is incipient heatstroke, tinnitus, or the cicadas. A woman laden like a tortoise with a wrapped bundle bigger than herself full of straw-like substance, rolling slowly u