Writers in Touch
Henry Curry • 1 April 2020
A story in second person...
Eternal Love or Something
It’s just typical of you, this. You never noticed anything, did you? I could have stood on me head, naked, in a bucket of blancmange and you’d have just said ‘Pass the remote, love.’ Remember that time when you got left to take the kids to your Auntie Seraphina’s wedding because of me haemorrhoids and our Hayley had her skirt in her knickers in all the photos. Typical of you that. And of your family an’ all. Not one person thought to put her straight. You never used to notice when I’d got a new hairdo, or any time I’d got a fancy frock on. Never notice it was time to paint the fence or pump up me tyres on me bike. And what about that time when the back bumper of the caravan caught on that old boy’s mobility scooter? Twenty seven miles the poor old sod was strapped to us. On his way to the corner shop, he was, and ended up in ruddy Skegness. How could you not have noticed him? And now this. Did you not wonder why I’d stopped cooking your dinners and darning your socks? Or why I’d stopped arguing about wanting to watch Downton Abbey instead of the ruddy motor-racing? Had you not noticed that you’ve had to actually go into the shops yourself recently, instead of sitting in the car listening to the rugby? Why do you think you’ve had to iron your own shirts and remember to put the bin out on a Monday? And if you think I’m dancing with you at the Lindy Hop, you’ve got another think coming. I’ve kicked the bucket, you daft bugger. Not that you’d notice, eh?
Fiona Dudley
It’s just typical of you, this. You never noticed anything, did you? I could have stood on me head, naked, in a bucket of blancmange and you’d have just said ‘Pass the remote, love.’ Remember that time when you got left to take the kids to your Auntie Seraphina’s wedding because of me haemorrhoids and our Hayley had her skirt in her knickers in all the photos. Typical of you that. And of your family an’ all. Not one person thought to put her straight. You never used to notice when I’d got a new hairdo, or any time I’d got a fancy frock on. Never notice it was time to paint the fence or pump up me tyres on me bike. And what about that time when the back bumper of the caravan caught on that old boy’s mobility scooter? Twenty seven miles the poor old sod was strapped to us. On his way to the corner shop, he was, and ended up in ruddy Skegness. How could you not have noticed him? And now this. Did you not wonder why I’d stopped cooking your dinners and darning your socks? Or why I’d stopped arguing about wanting to watch Downton Abbey instead of the ruddy motor-racing? Had you not noticed that you’ve had to actually go into the shops yourself recently, instead of sitting in the car listening to the rugby? Why do you think you’ve had to iron your own shirts and remember to put the bin out on a Monday? And if you think I’m dancing with you at the Lindy Hop, you’ve got another think coming. I’ve kicked the bucket, you daft bugger. Not that you’d notice, eh?
Fiona Dudley
The Write Path 2025 anthology is now available in paperback from Amazon, and ebook format from many digital book platforms (including Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Everand, Thalia, Smashwords, and many more!). It comprises the winning entries and judges’ reports from our members’-only competitions, along with the first, second, and third place winners of our open poetry and short story competitions, and the winners of our 250-word Spooky flash fiction competition. The ebook version (ISBN: 978-1-7384361-8-7) is priced £2.99, and the paperback version (ISBN: 978-1-7384361-7-0) is £7.99. For more information, click the Books2Read link and then select your preferred retailer: https://books2read.com/twp2025 And if you missed any of the previous anthologies, check out the links below: 2024: https://books2read.com/twp2024 2023: https://books2read.com/twp2023 2022: https://books2read.com/twp2022 2021: https://books2read.com/twp2021 2020: https://books2read.com/twp2020 2019: https://books2read.com/twp2019 My thanks go to everyone on the committee and the judges for their help with gathering everything together to enable me to produce the anthology, and to Liz for her proofreading assistance! Simon Whaley
New 250-word flash fiction competition theme of LOVE - Hurry - closes on 10th February!
Members can go to the Members Only page (you'll need the password) and read stories that were a little too long to fit in the normal Link magazine - see the section marked 'Fiction Special' --> HERE