Blog, Creative Shorts, New Writing

The Witching Lake

It was our first summer at Lake Roake.

The white sands that surrounded half of the lake’s shore made you think you were in Hawaii rather than England; actually, it was probably somewhere near Lincoln. The lake, a giant crater, wide and deep, was surrounded by trees that kept its secrets from leaking beyond the wooded perimeter. The far side of the lake was so far it almost felt like an ocean when the sun set in the distance and obscured any hope of seeing the faint image of the wood opposite. Pinwheel roads that jutted out from the lake were mostly hidden by the trees, but when you reached the end of each road, the view opened and the white sands dared you to cross as the lake beckoned with glittering reflections, in the day – of sunlight, and in the night – of moonlight.

Mum had specifically avoided holidays near water after the time we rented a cottage with a tidal river at the end of the garden and no fencing. Nightmare, just a nightmare, was all she said for the whole two weeks, who would rent this house to a family with toddlers? I kept having to tell her to forget about it and that if we went now, the law about access to water with children around had probably changed anyway. The twins were now seven and knew how to swim, old enough according to Mum for a summer holiday by the lake. Mum spent the week before in a frenzy of list making – beach towels, beach chairs, goggles, swimming costumes, sunscreen, sun hats, picnic basket, floats – you name it, and Mum jammed it into the car.  

“A summer of bliss,” Mum said smiling as we finally drove east with the car piled high.

Dad was meeting us at the cabin after work. Mum said that he would be in and out all summer commuting to work; she felt we needed a car as well, justifying a two-car holiday for one family of five. For me, it meant that I was able to sit in the front, away from Isla and Lynn, and control the music from my phone. I was twice their age and the gap between us grew larger each year.

“Rosemary, turn that off now and read me the directions from the owner.” Mum handed me her phone. “Look in my mail – Ameila Waterbone.”

I scrolled and found the email and read: ‘It’s the largest lake in the area. Fresh water with the power to magically heal. It’s what remains from the formation of glaciers hundreds and thousands and thousands of years ago.’

“Rosemary, please, the directions? She said the post code doesn’t take you to the right place.”

I scrolled down and read: “For the southern approach – take the ring road counter-clockwise to the east exit to Hill Street. Pass Lake Roake Park, pass Madison’s Farm Shop and the boat launch and there…there it is.” I said pointing at our cabin. It was not so much of a cabin but a large house with a porch and a view with access to the lake.

Isla and Lynn jumped out and Mum screeched after them laying down the rules for the lake. “Don’t go off of the porch without an adult. Don’t go on the sand without an adult. And don’t for any reason, and I do mean any, go in the lake without an adult.”

I started hauling in our luggage. It was less altruistic and more selfish; I figured if I helped unpack, I’d get to choose the best room. I was right. Mum was pleased and I chose the room at the front of the house that looked out onto the lake; the best part was the balcony, something Isla and Lynn weren’t allowed to have – they might fall out, or jump, basically Mum found it a problem for them as they were just ‘so unpredictable’ in her eyes.

I took my journal out of my bag, opened the door and stepped outside to take in the view. My journal does not document my life or have any deep dark secrets, not really, just words or thoughts. And so far, this lakeside holiday was pretty good. I wrote:

Arrived at Lake Roake. Sunny and warm. Bedroom at front of house. Bed has a yellow and pink patchwork quilt. Balcony. View of white sand and lake. Imagining I’m somewhere exotic and far away. Feeling good. Not at all jittery. Only three lies so far today. But it is still early in the day.

I count my lies. There’s nothing to it. I just like counting them. Most people don’t even know when I’m lying and sometimes, I make a column for lies people recognise and a column for lies they don’t.

I opened my suitcase. I had decided to live out of my suitcase. At least to start. I didn’t want to waste a minute of the sunshine. It could change so quickly. I put on my bikini and a beach dress. I pulled my dark hair up and piled it on top my head as I slipped on my flip-flops. I slung a blue and white stripped beach bag over my shoulder. I had already packed it with sunscreen and a towel. I grabbed my phone and water bottle and headed out to the sands. Isla and Lynn were already parked in front of the iPad and didn’t see me leave. I closed the front door quietly and felt the freedom of the lake calling me.

The trail was easy and led directly from the house to the sands. To the left and to the right, not a single soul could be seen. Maybe tourist season hadn’t started yet, I thought. Mum had said that the lake was one of the less visited, hence why we could get such a good location at late notice.

As I walked, I let the pure white grains sift over the top of my feet; they looked like strange sand creatures from a science fiction movie. The water at the edge of the lake was a deep blue almost as pure as the sand. I videoed my feet, the sand and the water. The edge of the lake seemed shallow, and there was no tide, it just seemed to heave or pulsate towards the centre. I put my phone and water bottle into my beach bag and let the bag drop to my feet, then I slipped off my dress and left it on top of the bag. Security. Someone would have to move my dress before they stole my phone. An effort.

It was only three steps to the lake; I approached slowly. No, I approached cautiously. As I stepped into the water, allowing the coldness to flow over my toes, a boy’s voice screeched at me, “NO! GET OUT!”

I jumped back and dislodged the white sand sending it flying as I fell backwards.

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

“Hey. What’s the big idea?” I said brushing the sand off of the palms of my hands. “Has there been a chemical spill or something?”

“No. Don’t you know? They’re supposed to tell everyone.” The boy said.

“You’re crazy.” I said standing up and headed towards the lake.

“You can’t go in the lake.” He said and moved to block my way.

“Back off.” I said stepping around him. But he moved again. His blond hair fell in his eyes as he formed a barrier between me and the lake.

“As I said…” He spoke very slowly and calmly and pushed his hair off of his face. His dark eyes were wide and serious. “You can’t go in the lake.”

I pushed him out of my way and as he fell, I quickly walked around him. Before he could stop me, I marched into the lake up to my knees but jumped backwards almost immediately. The water was icy – icy like a snowy mid-winter day. The blood in my veins ran cold and it gripped my heart. But it was not the cold or the pain that tightened in my chest, it was what I saw in the middle of the lake. She was there, in a small boat, just for a moment.

“Are you okay?” He knelt next to me. “Look, I told you not to go into the lake. I saw…I saw you arrive with your Mum. Why don’t I help you back to your cabin? They should have really told you.”

I blinked. There was nothing there. On the lake. No lady. No boat. I let the boy help me to my feet. It made no sense.

“What’s out there? On the lake?” I asked him as I picked up my dress and threw it over my head.

“Nothing’s out there on the lake. It’s what underneath.”

I hitched my bag over my shoulder, I said, “What’s underneath?”

“Look. No one goes in the lake.”

“That’s stupid. We’ve come here for the summer and can’t go in the lake? We’re going to roast in our cabin. No pool. No lake. Nothing.”

“The risk is huge if you swim in the lake.” He said. “Look. It all began a long time ago. But you know what happens if I tell you a story and then you tell it to someone else. It changes a little bit with each retelling, however, even if the details have changed over the centuries, it’s still about love and death, you know. There was a lady, in a time before all of this, who was in love. And as you’d imagine, it was a tragedy; she lost her love. But the anger that followed, well, was unlike any anger anyone had known, and festers will all of the bodies that lie at the bottom of the lake.”

“That’s crazy.” I said but even as the words came out of my mouth, I wasn’t so sure.

“Look, hundreds of people have drowned here. And all I’m saying is don’t be a statistic for this summer. There’s a pool in town.” He said holding out his hand. “Evan. Maybe we could go together?”

“Rosemary.” I said taking his hand, shaking it tentatively and vaguely agreeing. “Alright.”

The pool would be warmer at least, I thought. Evan ran off before we reached the end of the path to the cabin.

I pushed the door open and Mum was talking to someone in the kitchen.

“Hey.” I said as I entered. “I met this kid called Evan and we’re going to check out the pool later in the town. Is that okay?”

The lady stopped mid-sentence and Mum said, “Rosemary. That’s not funny. Who told you to say that?” She turned to the woman in the kitchen. “Violet, I am so sorry. I don’t know what to do with her sometimes. Since the accident, well, the lies are just continuous.”

“I’m not lying. A boy called Evan told me not to go into the lake.” I insisted.

Violet stood up. “I think I’d better go.” She said as she shook her head at me.

“Rosemary, this summer is a chance for a new start.” Mum said as Violet left.  “I thought you said that you would try?”

“I am trying.” I insisted.

“Then set the table and stop lying.” She said as she handed me two plates.


All pictures and writing are my own unless otherwise credited. Permission must be obtained before any image reproduction and credit must be issued in any image reproduction or quotations. 


Bedside Table Reads, Blog

Longlist Read: Love and Other Thought Experiments

Hello!

This week I have read Love and Other Thought Experiments by Sophie Ward from The Booker Prize Longlist 2020. At the heart of the narrative is the relationship between Rachel and Eliza, their son Arthur, and Hal (Arthur’s biological father). These characters and their relationships form the springboard for a series of explorations of amorphous realities, what it means to be human and to love.

Each of the ten interlinked chapters begins with a thought experiment: Pascal’s Wager; The Prisoner’s Dilemma; To Be a Bat; Philosophical Zombies; What Mary Knew; The Chinese Room; Twin Earths; The Ship of Theseus; Descartes’ Demon and Gilbert Harman’s Brain in a Vat. The reader, almost as a psychologist, examines the characters within each experiment and must expect the unexpected with changes in point of view, time and space.

In Kafkaesque style, the narrative opens with Rachel who believes that an ant has crawled into her eye while she slept, ‘Something bit me…In my dream…it bit me…it’s gone into my eye.’ Eliza doubting her responds, ‘Nothing there…do you want some antiseptic?’ This singular event brings their very relationship into question with Eliza contemplating ‘in their four years together she had often felt like this, there and not there, connected, yet keeping a part of herself separate’. Regardless, they conceive Arthur on ‘Friday 24th October 2003’, time speeds ahead, Arthur is born – years pass, and Rachel is diagnosed with a brain tumour all within a few pages. It is only with hindsight that the shift to artificial intelligence and science fiction becomes clear and that initial references such as: ‘program’, ‘Helloworld’, ‘uses crt’ and ‘(*Here the main program block starts*)’ begin to make sense.

Once traditional narrative understandings are suspended, Ali, a new character, is introduced in the second chapter, whose memory of swimming out to sea to get a ball where ‘He couldn’t swim hard enough with the ball in his arms but he didn’t want to let go of it’ initially seems to have little connection with the characters in the first chapter. Ali’s story transitions throughout – a different time and location, the Mediterranean or London? It is only in the third chapter that Ali is linked to Elizabeth (Rachel’s mother) in their youth, again a different time and location – Brazil.

The most unnerving chapters are those written from the ant’s (fourth chapter) and the perspectives of Artificial Intelligence – AI (ninth chapter). The ant’s perspective, in the fourth chapter is voyeuristic where the ant ‘watch the sleeping human forms…the rise and fall of their bodies’ to the dangerous where it watches ‘the human women dream and feel the impulse to be closer.’ The violation of Rachel by the ant ‘the first touch of skin’ and the ‘walk over the face’ to find ‘the smallest openings, along the pink ridge of the eye’ is more than unsettling. Similarly, the exploration of Rachel’s brain and tumour is unnervingly described as ‘the soft flesh of the tumour is embedded in the back of the woman’s brain’. Equally, the revelation of Zeus, as the ‘operating system’ reveals the ‘moment in human history when technology advanced enough to allow machine intelligence to connect and learn and from that point become autonomous’ puts the seemingly divergent narratives into perspective. Again, the narration bends time and space. Arthur, an astronaut, exists because of artificial intelligence. Artificial Intelligence (AI) describes this as ‘we need each other, Arthur, and it is this version of you that has the greatest chance of success’. Time shifts to ‘the fourteenth day of May 2041, human years’. Narratives shift, Rachel has not died of a brain tumour. There is ‘this world’ and the ‘other world’. There is ‘this Rachel’ and the ‘other Rachel’.

The story of Arthur and his family, traversed realities and times, bringing the reader to a future world of artificial intelligence. Beyond A Brave New World of Big Brother, Sophie Ward transports us to a time in the not too distant future where Arthur wants to ‘tear the implant from his head’ and ‘let the wires fry’ but Zeus, reading his mind, his body and his vitals placates him. Arthur is ‘a lab rat and the lab was in his head’. Love and Other Thought Experiments is a premonition, nay warning, in true science fiction fashion, of humanities fast track to a brave new dystopian society, inhabited by a part-human, a part-artificial intelligence species.

Themes: relationships, love, death, humanity, human behaviour, artificial intelligence, parenting, family, destiny, fate, reality, truth, philosophy, psychology, time, science fiction, thought experiments, utopia, dystopia.


All pictures and writing are my own unless otherwise credited. Permission must be obtained before any image reproduction and credit must be issued in any image reproduction or quotations. 


Blog, Creative Shorts, New Writing

Ys of Brittany

When the gates of Ys were opened,

and the city consumed by the sea,

its beauty, a secret, lies in wait,

for the first to hear the church bells ring

and there to rise as king.

The journey to Brittany had been uneventful. We arrived at the port early, queued, had the buffet breakfast with hot chocolate and then spent the rest of the journey in our cabin watching movies as the engine drummed the ferry through the low waves. As usual, there was some who didn’t know how to lock their car without the alarm and as the ferry rocked, car alarms sounded, and as usual, Mum cursed the owners, asking how hard was it to look up a video on the internet, but with earphones in, I could hardly hear them.

The drive from Saint-Malo hadn’t changed over the year. The towns and coast were familiar and comforting like an old, warn sweater. Our house was not really a house, but rather an ancient grey stone villa with turrets and a tower, set high on a cliff top in much need of renovation. Jaded, Mum had said, preloved. But the thick dust on surfaces that we had not covered with old sheets at the end of last summer told another story. Each year, I discovered something new about the house, like it was waiting for me to be old enough to know its real secrets. The house was far too big for just Mum and me, but it was an investment, she insisted, for us girls. An investment that would take decades to realise, if ever, as she insisted on doing the work herself over the summers.

You’re going to love it, she’d say, when it’s done! And when would that be? I’d reply.

Every summer it was the same. Every summer she discovered something new that needed to be fixed and added it to the list because over the winter, the house would give into its age like a degenerative disease so that in the summer when we took one step forward, the house had already taken two steps back.

I couldn’t argue about the view. Sunsets, when it wasn’t raining, were spectacular. But that wasn’t very often. Mist, fog and rain were as staple as milk, bread and cheese. If anyone approached by boat in the fog, they were doomed to crash into the rocky base of the cliff; I was sure that numerous boats sank just below with the crews sacrificed to the grindylows who would drag them under with their elongated, sinewy fingers to become sea ghosts. On clear days, you could easily see the boats coming.  There was no hope that they’d be able to dock at the cliff base and would have to sail along the coast to the village.

Being a teenager this year, I was sure things would be different. And they were. I had to do more work. Mum said that my first task was to clean out the room at the end of the long hallway on the left and she would start in the first room on the left. There were twelve rooms in total. Five on either side of the hallway and two at the top of the house. Eventually we’d meet and clean the middle room together. It was a cute idea, but when I opened the door of the last room, I realised the huge task ahead. This would take most of the summer.

The room was damp, even in the July heat, with four rickety single beds in dormitory style and motheaten bedspreads that did not match – patchwork quilts of reds, oranges and yellows jarred with the blue-green wallpaper of flowers and birds. The wallpaper was torn at its joins and in some places, pieces were completely gone revealing the plaster work beneath. Mum had given me a bag containing: cloths, polish, window cleaner, bin bags, adaptors as well as a mop and bucket and a hoover. She had packed two in the car this year and I thought she was crazy, but perhaps she did not underestimate the job at hand.

Under the windows, which spanned the length of the wall, were three low, long bookcases. That was the best part of the room. I took one of the adaptors out of the bag attached it to the hoover and plugged it in to a dodgy socket; the hoover roared to life. I detached the arm and sucked up the dust on the books with the end of the hose. When I’d just about reached the end of the row, an envelope flapped out from between the books and jammed against the hose, the hoover struggled to suck it down and the flat of the envelop puffed in and out like lungs expanding and contracting.

I slammed the off button with my foot and silence returned to the room. The envelop fell to the ground with the loss of suction and lay partially open at my feet. I rested the arm of the hoover on the wood floor and picked up the envelop. It was yellowed and the edges were disintegrating, like the rest of the villa. I removed the letter; it was three pages and began: Dearest Daughter and was dated: 1820. I shivered and suddenly felt like an intruder in someone else’s life. The writing was hard to read, and I moved closer to the window for better light. The letters were small, and the cursive writing in italics was a mix of English and French. My French reading was very bad, so I tried to make out the words I could: regret, obliged, reluctant and weeks. On the second page, there seemed to be a warning: beware, below the sea, flooded, dam. The more I looked at the words, the clearer they became, and on the final page it seemed less like a warning but more of an invitation: paradise, beautiful, secret, waterfall, lake, ancient, regenerate. It was signed: Your Loving Mother with a postscript in bold capital letters that I could easily read: Find the keys, trust your heart, follow your feet and seek the eternal: Ys.


All pictures and writing are my own unless otherwise credited. Permission must be obtained before any image reproduction and credit must be issued in any image reproduction or quotations. 


Bedside Table Reads, Blog

Shortlist Read: The Gifted, the Talented and Me

Hello!

This week I have chosen to read ‘The Gifted, the Talented and Me’ by William Sutcliffe from the YA Book Prize Shortlist 2020. Sam is fifteen, happy with his life in Stevenage and happy being ordinary. All this is about to change as Sam’s parents call a family meeting.

Sam, his older brother Ethan (seventeen) and younger sister, Freya (seven) assemble to what they think is the announcement of their parent’s divorce, only to discover their Dad sold his company. As a result, they are rich. Not only are they rich, but his Mum has quit her job and they are moving to London. This inciting incident jettisons the family to Hampstead and Sam and his siblings into the North London Academy for the Gifted and Talented.

Written in the first person, we are privy to Sam’s confusion, angst and search for himself in all its humour, sadness and easily relatable teenage experiences. His initial reaction, ‘Hang on…what do you mean goodbye, Stevenage?’ sets the scene for Sam’s difficult transition to life in Hampstead. Sam’s Mum believes that ‘mainstream education is restrictive and conformist and obsessed with pointless targets and stats.’ By sending them to the North London Academy for the Gifted and Talented, she explains she ‘is going to set you free to find out who you really are!’ While Ethan is musical, and Freya, artistic and draws a ‘puppy, a unicorn and a kitten sitting on a cloud under a double rainbow’, the decision is described ‘like getting out of jail halfway through your sentence’, Sam wants to know why they are ‘sending me to a school for weirdos?’

To further complicate Sam’s life, his Mum is on her own journey of self-discovery. Her workshop shed at the back of their Hampstead house is for throwing pottery and she starts a blog on the theme of ‘motherhood and creative rebirth’ much to Sam’s horror as she describes her children as ‘F__, seven and already a burgeoning artist; E__, seventeen, a highly talented musician; and S__, fifteen, a little stranded between the twin states of childhood and adolescence…’ and further writes ‘For S__, things are not so easy. He’s a very straightforward boy, and the unstructured approach is a great challenge to his rigid male brain.’  The public revelations of their personal family life set the scene for further conflict between Sam and his Mum.

Equally horrifying, Sam discovers at school that ‘Kicking is a violent act.’ and ‘Ball games are fine, up to a point, as long as they’re not competitive, but football is out.’ Talentless, friendless, and ‘feeling…a bit weird’, Sam feels ‘doomed’. But then he meets Jennifer, ‘the ringleader’ of the ‘I’m-beautiful-and-I-know it’ group who was ‘so stunning she didn’t even need to try’ and Sam’s school experience begins to take a turn for the better. He also meets Marina, from the fashion set, ‘the only person who ever greeted me or seemed to actually notice my existence’ who was wearing a ‘reconfigured bath mat’ when they met. The scene is set for Sam to find navigate his way to fitting in and getting a girlfriend.

The internal monologues are highly relatable, realistic and humourous:

‘OPTIMISTIC BRAIN: We have to audition for the school play. That is exactly what Ethan said we should do.

PESSIMISTIC BRAIN: You’re only saying that to get closer to Jennifer, even though you know she’s a snobby, up-herself princess who thinks you’re a total geek. We should stay away from her.’

It is the school production of ‘The Tempest’ where Sam is launched into an unexpected world as he auditions for the part of Caliban and takes his revenge on bully, Felipe (Jennifer’s boyfriend). In a hilarious scene where Sam is paired with Filipe, they are tasked with mirroring the other person in real time. Sam imitates a monkey and begins to ‘pick fleas out of my fur and eat them’ and then begins to ‘groom him, messing up is complicatedly gelled hair, picking imaginary insects off his head and putting them in my mouth.’ Sam realises that ‘onstage, I could be as ridiculous as possible’.

‘The Gifted, the Talented and Me’ is an exploration in finding out who you are. While that sounds serious and philosophical, Sutcliffe skilfully navigates the ups and downs of trying to fit in and remain true to yourself with scenes that are as painful and cringeworthy as they are funny. Will Sam fit in, find his talent and ultimately will Sam find himself?

Themes: coming of age, identity, sexual identity, family, teen years, fitting in, being average, friendship, first love, being yourself


All pictures and writing are my own unless otherwise credited. Permission must be obtained before any image reproduction and credit must be issued in any image reproduction or quotations. 


Blog, Creative Shorts, New Writing

The Hills

I didn’t want to visit the old man. Every summer, at the end of August we drove from South London to Oxfordshire. The Chiltern Hills! – my mother would exclaim every time as we transitioned from city to country living. Like the hills were something new and majestic rising up out of the earth, a surprise every summer. Just look at those rolling hills – it’s really something, she would say nodding at me to acknowledge the awe of the countryside. Under her breath, she would whisper, breath-taking, just breath-taking. And, like every year, I’d nod, draw my knees up to my chest, rest my flip-flops on the leather seat of the car and put my nose in my phone. My friends would post about holidays abroad: Barbados, South Africa, Madagascar. Me. Some lousy hills outside of London with the old man.

The house sat in acres of land and was always cold and damp, even in summer. It had been raining and the old man greeted us in his wellies and mac. He wore a coat, even in the heat of the summer. It wasn’t a farm but there was more land than you could ever imagine living in South London.

“Come in. Come in.” The old man said. “Tea is ready. Carrot cake from ‘The Tea Cosy’ too. Best in the village.” He hadn’t changed. His salt and pepper beard tidy but with a hint of scruff.

“Dad. You know we talked about this.” Mum said.

I looked from Mum to the old man. Some secret pact had occurred. She knew I wouldn’t come if I knew I’d be on my own with the old man. She took my suitcase out of the car and put it on the gravel.

“I’ll be back next week.” She said giving the old man a hug.

“Mum!” I whispered through gritted teeth as the old man took my suitcase into the house.

“I have to work this week. It’s only a week. It will go quickly and before you know it, I’ll be back, and we’ll have the whole next week together.”

A week alone with the old man. A week where I could be lying on a sun lounger, drinking mocktails, swimming in pools, getting my nails done, or a hundred other things. Mum’s car sped off and I was left alone with the old man.

“You’ve come at just the right time. We’ll have the tea when we get back.”

“Mmmm.”

“The blackberries are calling.”

“Mmmm.”

“Here, you can’t go over the hills in those.” He said pointing at my flip-flops and handed me some wellies. They must have belonged to the old lady. I zipped open my case and pulled out some socks. The wellies were a bit tight; the old lady must have been small. Smaller than a fourteen-year old. I caught sight of myself in the mirror. Shorts and wellies.

“Let’s go.” He said shutting the door.

“Aren’t you going to lock it?” I asked.

“Who’s going to steal anything way out here? Anyways, I haven’t got much to steal.”

Well, I had, I thought. I had my computer, my iPad, my jewellery and clothes all neatly packed in my case ready to steal.

“Please can we lock the door?”

Reluctantly, he took a skeleton key off of a hook by the door and tried to turn the lock. It was stiff but eventually he shifted the catch and the door locked. He slipped the key into his shirt pocket and picked up two large tin pails and pointed at the other two for me. I carried both in one hand and my phone in the other. Reception came and went, and eventually I gave up and pushed the phone in the back pocket of my shorts and carried one pail in each hand.

We walked for what seemed like hours. Along tracks and through fields. The damp remnants of the rain evaporated into the afternoon sky and I wished I’d brought my water bottle. Fresh air, he kept saying, nothing like it, does a world of good. It was hot and my feet sweated in the wellies.

“Watch out for the fairies.” He said as we approached a small bridge over a stream. I laughed. He thought I was five.

“Sure thing. I’ll watch out for the fairies.” I said laughing.

He talked a lot about fighting in the war. Flying spitfires. He was an ace, he said. He talked of his sweetheart. Before the old lady. The love of his life. She was a spy, he said, the best there was. Infiltrated the enemy and helped win the war. Killed in action, sadly, sadly, he would mutter shaking his head. I guessed the old lady wouldn’t have been so happy to hear that his ‘sweetheart’ was the love of his life. The more we walked, the more he talked about the war, getting shot down in enemy territory and being a prisoner.

He stopped. There were briars as far as you could see. In between the prickly shrubs, blackberries hung heavily. He picked several and filled his mouth. The black juice stained his fingers and lips with blood wine stains. He reached out and started filling the first tin pail.

I stepped closer to the briars. Nettles scratched my ankles and I was glad for the old lady’s wellies. I pulled one of the thick blobs off and popped it into my mouth. The sweet juice exploded. I picked another and another. My fingers grew mottled and sticky. The old man hummed as he picked. He must have been hot in his mac. I wished I had put on sunscreen and in between picking, eating and filling the pail, I paused in the small shade of the bushes. I filled one tin quickly, ignoring the thorns that pricked the skin of my arms, my blood mingling with the purple blood of the blackberries.

The old man stopped humming. I turned just as he tilted over, still holding the pail, like he was suddenly shot, blackberry juice dripping from the side of this mouth. He landed with a thud in the nettles and brambles.

I dropped my pail. The blackberries spilled out onto the weeds and grass.

“Grandpa!” I shouted. His eyes were wide and his face stiff. I shook him but there was no response. I ripped my phone out of my back pocket. There was no reception.

“Help!” I shouted. “No! No!”

We were in the middle of nowhere. I pulled the skeleton key out of his shirt pocket. I started to run, key in one hand, phone in the other. The wellies slapped against my calves. Through the fields and tracks and as I reached the fairy bridge, my wellie jammed between the planks of wood and I tripped. I held tight to the key, but my phone landed in the stream. Leaning over, I pulled it out and let the water drip off as I continued running.

The greens of the hills blurred until the house came into view. I shoved the key into the door. It stuck. I couldn’t shift the catch.

“Open, damn it.” I said and wished I hadn’t made him lock the door. The latch shifted. As I called an ambulance, I caught sight of the tea on the table, the carrot cake from ‘The Tea Cosy’, three place settings, the water in the kettle, waiting to boil like a still life painting. Hurry, I said as much as to the emergency operator as to myself. I closed the door, and left the key on the hook and the door unlocked.

It felt like I was gone a long time. It couldn’t have been that long. But the sun had shifted and when I returned, Grandpa and the spilled blackberries were withering in the sun. The flesh of the once plump blackberries, broken, spread out in the grass rotting. The sweetness seeping into the ground, the remains, sour. And Grandpa, lying still, as if part of the earth already.

Inspired by: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney


All pictures and writing are my own unless otherwise credited. Permission must be obtained before any image reproduction and credit must be issued in any image reproduction or quotations. 


Bedside Table Reads, Blog

Shortlist Read: Burnt Sugar

Hello!

This week I have read Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi. I am still working my way through the Booker Prize Longlist 2020, but the Shortlist has recently been announced, with Burnt Sugar being one of the six listed.

Burnt Sugar, written in the first person, is set in the Indian city of Pune. The narrative follows Antara’s present life and flashbacks to her childhood. The two narratives mingle with intertwining events as Antara tries to make sense of her relationship with her mother. Antara was named after her mother, Tara. She explains that this was ‘not because she [her mother] loved the name but because she [her mother] hated herself.’ The name, Antara, being opposite to Tara or ‘Un-Tara’.  Antara sees this not as a way of differentiating them, but rather that they were ‘pitted against each other’.

Throughout the narrative, Antara attempts to understand her past and her mother’s decision to leave her father and join an ashram (spiritual retreat). The past pushes through the narrative, influencing the present, challenging what Antara understands to be the truth or perceived truths.

Antara struggles with the present. Her mother seemingly suffers from early onset dementia, though her brain scans are normal. Antara seeks doctors and researches the disease stating, ‘I have read that the disease is caused by insulin resistance in the brain’ or ‘some studies…link cognitive health with problems of the intestines’. The absence of her father leaves Antara isolated in the care of her mother. Even her grandmother had ‘only one positive memory […] of her own child’.

The actions of Antara’s mother are unpredictable and at times dangerous. However, this unpredictability is echoed in Antara’s childhood, specifically when mother left her father, when they were beggars and when she was sent to boarding school and was ‘already in the car when they explained to me where we were going’.  

The anger Antara feels towards her mother simmers as she is forced into a position not only care for her but prove that that there is, in fact, something wrong with her. This complex relationship oscillates between resentment for her childhood and her duty as an adult. Recalling her year at boarding school, Antara describes how Sister Maria Theresa ‘without warning, stabbed the pencil in the back of my palm’ and how she had to hold her ‘soiled sheets above my head’ as her ‘classmates walked past […] giggling under their breath’.

Antara states that ‘my mother leaving my father, and my father letting us both go, has coloured my view of all relationships’. The theme of dysfunctional relationships extends to Antara’s own relationship with her husband, Dilip. She contemplates leaving him, even ‘packing a small handbag’ with her ‘passport and some jewellery’ only to return that evening with Dilip unaware of her actions.

This dysfunctional relationship between Antara and Tara is summarised by the narration ‘I understood how deeply connected we were, and how her destruction would irrevocably lead to my own.’ The fragility of the relationships is laid bare through the exploration of memory and ‘remaking memories’ into the ‘image of what other people remember’. The making and remaking of memories is a consistent theme throughout with Antara wondering ‘if a falsehood is enacted enough, does it begin to sound factual?’

The strain of the mother-daughter relationship is clear. Antara’s anger at having to care for her mother throughout her cognitive decline leads her contemplate if she is ‘becoming my mother’. She further wonders if she too, would see her own child as ‘a competitor or, rather an enemy’.

Through unravelling the past, secrets are uncovered, and the line between reality and falsehood blurs revealing two generations of women who struggle as mothers. Burnt Sugar is a soul-searching narrative of motherhood and the ‘striking sensation that life is short’. As the title suggests, there is a residue of bitterness that remains for Antara, the relationship with her mother and even for the reader.

Themes: memory, betrayal, mother and daughter relationships, betrayal, Alzheimer’s, love-hate relationship, parenthood, postpartum depression, dysfunctional relationships, motherhood, class inequality


All pictures and writing are my own unless otherwise credited. Permission must be obtained before any image reproduction and credit must be issued in any image reproduction or quotations. 


Blog, Creative Shorts, New Writing

Underground

She had a plan. That’s how it began. We had sat in silence for some time when she leaned over to me and said, she had a plan. No one could possibly guess the thing she proposed we do. At first, I thought she was funny. I smiled. I even laughed out loud. But as she kept talking, I realised that she was as far from funny as you could get. She insisted that the fact that we were strangers made it all the better, me wearing a cheap dress and her, a school uniform – a generic blazer and pleated skirt.

I would do it. What else are you to do when you’re put on the spot?

Now, anyone would have thought meeting a stranger in the train station and agreeing to do anything was mad. The madness, I think and still believe, was with the stranger and not myself. It was only my curiosity that led me to agree in the first place. And curiosity is not madness. It’s not madness at all, is it?

This particular train station was deep underground. The arched walls were high and carved out of the rock. There were no tiles or plaster to lessen the feeling that you were deep underground. As you descended the steep escalator, the air changed about halfway, a noticeable shift from the fresh, dry air above to the damp, chilled earthy air below. It latched onto your skin and as you breathed in, it felt as though you were taking part of the earth into the core of your lungs.

When I had reached the platform, a mottled blood-red laminate stretched for as far as the eye could see and disappeared at the far end of the tunnel. Two parallel lines of dark grey pillars, like soldiers, held up the high rocky ceiling of the tunnel. If I shouted, I was sure it would echo. But I didn’t shout, even though the platform was empty.

The station was illuminated with what appeared to be operating theatre lights that hissed white light and the glare reflected dizzying white spots on the polished platform. Wires, thick as snakes, crawled between the lights. I kept my eyes focused towards the end and found a bench situated between two pillars. I slid the bag off of my shoulder and put it on my lap. I hugged it. Mostly to keep warm. But more because being alone so deep underground was unnerving.

From this position, all I could see was the charcoal tunnel that arched over the tracks; I could not see her until she was almost upon me.

And then it was too late.

Too late to get up. Too late move seat. Too late shift along without being obvious. We sat and waited. Little by little, more people arrived, and I loosened my arms from around my bag. It was then, as my arms relaxed, that she leaned over and said, “I have a plan!”

I should have left then. Moved towards the family with three children, or the businesspeople, or the tourists with their suitcases. But I didn’t move. I listened and nodded. And as it turns out, we did not live that far from each other. In opposite directions, but not far. We would walk out of the station, her to the left, and me to the right. And no one would be none the wiser.

“We could get caught.” I said.

But she was compelling, convincing and certain of her plan. We would walk off the train at our destination richer than when we got on. So, every other car, I grew in confidence, we put on a show worthy of an Oscar. Me doubled up in pain, and her blocking the CCTV with her body, light fingered, on repeat. I was nervous and thrilled as adrenaline flowed through my body. This was not her first time. She was too calm and careful. Too sure of herself from the start.

One train ride. I walked right and saw my reflection in the window of the chocolate shop as I left the station behind me. I was no longer the same girl. I was an accomplice. I was a thief.


Inspired by the Alfred Hitchcock movie, ‘Strangers on a Train‘.



All pictures and writing are my own unless otherwise credited. Permission must be obtained before any image reproduction and credit must be issued in any image reproduction or quotations. 


Bedside Table Reads, Blog

Shortlist Read: Furious Thing

Hello!

This week, I have read Furious Thing by Jenny Downham, from the YA Book Prize Shortlist 2020. Downham explores both the destructive and constructive natures of power and love in her novel.  It is about emotional abuse, teenage angst, the power to protect and being able to ‘open the Forbidden Door.’

The novel is divided by three fairy-tale style chapters, ‘A Tale of Love and Death, Another Tale of Love and Death and a Third Tale of Love and Death’, written in the third person reflecting Lex’s own narrative: It opens with, ‘Once there was a girl who grew up wicked. She slammed things and swore.’ These two opening lines, especially the reference to ‘wicked’ set the scene for the link between Lex’s world and fairy-tales reminiscent of the wicked stepmother in Cinderella, the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood and The White Witch in Narnia. References to fairy tales run throughout ‘like a fairy-tale daughter’, a ‘fairy-tale wedding’ and ‘it’s the thing fairy-tales teach us’ contrasting the ideal that is expected of Lex with the reality of her disappointments and struggles.

The main story is written in the first person. Protagonist, Lex (Alexandra), is fifteen and furious, she articulates clearly: ‘I felt pure rage’. Her anger seethes, simmers and explodes; we are privy to her confusion, reasoning, actions and reactions. She explains that, ‘Anger was something to believe in when the world let you down. And I roared with it.’

Fuelled by her mother’s fiancé, John, who taunts her continually with ‘Why do bad things always happen when you’re around, Alexandra?’, Lex rages against her home, school and the people close to her, as well as herself. The events all play against the backdrop to the run up to the wedding of Lex’s mum and John and Lex’s GCSEs.

Lex experiences see-saw emotions, particularly in relation to John, who tries to supress, control and manipulate her. She describes trying to control herself: ‘His anger rippled in me. I felt it in my chest, live a wave. Don’t get angry, I thought. Be nice…’ and ‘I took a breath and swallowed my anger.’ Lex’s rage, however, manifests itself as ‘a bolt of steel running through me’ and ‘the reddest, hottest feeling’ as she physically throws a chair through a window at school and the ‘glass exploded’. Lex’s actions are a representation of her frustration, anger and confusion. These actions are misinterpreted, manipulated and overpowered by John, to his own end.

Lex’s relationship with her stepbrother Kass fluctuates between brother-sisterly love and romantic love. Their innocent friendship growing up depicts a childhood ideal where they ‘scrambled up trees and hid under beds’. For Lex, and to a certain extent, Kass, this becomes an attraction even after he has left for university. This is a reflection of her mother’s relationship with John, while supportive also has the capacity to be destructive.

Lex’s connection with her half-sister, Iris, expands as the novel progresses and it is shocking for Lex when Iris asks her to ‘Do your furious thing.’ and ‘Do your monster.’ These descriptions of her actions, as seen from a six-year-olds point of view, reveal Iris’s understanding of how Lex’s outbursts are to try and control a situation that is out of her control. The reference to Lex as a ‘monster’, links back to the theme of fairy-tales and the idea of ‘wicked’.

Lex’s Grandad was her refuge as a child. Scarred by her last day with him, she carries the weight of his death and remembers how he taught her ‘about knots and how to climb trees and everything I know about nature.’ She channels her deceased Grandad throughout and is connected to him physically through a ruby necklace where she often ‘asks a favour from the dead’ and prays, ‘Grandad…help me nail this.’ We hope, that somehow, Lex’s Grandad can reach out from the beyond grave and influence her situation.

As her mother’s wedding to John approaches, John’s power, control and abuse extends to her mother and Iris. Lex desperately reaches out for help and turning to: her stepbrother Kass, her mother’s friend Meryam and her son Ben, her stepbrother’s ex-girlfriend Cerys, John’s ex-wife Sophie and even Monika (the other woman from his office). You would hope that one person in Lex’s life could see past her rage to the real emotional abuse at play.

Lex is strong, courageous, wild and smart. Her journey is a rollercoaster where she tries to face her fears, ‘being groped by drunk old men or threatened with doctors or being told over and over there was something wrong with you.’ We hope, despite the setbacks, Lex will triumph as a heroine.

Themes: abuse, emotional abuse, bullying, manipulation, power, control, strict parenting, love, friendship, family, relationships


All pictures and writing are my own unless otherwise credited. Permission must be obtained before any image reproduction and credit must be issued in any image reproduction or quotations. 


Blog, Creative Shorts, New Writing

Early Morning at Westbay

I hurled the stone into the sea.

I could have easily hit the girl with it instead. No one would have seen. If the stone was larger, I might have done so. But it was not big enough. There were no beach umbrellas or bodies lying awkwardly on brightly patterned towels forming a pallid landscape.

Westbay waited for the holiday hoards to awaken. For families with small children to stake their claim on a patch of the beach for the day. For young girls and boys run into the tide and skittle along the surface with boards. For ice cream and sodas to be sold by stands perfectly positioned along the beach front.

I searched for a larger stone. Clutching it tightly, I launched it again at the sea. The girl stood behind me. I never liked the beach, too much sand, shingle and salt. And I never liked the girl. Too loose-lipped, dull and dishonest. The girl moved closer, although the seaweed still separated us.

I moved nearer the groyne and picked up the largest stone yet. I tossed it in the air and caught it with one hand as I looked into the green eyes of the girl. I hesitated.

The girl swallowed and took a step back. I watched the girl shift her weight from one bare foot to the other. The cool damp of the early morning gave way to the rising sun and a boy with red baggy shorts ran towards the sea and shouted, “I’m going to be the first one in!”

The boy lifted his knees high, jumped over the low waves and then prepared to dive into the sea headfirst. He disappeared momentarily only to surface floating on his back and skimming the water with his arms and legs like he was making angels in the snow.

The breaking waves grew louder. And each crash begged me to do it, don’t do it, do it, don’t do it. This stone would do it. The shingle shifted with the girl. I just had to catch the girl off balance. I would be judge, jury and executioner.

The wind picked up creating a tinnitus in my ears, and the girl’s protests were lost. The girl was afraid of the beach and the sea and the girl was afraid of me. As I moved towards the girl something caught my heel. It sliced deep and as I lifted it off of the shingle, blood dripped from my heel and pooled in the crevices around the stones.

‘No!’ A woman screamed running from one of the houses that backed onto Westbay. ‘Where are you?’

She was in her robe and slippers. Her robe was open, and the sheer fabric flapped behind her like angel wings as she ran towards the sea.

‘Where are you? Help!’

I watched her run, immune to the pain of the shingle under her feet, and then stop knee high in the breaking waves. Her robe floated on the water and gathered, tangled, around her legs. The girl ran around me towards the sea, and past the woman screaming and dived into the water.

My heel throbbed and as I moved my foot, I caught sight of the sharp edge of the shell that cut it. I picked it up and threw it over the groyne in anger. I limped towards the sea leaving a trail of blood on the pale stones, cursing the girl under my breath.

I stopped beside the boy’s mother. She was crying. I scanned the surface. The boy was nowhere to be seen. The girl surfaced briefly and then disappeared. The sea dragged my feet with each stinging wave and little swirls of blood oozed around my toes.

The girl did not re-emerge. It was a long time. Too long. The girl. My sister. My twin. I let the large stone drop into the water.



Inspired by Ian McEwan’s ‘On Chesil Beach’.


All pictures and writing are my own unless otherwise credited. Permission must be obtained before any image reproduction and credit must be issued in any image reproduction or quotations. 


Bedside Table Reads, Blog

Longlist Read: Redhead by the Side of the Road

Hello!

This week I have chosen to read Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler from the Booker Prize Longlist 2020. It is the story of Micah Mortimer, an average forty-something who works as a self-employed tech support, ‘Tech Hermit’, a ‘super’ for his apartment block in Baltimore, ‘sweeping, shaking out the mat or conferring with a plumber’.

The second person narration in the opening line, ‘You have to wonder what goes through the mind of a man like Micah Mortimer’ has the feel of a chatty busybody whispering in your ear, almost asking if we should care about Micah. The narrative continues in the third person providing a distanced view of Micah and his current girlfriend Cassia Slade, ‘He has a girlfriend, but they seem to lead fairly separate lives.’ Similarly, his former girlfriend, Lorna Bartell is described as ‘so very, very sure of her principles’ again suggesting the space between them.

Micah is the story. There are no big plot twists or crashing conflicts. Rather, Micah’s life is quietly laid bare, with subtle storytelling that equals the balance he strives for in his life and is exemplified in the description of his daily routine, ‘At seven fifteen every morning you see him set out on his run. At about ten or ten thirty he slaps the magnetic TECH HERMIT sign on the roof of his Kia.’ The narration continues to follow his every step, including systematic spotless cleaning, as he keeps his life in perfect order, even keeping faithful to the ‘Traffic God’, pretending to adhere to an ‘all-seeing surveillance system’ when he drives.

The meaning of Micah’s life, and life in general, is addressed in the opening ‘Does he ever stop to consider his life? The meaning of it, the point?’ leading the reader to wonder if he will ‘spend the next thirty to forty years this way’, a state of paralysis and in somewhat of a minor existential crisis.

Interspersed between Micah’s routine are descriptions that languish in the fullness of building character and setting. Micah is described as ‘a tall, bony man in his early forties with not-so-good-posture – head lunging slightly forward, shoulders slightly hunched’. His client, Yolanda Palmer, ‘a dramatic-looking woman in maybe her early fifties with a flaring mane of dark hair and a mournful, sagging face.’ Equally, scene descriptions vividly portray the family life of his sisters in ‘the general impression, as always, was a tumult: noisy, unkempt people wearing wild colours, fog barking, baby crying, TV blaring, bowls of chips and dips already savaged.’ This depiction is in direct contrast to Micah’s ordered life. However, there is a certain degree of closeness between the siblings despite Micah being the youngest and his older sisters’ teasing him for being ‘finicky’ and asking if it is ‘vacuuming day’ or ‘dusting day’ or ‘scrub-the-baseboards-with-a-Q-tip day’.

Enter Brink Bartell Adams, ‘a young man in a tan corduroy blazer’. Brink is described as a ‘rich kid’, ‘handsome’, ‘a boy, really perhaps not out of his teens’. As a catalyst, Brink creates disarray in Micah’s life by claiming to be his son. Micah is forced to confront not only his past in the form a prior relationship with Lorna, but his current relationship with Cassia.

As his routines unravel, Micah struggles to understand his family and girlfriends. Although eccentric, he is a loveable character. Will his world fall apart, remain static or will he be able to propel himself out of paralysis and take action? Redhead by the Side of the Road is a love story that is delicately written, compellingly ordinary and easily identifiable in its realistic depictions as well as disrupted routines, with which we can all identify.

Themes: love, friendship, habits, routines, second chances, misunderstandings, hope, family, sadness, loneliness.


All pictures and writing are my own unless otherwise credited. Permission must be obtained before any image reproduction and credit must be issued in any image reproduction or quotations.