John S Alty

Well done, J!
Apologies, John. I actually wrote something for this but never got round to tidying it up 🙁

Well done, Jeanette – super piece. Great comp, John!

Totally unexpected, thanks John. Need to go and put my thinking cap on.

Congratulations, Janette – nice work! And thanks John for the prompt.

Congratulations Jeanette. It is a stunning piece of writing. And thanks John for provoking such a great collection of stories!

Well done, Janette, and thank you John for releasing words I’d not anticipated writing. Thanks also for some brilliantly enjoyable reads.

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I sit on the park bench under the pines whose needles clog the spaces between its wooden rungs and whose scent mingles with the faint smell of urine and of the sweet green mould that covers the wood.

Children race around me, chasing after the leaves that whirl on the wind. I look for you in their faces. I look for me too. But we are not…[Read more]

Captive No More

Immovable behind a wide table, the five children sat strangely motionless. From tallest on the right to smallest on the left, they patiently faced an audience seated on ten rows of scarlet-topped hotel ballroom chairs.

The tallest child spoke first. “My name is One,” he said quietly, but loud enough. “I am the oldest. I am…[Read more]

Patience undoubtedly a virtue (308 words)

In the same way that Christmas cards seem each year to embrace a different theme – last year it was robins, the year before gold-embossed letters and musical notes – this year’s trend in ‘In sympathy’ cards appeared to be fallen leaves. Drifts of them, beneath trees, along kerb edges, gold and yellow sc…[Read more]

Steps of passing ghosts

‘Trees are at their best when they’re turned into timber,’ said Norman as he picked the large golden leaf from his decking, crushing it in his hand. He had searched for ages to find this house with no trees in sight. There had been a spruce in the garden when he moved in, that the previous owner said had been a Chris…[Read more]

A Coat of Many Colours

Her debut frock had been remarkable enough. Clouds upon clouds of fragrant petals laced together with birdsong; an ode to spring. Dressed for the occasion, she rose from her slumbers to a reveille of golden trumpets, gathered in bands around her heels, and coloured the air with fragrance … though the show soon moved on.…[Read more]

And thank you Ath for setting the competition and giving us all helpful feedback. Apologies for not mentioning this before.

Congrats John and HMs, and thanks Ath, for the challenge and kind feedback.

Congratulations, John. I loved your yo-yo story. And thanks for organising, Ath.

Ath, you say the loveliest things. Thank you. And thanks for the comp.
John, congratulations. You opened a window into something quite special.

Well done, John. And thanks Ath!