Libby

Thanks, Janette!

Fuel

(385 words)

At dawn she was in the kitchen, a follow-on to hours of restlessness, the turning over under heavy blankets, a heart driven to pump quicker than usual, a fluttery stomach. She was sixteen. It was a relief to get up and do something.

The first person downstairs each morning had to check the Aga. The temperature gauge on its…[Read more]

Congratulations, Jill. A lovely story – and the song which inspired it is lovely too. I’ll be singing it all day 🙂

Thanks for setting the comp, Sandra. Congratulations also to Ath and Terrie.

My Birthdays, My Parents’ Wedding Anniversaries

‘Got to get you into my life!’ sings Mum. She and Dad have brought me, newborn, from the hospital. She sits at the kitchen table, cradling me, delivering the loud lullaby.

Or so she tells me, when I’m seven. We’re at the table again. I say, ‘I was already in your life. In your tummy and then ou…[Read more]

Thanks, Ath. I haven’t read Charlotte’s Web. It sounds rather traumatic and I’m a wimp about animals. Animal Farm was so long ago at school (did we even read the whole thing?) that I was thinking I should read it again. Beasts of England by Adam Biles, a recent version of Animal Farm, was interesting, worth reading.

I hope you’re able to enjoy…[Read more]

Hi Ath, this is great good news. What a relief it must be. I hope you’re able to resolve the remain issues. I hope you can get out and about a bit too, especially now the weather is improving.

Take care.

Heavens, Ath! I’m glad you (and Mrs Ath) are now recovering. Thank you for telling us what you’ve been through. Take care and take it easy.

Thank you, Janette!

That’s a great shame. All best wishes to Ath.

How about finding another judge?

Could anyone else reading this be willing to judge the comp? Five delightful entries. Then the winner can set the April comp.

Running

499 words

My sister’s boyfriend dumped her so she booked a day at a willow-weaving workshop – in the countryside, calming and therapeutic. She’d make a sculpture of a hare though she’d never seen one in real life. Ironic, I thought, as she’d never seen herself either.

I admit the dumping had been nasty. Sis waiting to meet the…[Read more]

The February comp has drawn a delightful selection of stories.

@jillsted Jill, you do an evocative encapsulation of Isabel’s memories of different kinds of love. Her memories are compelling, a sense of her moving through a full life. The ending has a twist, if I’ve read it correctly, that adds a shiver to the story, a question of whether Lydia’s…[Read more]