Halloween 2020, but just another working day for Cora. The usual crush on the bus left everyone clinging to the handrails as the driver lurched to a standstill at each stop. Most of the staff were back working in the office this month, including annoying Neville who continually popped round his perspex screen to lean […]
I knew my teacher hated me; my suspicions confirmed when she assigned me to Crazy Daisy for our social studies project. We were to help older people in the community with gardening and odd jobs. Daisy lived at the end of my street in a cottage with an extensive garden; once beautiful but now overgrown […]
Time with the cousins was always interesting, especially as I was the youngest and the only girl. “If you don’t want us to think you’re lily-livered, you have to go over the gate and touch the tree,” said George. “But, Grandpa said we mustn’t.” The sun had almost set, the shadows in the garden long. […]
Yellow, orange, and red maple leaves vied for attention on our front yard tree. Our neighbour’s ginkgo seemed to transform itself from green to a uniform yellow overnight. Pumpkins and other gourds adorned walkways, stairs, and porches. Some were carved into jack-o’-lanterns while others remained pristine. Skeletons hanging from tree limbs swayed in the autumn […]
Three trick or treat witches, exploding with excitement, ran to the enormous creepy cottage standing solitaire and situated at the end of the cul-de-sac. As they careered closer, a coinciding luminous light leapt out from the cottage’s stained glass window. The children carefully crept up the rickety, rackety ragged wooden porch steps. The steps cowered […]
Isobel smiled. Adorned in a pink frilly dress, with bouncing blonde ringlets tied in a bow, she looked identical to the doll in Ellie’s new bedroom. Isobel had made her promise not to tell anyone she was there, which Ellie had agreed felt like the most fun secret, and the two had soon become the […]
“It’s another lonely evening, in another lonely town…” I sing softly to AC/DC while raindrops amplify on my car’s window frame as my windshield wipers go in the same motion over and over again. Repetition. Life is a cycle of existential dread but I shall not succumb to just complaining. I was going to do […]
It wasn’t a true autumn yet. It was that strangely warm time of season, when the last drops of the summertime boil dripped into the peak of the October days. The skies became grey with the colors of change, and the fried shades of orange and yellow lay sleepily on the grass, their fate resting […]
Topical events are always worth researching according to young Mary. She rarely leaves home, apart from attending school, preferring the company of her computer screen. She discovers All Hallows’ Eve combined both Christian and Celtic observances. It was a time when boundaries between the living and the dead were blurred. A gum wrapper blows through […]
Alvin and Cherry placed wreaths and lanterns along the riverside next to their house. This Halloween was their most anticipated one. This year Dad said they could wear costumes and go for trick and treat. “Mum is stitching costumes up for us!! I am so excited! I have been watching makeup lessons the whole October!” […]
The Autumn days were growing darker and damper, and although we made it to the patch days before Halloween, pickings were weak. Except one, a glorious pumpkin with an orange gleam that Lily grasped tight the whole journey home. The next day I grabbed an old dull knife for carving, only to find it sank […]
“You don’t mind, do you?”“Not at all.” Pubs weren’t much fun if you couldn’t drink. I fancied an early night anyway. Pregnancy makes you tired.“We’ll be cosy here,” said Mildrid. “We can watch an old film and have some hot chocolate. At least we won’t get bothered by trick-or-treaters up here. Not on a night […]
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