It resurfaced from the pages of a book, fluttering to the floor from its position of responsibility marking a much loved verse. The writing was hers, but rounder, younger. Cracked and brittle now, it was once a letter to her new husband. Written but never bestowed. Lily read it with embarrassment. At twenty she had […]

“Different. I’ll give them different! How dare those critics say my work is stuck in a rut,” said the artist. “They deserve to get nothing from me.” And nothing is exactly what they got. He shaped and moulded a statue out of it. For the graffiti artists, he supplied invisible ink to deface it. For […]

“Here is the native species in a habitat similar to the one they would have originally lived in.” Janta craned her long, slim neck to ensure a better view. “They’re all so beautiful. Black, brown, white. The many melodic languages soothe me.” “I agree.” Her guide frowned. “But since they fought so much, their numbers […]

We are the farmers. The galaxies are our fields. We reap. We gather. We sow. It has been our calling for millions of years. We are nurturers. Keepers of all life. Shepherds. We keep a library of the most basic, and most complex, building blocks of all living things. Humanity called these DNA.  You are […]

It was my first time to have them so close to me. The resemblance was bewildering. I couldn’t tell who was who. But, after more than six years of being together, I can differentiate them even from their back view. I can no longer be bamboozled. More, is that I have come to appreciate their […]

Daddy, I’m scared.” The fishing trip on Loch Ness was not going as planned. A thick fog obscured the millpond-still loch, the silence deafening. “Don’t worry, Jamie, we’ll soon get to shore.” David rowed harder, trying to look brave for his son. He gripped the oars more tightly, as the boat suddenly sped up. They […]

Miss Penelope Nike confidently strides to the stage. Receiving her winning medal, she holds it high for all, and waves it through the four compass points. The new head, Mr Level, taps the microphone above the noise of the emptying hall, calling the puzzled leavers back to their seats. There’s just one more award, would […]

Did you watch the ”Time Team” last night Cuthbert? No Helen, I don’t like speed sports. It’s not a sports programme, it’s about Archaeology. What’s that then? It’s when they excavate an historical site to see what they can reveal about its past; sometimes by the broken pottery they find. I went to this Greek […]

“Mum, look at those birds over there!”“Yeah Scott, I can see them.”“Mum, where are they from?”“I can’t say precisely where they are from. I guess they should be from somewhere far away.”“Mum, what’s their name?”“They are Crows.”“I hate them. They are ugly. They don’t look like the Robin birds. The Robin birds are cute. Mum, […]

“Why can’t you see things the way your brother sees them?”“Mum, that’s impossible .”“You know I hate to hear that word, ‘impossible’.”“Mum, this time around you have to.”“Daniel!”“We are different. He can’t wear my shoes, though he’s my brother. Mum, do you know the challenges I go through every day?”“The ones I don’t see?”“How would […]

¨There’s so much virtue in difference but even more in accepting it,¨ yelled my friend as we walked hand in hand, marching in this year’s parade. Even though I wasn’t like her, I was willing to walk alongside her as she and many others embraced who they truly were. She taught me what being brave […]

Johanna watches the storm make landfall – wind howling, trees bending, rain lashing. Her orchestra awaits her baton. She started composing this piece when her professor first described a Category 5 Hurricane. It’s her doctoral thesis, a different kind of academic finale. The cadre of reporters will either describe a colossal failure or the jump […]