‘I want a nectarine tree.’ I stifled a chuckle. My young grandson sighed longingly. My son shrugged. ‘We bought nectarines and now he says he wants his own tree.’ Oliver was staying with his dad for the school holidays. His mother lived interstate. New husband. New baby. She’d moved on. My son still struggled. Light […]

Ron stirs the bubbly mixture, savoring the scents of coffee and chocolate. He grins, imagining the joy on her face. Suzie the pharmacist has told him many times about the mocha balls served at her long-ago wedding. Ron always heard longing and loneliness in her voice, so he experiments until he has the concoction just […]

The sound of his teacher’s voice droned in Jack’s ears. Today the class was learning about writing. Jack hated writing more than any other subject. He could never find a topic that interested him. His mind started floating somewhere else, beyond the classroom. In seconds he was in a dark, damp castle. Sounds from the […]

A noise woke me up. Unlike the usual whine, this was a buzzing. I got up and bumped into my unfinished book. I reached for the window. The summer air was fresh. In the moonlight an insect flew around. ‘A ladybug at night?’ I thought. It slipped under my hand. It felt watery when I […]

“Ten, nine, eight…” The countdown crackled over the speakers and grated against Mary’s ears. Her heart pounded in her head, competing against the countdown for Mary’s attention and supremacy over all other sounds. The seat belt bit into her padded suit, pressing her back against the seat. She stared up through the visor on her […]

So fragile you came into our lives. Not even a handful, in shades of grey, black and white. You lay in an old small toy box, not covering a quarter of its base. I was afraid to care… to show affection… convinced that you would not survive that day. The walls around my heart went […]

Villagers trekked from the far reaches of the land and those who could not walk were carried – this was the night of Syrots. The throng gathered shoulder to shoulder, forming a crescent before the blazing fire that rose high into the night sky. Children on shoulders pointed and laughed at the shadows that danced […]

The brush was ruined. It lay on the table – paint, red as blood, dry as bone, adhered to its bristles. In contrast the canvas lay bare, insufferable in its nakedness. Sarah cast her eyes around her studio. Frames and canvasses were stacked, paints arranged, brushes ready. There were no reasons, no excuses to delay […]

“Children, be careful not to let the onion skins blow away,” warned babushka. ”It’s taken me months to collect all those. And don’t mix the brown ones with the red, Karl Gustavovich. Remember, it’s the brown skins for the red eggs and red for the blue ones. On Easter day you can choose your colour […]

The message rolled out in an orchestrated wave that rose with the sun in cities around the world. It appeared on highway billboards, on hoardings beside city streets, in newspapers, and on radio and TV. Online news sources carried the story, as did the Twittersphere and other social media channels. The message to worldwide governments […]

I watch him from the sidelines, my leader of men. He walks through the camp, touching a shoulder here, bending to better hear a conversation there. He looks over to me and winks, smiling that special smile he saves just for me. He’s so gentle here, among his people. It’s hard to believe that he’s […]

For Sale… one muse. Best offer. The advertisement in the window caught my attention as I procrastinated after shopping, knowing I should be home finishing my story if I were to meet the competition deadline, but filled with sabotaging self-doubt. Perhaps I needed a new muse. My old one had served me well, providing excellent […]