I walk through the field towards a solitary rock. The sheep regard me with contempt. I suspect that the rock marks an important site. There’s nothing to indicate that this is so, except for a feeling within me. I stand toe to toe with the modest monolith. The feeling intensifies. I KNOW that this rock … Continue reading Solitary Rock
A child cries. Se doesn’t want to go to church. A dog barks. He wants to chase the motorcycle. A car horn sounds. The driver is tooting “hello!” The picture window is the perfect place from which to see it all, and it’s been this way for the last hundred years. The glass is so … Continue reading Picture Window
As the voyage drags on, the steerage cabin fills to the brim. My fellow passengers are gradually losing all their money to the banker who, each night, cleans up our savings in a game of Mexican monte. He’s the only passenger aboard who can afford to sleep in first-class, but he’ll be staying with us … Continue reading The Island
Someone has painted the ground yellow! There are swirly yellow ribbons painted all over the city square. The are kids all over the place too, with their heads down as they follow their own footsteps. Some are avoiding the cracks in the pavement. Some are stepping ONLY on the cracks in the pavement. Little people … Continue reading Yellow Brick Road
A man sits at his battered piano, in a little church, on a weathered hill top, overlooking the sea. The church has a Crucifix carved into one pediment, a Star of David in another and a Star and Crescent in another. There’s a Hindu Om, a Druid Triple Spiral, a Wheel of Dharma and an … Continue reading The Fruit Trees
The mass spectrometer shows the presence of organic compounds, brass and a little bit of steel. The technicians have used the top-notch lab machine that doesn’t even need to make contact with the specimen being tested. It can scan the specimen from a distance. It’s safer that way, considering the fact that they don’t know … Continue reading The Enigma Device
“Dead Motorcyclist Found 100m From Road” reads a newspaper headline. Gary is sitting at the breakfast table sipping orange juice. He’s a retired truckie, and he knows a bit about everything. He examines the accompanying photo. It says it’s a picture of the stretch of road near the place where the body was found. Gary’s … Continue reading The Towie
Every day I walk home from school the same way. I step off the bus and cross the road. As I reach the crack in the path I duck my head under the cherry tree branch, I squeeze between the hedge and the brick wall, and then I’m home. Today there was a jagged rock … Continue reading The Creepy Old Lady
Walking through the Morton National Park, on the eastern end of Australia, I prick my ears to the strange symphony coming from the trees. The ranger told me to listen out for this peculiar song of the bush. It sounds oddly familiar. On the grassy highland plains where I grew up, the laughing would start … Continue reading Catalan Kookaburras
Kermit works at a print shop in the city. He hardly ever prints out photos anymore, but one day a man came up to print a single six-by-four. “Your name’s Kermit?” Said the man after reading Kermit’s name tag. “The Muppets were around in the seventies. Did your parents live under a rock?” Kermit was … Continue reading The Print-Shop
Tandi Tales 