Scotch by night

The temping secretary started the day before yesterday, and he has barely had time to interact with her. What little interaction he has had, has practically taken his breath away. The way she fills that uninspired uniform, the way she walks, the curl of her lips and slight twinkle in her eye. These days have…

Abby is woken by the sound of a V8 and tyres against gravel. Both sources of sound are close to her head, and her head is resting on her arm, on the ground in a deserted 2:30 am petrol station on the outskirts of town. The first daylight is coming in along the ground, and…

The business trip took him to Budapest. Ten years had passed since Harald was last there, traveling on an Interrail ticket through Europe the summer after the fall of the Berlin Wall. On that occasion the availability of cultural experiences at ridiculously low cost had made a big impression on Harald. He had watched the…

Paul has spent a week of his summers in Norway for as long as he can remember. It’s just a fact of life that in early August he gets on the plane with his mum to visit Aunt Kristin at her cottage just south of Oslo, close to Oscarsborg. He hasn’t really reflected much on…

Babooshka It was a perfect operation. The target was a single male in his mid 30-ies working on both civil and military aircraft projects in Brazil. They had been able to monitor his actions on a dating website; for this he used his private iPad rather than the company PC, and hence he was free…

Finally, after about 6 weeks of acquaintance, he inserts his erect penis into her vagina.  There is little resistance. Too little, in fact. He is not really that horny, and she is very wide. This isn’t going to work! He is not going to ejaculate within a decent timespan – the unspoken contract is that…

‘So, is this the night when you finally tell us the story about the son of a preacher man’, A taunted her.‘depends’ ,B replied‘on what?’‘on you all having had enough to drink so you won’t remember the details. Just the general  outline’we’ve had enough’, A, C and D said as one. Clearly this was one…

The moment of death changes everything. From being to non-being. From being there, weak, pale, shrivelled, to not being there at all. Mark’s body was gone, and with it his soul and his presence. Judith looked at the objects that had lost their purpose with a hollow feeling, a non-feeling. She picked up the medications,…

John climbs the dimly lit wooden stairs. He is not sober, but not so drunk that climbing a staircase is difficult. He turns onto an equally dimly lit landing and walks down the corridor to the room he’s been assigned – number 9. He enters without knocking, and looks around the room of the Philippina…

Maria walks out onto the street from the dark stairwell and is struck by heat, light and smell from her city. It is an autumn afternoon and it is still hot. She is wearing a worn dress that extends below her knees, and she is hungry. Turning right she heads down the hill towards the…