Tag: american
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THE BALLOON
Here he comes, full of bluster, just like his president. He wasn’t ruining the holiday exactly, but every time that bellowing voice approached the pool area, the patrons visibly slumped. ‘Mornin’ y’all!’ He hefted his great bulk onto a lounger. ‘S’cuse me, boy! A little refreshment over here!’ The pool boy reluctantly answered the beckoning…
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PICTURE POSTCARD
He lumbered down the narrow staircase. Breath heavy, legs aching. His broad flanks brushed either side of the narrow, twisting spiral staircase. This was not why he had come to Belgium. Finally, he reached the bottom of the Belfort. Dolores and Brad were waiting patiently. ‘Okay,’ he managed a cheerful smile, wiping the sweat from…
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STRAWBERRY SWING
She’d had the idea while watching a gardening magazine show – apparently plants had emotions and responded to music and words. Perfect. She stripped down the old grand piano, rejigged the strings and hammers, filled it with grade-A compost and planted the seeds. She soon had a playlist – Rachmaninoff and Chopin went down best…
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THE PICTURE ON THE WALL
Another motel, another room, another picture on the wall. This one a broad wearing suspenders changing the tyre on a car. It wasn’t the worst one I’d seen. Too many pillows on the bed. I picked one up and sat it on my lap, my back sat against the huge cushioned headboard. The bedside lamp…
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PROVIDENCE
He was taken aback, seeing it suspended from the ceiling among the other examples of World War II fighters. The aeroplane had been dredged up from the English Channel, where it had sat undisturbed on the sea bed for forty years. The bullet holes that had ripped open the fuselage and destroyed the engine had…
Iain Kelly 