Sly spent the morning watching cartoons, finding it difficult to follow the plots. He was trying to remember something or other but his memory was like a dirty pea-souper. He smoked another spliff around noon and dreamt of the family but he remembered nothing when he awoke.
Paul D. Brazill

Advanced myeloma meant Mum didn’t have much time. I would phone every day, and though she must have felt lousy, she’d always ask about my latest story, get me to read it out loud. This was a humorous piece. I can still hear her chuckle. Best feedback I ever had.
Digby Beaumont

Tossing the broken bicycle to the parkway, the paramedic gazed at the sheet laid over the small body. His vision suddenly obscured by a kaleidoscope of images, he fell to his knees, besieged by ghosts of battered bodies, broken bones and memories from his life, like wicker woven through a [...]

The lawn looked like a friend not seen in years, new haircut and different smile. The windows stared down at the man who’d ran away one rainy-night, water on the sills like tears on lids. He stepped forward, returning. He was welcomed. Welcomed to explain what business he had from a man he didn’t know.
Lee [...]

The murky canal water is mirror-still. It is silent save a moorhen’s call and rustling leaves. I hold the rod firm in my hand, thoughtful. The float quivers. I reel it in, excited. There is no fish but a long white wedding dress, torn with dark blood stains.
Jo Hutton

Sally’s road was littered with corpses of good intentions, magnificent ideas, unspoken thoughts, impossible dreams, yet even with a map of all the dead bodies she had trouble knowing which path to take, she was unable to name her feelings of confused anxious hunger, so she blew soapy bubbles.
Craig Daniels

A bit of Hemingway-ish today, a six word story from Paul D. Brazill:
For sale. Double bed. Never used.

It was a supposedly foolproof cake; a blind, one-handed monkey with an inclination for cooking could make it.
I flushed the mud-like gooey blobs down the toilet and ran out to the bakery.
Thirty minutes until he comes home.
Five years together and he still believes I can cook.
Jelena Vencl Ohlrogge

‘The fancy dress party wasn’t exactly a flop,’ said Tina, tearing up a beer mat. ‘It was just that everyone went as a table and chairs.’
Lee smiled weakly , tried to think of a witty reply and lit another cigarette.
“Another beer”, said Tina.
“Yes, please,” said Lee, relieved.
Paul D. Brazill

The Nasdaq rebounded today on news that rapid growth in the burgeoning disposable-diaper industry serving celebrity purse-dogs had staved off massive dislocations in the personal assistant sector.  Only a late downturn in hand-sanitizer profits and wireless therapy slowed overall profits at the closing bell.
Tommy Mac