Early morning work day. It’s raining damn hard. We bicycles wait at a traffic light. One tends to pull the chin down when it rains, hide the face. Not so for the two people in front of me. He and she. He has small dreads, a muscular ass and legs. He casually leans on one […]
moreHow many photos have I taken in my life? For a couple of years, I had even taken the effort of sticking photos into albums. My student life is therefore neatly arranged by date. Those albums take up a lot of space. They are full of smiles. They have become my memory of those years. […]
moreHer shoulders tighten at the sight of a construction drill. Her mood sinks. Not only have a dozen black men opened up the pavement right in front of her holiday apartment, the unforgiving sound of multiple sandpapering machines blast out of windows in the building right next door. From across the street comes the intrusive […]
moreI know a woman who keeps returning to places that were and no longer are. Maybe she is trying to undo the passing of time by reactivating the senses connected to the past. To the places of her childhood, places she never understood. Or maybe she is backtracking and searching the path she took for […]
moreThe little lady tells me, "one time, I sat there beneath that tree." "What tree is that?" "Pear." "One time, I sat beneath that pear tree and there was a man. He threw a straw in the waves. Then he dived after it. He never returned. I waited and waited. I think he drowned. He […]
moreThe dispute they had was about the following: Marina had taken her children to Ruby’s 40th birthday. And now it was Marina’s turn to turn 40. She asked Ruby to come over for an evening of wine and cigarettes. Just the two of them. Just like they always did and always will. They’d discuss books. […]
moreThe Ugly Duckling. Or call it Swan. We like to emphathise the positive don’t we? I wonder about the ugly duckling becoming a swan. Does this mean there is hope for every ugly child? But what if that child never becomes a swan? Will the chicken he meets keep biting him? We forget that the […]
moreThe first spring day. An 18-year-old girl on a bike. She has dark skin, jet-black curly hair that shines and bounces as her bike leaps over bumps. She is sending someone a text message. Her iPhone is in a case which has hearts on it. She is smiling. Then she is hit by a car. […]
moreThe great thing about a coastline is you don’t have to worry about where you’re going. You can walk and walk, and when you’re fed up you simply turn around and walk back.You can plant your gaze a few meters in front of your feet and you’ll notice broken shells, piles of rotting seaweed that […]
moreHere’s the thing. You want to pack your little boy’s things because he’s going on a holiday. With his dad, your ex. A word you hate to use. “His dad” is almost just as bad. And you want to pack his toothbrush and his cuddly toy and a pyjama and underwear and sunscreen and bandaid […]
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