Morning Walk

Sally is on her morning walk. She's pacing, puffing; her heart rate high, her body alive. As she passes the homes and their gardens she steals a peek. Even stops to smell a rose at a house with a front yard taken straight out of the botanical gardens. 'Morning!' Sally jumps, startled by the voice…

Barry’s Funeral

He's no longer in pain. It's better this way. He fought a great fight. It was inevitable. These are all phrases that Sylvia hears as she makes her way to the front of the chapel. They grind against her grief like crunching gears. Oh, she knows they mean well, but people have no idea how…

Witness

'But I don't even understand why you had to go there,' Betty said to her eldest child, Anna. 'Mum, I'm a grown woman. I can go where I like.' 'Well, now you're in a bit of a muddle, aren't you?' Anna stared into the space just over her mother's left shoulder. Mum was right. She…

Phrase for Timmy

'So nice to meet you,' I say to Ariella, as she leads me inside her home. I'm picking up my son, who's been at the house for a sleepover with Ariella's son. They've become best buds, inseparable, but I've never met Ariella at school pickups and coffee mornings as she works full-time. Some key position…

Katrina’s Cat

Katrina was sulking. Oliver was yet to notice, so she pushed her lips into a more pronounced pout as she went about her weekend chores. Running the vacuum over the carpet, she noticed scratch marks on the wooden legs of the dining table. 'Bloody cat,' she muttered under her breath and dragged the vacuum nozzle…