Author: Alexander Fawn

For the elderly pensioner, it was just another morning at the local shopping centre.

As always, her list was short. Now that she was on her own, her needs were modest. In fact, since his passing, her life had been modest; both modest and simple. She was grateful that despite her age she could still get about, still catch up with friends. Although, for a while now she had been feeling a sense of emptiness. Whenever this notion made itself felt, she had pushed it away. After all, it was only the silliness of an old woman. She looked down at her list again. She was almost done. One more item in isle four. Using her trolley as both a trolley and a walking frame, she headed back to the shelves of canned foods. She was trying to remember the colour of the can she liked. Once there, she looked up and found it. She stood still for a moment.

The girl packing shelves could see that the old woman was troubled. She went forward and asked, “Can I help you with something?”

“That’s kind of you, dear.” She pointed. “Yes, the cans of crushed tomatoes, up there, with the red label. Just one, thank you.”

The girl reached up and grabbed one. She smiled as she placed it in the trolley. Momentarily, their hands brushed.

She went back to her stacking, oblivious of the old lady watching her with eyes that were watering. That feeling came over her once again. She stood, pretending to read her list, but remembering. More accurately, trying to remember the last time she had been touched. Touched, by anyone.

It had been her grandson, months ago, holding his hand, looking at a small paper cut…

He was only young, but he always helped his mother with the shopping.

It was only a last-minute decision to pop into the supermarket for a couple of items. It just happened to be on their way home. She only needed bread, milk and a can of their favourite peaches. She had asked him to look for the peaches while she got the rest. The only place he could find them was in a very high stack at the end of an aisle. One of the tins at the bottom was sticking out a bit. He only had a moment to step back, as the whole thing began to fall apart and come tumbling down.

It didn’t take long for the entire tower to collapse, sending cans rolling away down the aisle, towards the checkouts and the main entrance.

At first, because the supermarket was quiet at the time, he was the only one to see what was happening.

Following the crash, it was only a few cans that managed to make it all the way to the front entrance and pass through the automatic doors. These were still open after someone had gone through only seconds before.

Three of them managed to roll out and travel across the entire length of the carpark, with only one making it all the way to the main road. It came to rest in the centre of the road, next to a white line.

It was only this one that caused the oncoming car to swerve and mount the pavement.

What followed… everything that came after…

Putting to one side the ghastly events that came about following this, it is sufficient to record here that following the statement given to the police by the boy, consisting mainly of an apology, was his final comment.

With heartfelt honesty he said that he ‘was only trying to help’.

Imaginings that take the mind,

And form the base of unborn verse.

A scattering of notions,

Of concepts light and dark,

Through happenings that dapple the world,

By the alchemy of the scribe.

–

To glide freely through flashing thunder,

Into a melodic sunset serenade.

This conjures so many metamorphoses,

Shapeless things that soar upon the wind,

Things brought out of nature,

Things passed, passing and yet to come.

–

The ritual worship of ancient rites,

The ugly splendour of desire that drives the wicked,

Frenzied unknown creatures that stalk the night,

Ruins that lay hidden for centuries waiting to be found,

Spiralling staircases disappearing into cloud,

Dice falling on a gamblers board.

–

Fabulous palaces, yet discovered,

Mirrors showing things not seen,

Echoes coming layer on layer,

Hidden temples in slow decay.

Dwelling on the unlikely.

Expecting the impossible.

Abstract things invented.

–

Both images and memories flooding in,

Creating sanctuary in verdant pasture.

Dead things being brought to life,

Lost souls and wandering spirits,

Noisy scenes and subtle thoughts,

Memories come and rhymes unfold.

–

Breathtaking monuments and holy fire,

Raucous pageantry and silent prayer,

Leaping fountains and churning streams,

Usurped thrones and raging battles,

Fiery realms and clear blue skies,

Stolen crowns and gilded masks,

Magic stones and mystic charms.

–

Spellbound forests and glowing crystals,

Powerful amulets and precious seeds,

Fantastical beings and alien forms,

Deepening shades and distant cries,

Paradise sought and dilemmas found.

–

All following a labyrinth within the brain,

A frustration like ink spilling from the pot.

All waiting to be born!

She had never shared with anybody the fact that she could return to those times, selectively.

Quite early in life she had found that she was able, not only to return to a past life easily, but could choose those where she had been a particularly interesting character. Once there, she was able to clearly remember and relive, the things that she did. She went back to the time she had, in a fairly recent life, had to sell her ticket for a cruise on the Titanic’s maiden voyage in 1912, as a result of falling from a horse and breaking her leg. There was the time, as a young boy he had gone with his father to witness the beginning of Filippo Brunelleschi’s construction of the great dome for Florence Cathedral in 1420.

Then, there was the time she had been part of the audience that had to suddenly flee the burning London Globe theatre in 1623. There was when, as a fellow student, he was studying at the university of Zurich when Albert Einstein successfully submitted his PhD dissertation in 1905. On another occasion, she and other workers in the weaving industry helped Swiss engineer, Georges de Mestral, develop the hook-and-loop Velcro fastener in 1941. One of her favourites was when he had been in the very field, next to the London’s River Thames, and watched while King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215.

With all this being the case, nobody could fully appreciate how it was that being a Sewer Cleaner in Bangladesh was so awfully disappointing.

They were on tour.

They both had a love of old buildings, mainly churches, and were taking in as many as possible during one week of their annual holidays. He had a list of places that they had put together, with the object being to visit as many as possible. They were now on their way to the place that was at the top of their list. They had pulled up in the carpark next to the oldest church in the country. It was still in public use, and part of a world heritage site. After a short walk around the grounds, they entered. As no service was being held, the building appeared to be quite empty. This gave them the perfect opportunity to look around at their leisure.

He marvelled at the fact that this had been a place where people could come and go since 597 AD!

It was during their separate wanderings that she had found the man. He was sprawled out in one of the pews, fast asleep, with a couple of tattered bags at his feet.

She beckoned her husband over.

“Look at this,” she whispered, “how disgusting!”

As much as he loved her, he couldn’t help feeling that she had missed the point.

The unmistakable voice of the detective in charge boomed out in the darkness.

He was calling the search off and calling it a night. The two uniformed officers who had been scouring through the disused warehouse with their torches for the best part of an hour were happy to be retreating from the place. The abandoned building was filthy and they were happy to oblige. The offender they were looking for, having been chased by the officers from the very scene of the robbery, was on foot. It was because of these circumstances that they believed he had little chance of escape. However, despite all this, he had managed to vanish into thin air! They were frustrated and more than willing to call it quits.

Meanwhile, the criminal in question was lying silently beneath several pieces of old sacking, having a quiet rest after a great deal of running. He would patiently wait it out in the dark for several minutes, until feeling sure that the coast was clear.

During this short period, he reflected on, and fully appreciated, his many hours of training spent at Madam Minerva’s School of Ventriloquism.

He should have been driving much slower.

The narrow road was unlit and the night seemed to have no moon. There was no reason for him to be in a hurry. The girl on the bike came out from nowhere. He felt the impact and jammed on the brake. Climbing out, he walked to the front. The bicycle was mangled beneath his front wheel. The girl had been hurled some distance away and was lying motionless on the side of the road. He knelt and felt for a pulse. There wasn’t one! He sat down on the verge, with thoughts racing through his head. His better self said he should make a call; get it reported without delay. The devil on his shoulder told him to move on. He thought about the amount of alcohol that was still in his system. He thought about his speeding fines.

As he drove away, he felt sure that the scene wouldn’t be discovered until first light.

In the days that followed, he could not shake off what he had done. Every time he allowed his thoughts to return to the decision he had made that night; an unavoidable guilt consumed him. He knew he really needed to make amends.

It was several weeks later that he returned to the spot at night, where it had happened. He had with him an item of atonement. He had taken a trip to a florist, away from where he lived. There, he had bought an expensive bunch of flowers. The road was deserted when he pulled up. He quickly laid them on the verge, and just as quickly drove on.

Of course, he had no way of knowing that she had never liked Lilies.

The man in the computer repair workshop was not at all happy.

In fact, he was in a dreadfully low mood. Despite there being two other technicians in the computer lab, it always fell to him to clean up faulty motherboards. He was thoroughly sick of it. As a result, today, he had been using cans of non-flammable freezer spray to repair faulty boards. This was done to rapidly cool components to detect intermittent thermal faults, dry joints and overheating problems. Dirty boards were always giving trouble. Even a fingerprint, left by an ignorant pc owner, can cause a short circuit. After all, it’s the most vulnerable part of a computer that controls everything!

He was thinking about this, along with an article he’d recently read in a science magazine about how the universe came about. The Big Bang theory stated that it all began at a time when every bit of the universe’s energy, even the tiniest speck of it, was compacted into a single miniscule point. Then, at the point when it exploded with unbelievable force, it sent matter out to create a vast number of galaxies and the entire universe, as we know it.

He had a plan slowly coming together. Although it was quite an unimaginable and utterly ridiculous notion to entertain, because of his extremely unhappy state of mind, the thought of it was consoling.

All this was on his mind when the lab manager came by to ask how it was going.

Looking up at his boss, he said, “I have a plan.”

Taken aback by this, the other asked, “What sort of plan?”

The technician held up the can of freezer spray. “I would need an extremely large version of this. Plus, I’d need to travel back to the beginning. You know, the very beginning… the beginning of everything. Before the Big Bang.”

Confused and frowning, the other said, “OK. What then?”

“It’s obvious, isn’t it?”

“No, not really.”

“I’d give it a damn good spray before the rotten thing went off!”

The very patient, young philosophy student stood waiting behind the woman at the checkout.

He could see that the gum-chewing girl serving her was struggling with all the questions and grievances. The woman was obviously not happy about some of the items she was purchasing. She was asking why it was so hard to clearly show the use-by-dates on products, and how she had noticed a lack of allergen statements on some of the packaging, and how some items had inadequate storage instructions, and how some of the products don’t clearly state what the lowest amounts of sodium, saturated fat and added sugars are… It seemed to go on and on. He couldn’t help admiring the suppressed indifference of the checkout operator. As a student, he was studying stoicism at the time. He felt for her, so he cleared his throat.

The woman turned, glared at him, then carried on, saying “…and look, these cooking instructions are quite wrong. You should never wash raw chicken before cooking it!”

At this, the girl removed her gum and stuck it somewhere under the counter. Closing her eyes momentarily while shaking her head, she said, “Look madam, people buy these items all the time, we’ve never had any complaints!”

At this, the shopper grunted, paid and left.

The frazzled girl on the checkout ignored the student for several moments, while she watched the woman push her trolly through the centre, making for the exit. Then, she glanced back at the young man with a pained expression.

He smiled supportively. “That German guy, Friedrich, he got it right, didn’t he?”

She gave a frown that said he may well be her next problem. She sighed and said, “Sorry?”

“When he said, everything matters, nothing’s important, that is.”

She just stared.

“No one thing is important,” he went on, “because it all is. Everything matters and everything is important. That being the case, how do you prioritize importances? It’s a case of all or nothing… Friedrich went for nothing.”

She was still staring.

With raised eyebrows, he repeated, “I think he got it right, don’t you?”

She looked up at the clock while peeling the wrapper off another stick of gum. Popping it in her mouth, she nodded and gave him a tight smile. Then, after chewing for a bit, she gave a tired shrug and said, “Whatever”.

The young man was withdrawing twenty dollars from the ATM when he spotted it.

His remaining bank balance looked wrong. He knew he wasn’t that good with numbers, but it looked much too high. He reckoned that he should have around $120 in his account, not $766.34. When he got home, he went on line and checked. It appeared to be right, but he saw that a credit of $642.19, an odd amount, had been deposited overnight, bringing his balance to $766.34! He stared at the screen. He figured that it was some kind of error and the bank would correct it. For now, he would wait and see. He would check tomorrow and would likely see that it had been removed, along with an email of explanation and an apology from the bank. However, that didn’t happen. In fact, when he opened his account, he found that a further $642.19 had been added.

It soon became apparent that these strange deposits were going to continue to occur on a daily basis. After several months of this, with his bank balance nudging $200,000, he decided to make hay, while the sun shone. With this in mind, he quit his job at the scrap yard, bought himself a very nice suit along with several new outfits, a brand-new sports car and a two-week round-the-world cruise.

On his return, he found a letter from the bank was waiting for him. It was several days old and contained an apology for the clerical error. Noting that the mistake was not of his doing, the bank was happy to accept the repayments in moieties.