Author: Alexander Fawn

The two guys were backpacking when it happened.

It was when they joined the guided tour, visiting the region’s magnificent, jewelled cave, that things took a turn. The group, consisting of a couple of dozen tourists, all stood looking around in wonder, as the guide explained how the ancient formations came about. Then, to add just a little extra excitement to their visit, he went on to say that it was thought by locals that the cave was haunted by a very old spirit that protected it. After this, the group moved on, making their way along the platformed walkways, further into the next section. Everybody except the backpackers. They had the idea that it would be good to leave their mark. One of them took a penknife from his pack.

It was a good forty minutes before the crowd returned and passed out through the entrance turnstile, while the guide did a body count as a regular safety check. Finding that he was two short, and after bidding his customers’ goodbye, he went back in.

At first, he could find no trace of anyone left behind. Then, on the third search of going back and forth, using his powerful torch, he came across the two backpacks sitting in shadow. He also discovered a couple of dung beetles, frantically scurrying around. He was surprised, it was fairly rare for these bugs to inhabit caves, although it does happen.

Picking up the bags, he figured that he had miscounted. He would take the bags back and stow then under the ticket counter. These two would be back for them as soon as they realise that they had left without them. As was often the case, they were probably mesmerised by the incredible surroundings in the cave, as customers often are.

As for the bugs, he was not happy about them. The boss would be annoyed. He would say it would be bad for business if it got out.

Looking around briefly, he brought his boot down hard, crushing them and kicking the carcases into the shadow, before leaving.

The girl was digging around in the loft.

Her mother didn’t like her going up there because she said it was so dirty. This day, the family was out and she had the place to herself. There were all sorts; stuff that she didn’t recognise. Then, she came across it. A small wooden music box. Blowing the dust off it, memories came flooding back. Back to times when she was a lot younger. It was a gift from an auntie. She turned the key, wondering whether it still worked. Opening the lid, it began to play. The tinkling melody brought even stronger recollections of past times and the powerful emotions that went with them. Her eyes welled up with tears. She closed the lid and blew her nose.

Moments later, she was out in the garden.

With music box in hand, she took a large piece of stone from the garden rockery. Down the side of the house, she placed the gift on the ground and smashed it to pieces. These, she then gathered up and dropped in the dustbin.

She had never liked the horrible woman.

He stood, looking at his bride, smiling.

She smiled back, with a great deal of happiness in her eyes. The church was beautiful and quite majestic. It being their local place of worship, neither of them wanted to take their vows anywhere else. He was nervous of course, aware that both families were there, all looking on. He looked on the priest as a friend. They had both known him for a number of years. He had spent extra time with them in the evenings, going over what would happen, explaining what was expected of them on the day. Above all, he needed to repeat his vows perfectly. No mistakes!

Still smiling, he shook his head.

He gave the framed picture a couple more swipes with the dusting mop and put it back in the middle of the shelf.

It was his special anniversary routine.

He was convinced that it was the best thing for his pet.

He had never owned a ferret before. The vet who checked him out suggested he be vaccinated, as one can never really tell if his pet has been in contact with a rabid animal. He went on to say that he highly recommended that he be surgically neutered. However, as a loving owner, he wasn’t happy with the idea of putting Monty through the ordeal, if it wasn’t entirely necessary. With the ferret still on the inspection counter top, this turned out to be a long debate about the rights and the wrongs of it. Also, there was always the risk that the animal may not survive the operation. Throughout this discussion, he could see that Monty was becoming more and more restless. It was as though he knew what was being talked about and wasn’t happy with what was being decided.

When the day came, apart from a lot of struggling before the needle did its job, the surgery went well.

When the owner picked him up later that day, Monty was still quite drowsy. The vet recommended he keep him in for a day or two. When they got home, his pet slowly came round and became his old self again. He noticed that after spending some time licking himself, the animal began whining to go out. On the vet’s advice he was careful to keep him indoors.

This went well, until a momentary lapse on his part by not fully closing the back door when he came in from the garden. At this point, Monty flew across the back lawn, jumped the fence and took off.

Knowing that the surgery was only two blocks away in that direction, he decided to give the vet a call to let him know about Monty’s behaviour. Although he was thanked for the call, he got the impression that the vet didn’t take any of it very seriously.

It’s always easy to be wise after the event, but having received the call at three that afternoon, when the vet heard scratching at the back door of the surgery just a few minutes later, he really shouldn’t have opened it!

She knew it was high time that most of his personal stuff in the attic was cleared out.

At least three of the boxes contained all her late son’s old clothes. They had been there ever since the accident. As she looked through the items, transferring them into an old suitcase ready for taking to the charity shop, she felt the vivid memories of each item jolt her emotions. She knew this would happen, it being the reason she had left it so long. So many of her friends had encouraged her to do it in order to let it all go; to enable her to move on with her life. Her husband agreed, saying that it would help her find closure. She knew they were right, and despite the sadness that went with the task, she knew this was the thing to do.

It was about a month later, when coming out of the warmth of the local shopping centre into the biting chill of the morning that it had happened. She was making her way back to the car when she saw the lad across the road. He was sitting, propped up against a shop front begging for change. He was obviously homeless, but it was his age that made her stop and stare. After a few moments of hesitation, she crossed the street, opening her purse and taking out change.

It was with very mixed emotions when she saw one of her son’s old gloves held out to receive the coins.

He was coming out of a shop when he saw him.

It was a Saturday afternoon and the shops were busy; so were the streets. It was definitely him. No doubt about it. The opportunity had presented itself to catch up briefly. This was despite the fact that the man had never come across as a particularly pleasant sort of fellow. Despite this, seeing which direction he was heading in, he began to walk much faster, despite the crowds. Further along, he would cross the street, then head back. This would bring them face-to-face. The ploy worked.

Waving at him through the shoppers, he approached, saying, “Hello.”

The man looked puzzled. “Hello?”

“Excuse me, but can you tell me the time, please.”

Checking his watch, he said, “Yes, it’s a quarter-to-three.”

“Thanks. Don’t recognise me, do you?”

“I can’t say I do.”

“No, you wouldn’t remember. Don’t think you’ve actually ever said hello before.

In fact, when you used to be my neighbour, you never gave me the time of day!”

“Anyway, thanks,” he said, and walked on.

As he went, he couldn’t help thinking, now that wasn’t too hard, was it?

She was always happy to visit her grandmother.

Taking a basket of food to her on a regular basis was always a joy for her. Because the elderly lady lived in a cottage deep in the wood, this gave the girl the additional pleasure of walking through nature’s lovely surroundings of tall trees and colourful carpets of wild flowers. When she arrived, she entered very quietly through the front door. Knowing that her grandmother had come down with Covid, meant that her visit would be appreciated all the more. For this reason, she made her way directly to her bedroom, where she had been convalescing for a couple of days. Sure enough, she found her tucked up in bed.

“Hello, grandma.” she said, as she entered the dimly lit room. “I was so sorry to hear that you had come down with this awful virus.” Holding the basket up, she said, “I’ve brought you something nice, to cheer you up.”

“Oh! Thank you, my dear,” she said, with a gravelly voice. “You are such a good child.”

“You poor thing, your throat sounds really bad. Are you taking something for that?”

“I, eh, well yes, lozenges, my dearest.”

Frowning, the visitor said, “I must say, your eyes do look rather big. That could be the virus, I suppose.”

The other blinked a couple of times, and said, “Yes, you’re probably right, child.”

Leaning forward, the girl said, “Your ears!”

“What about them, dear?”

“I don’t know, they just look larger, somehow. Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude.”

“That’s quite all right, child.”

Squinting, the girl said, “Your teeth!”, slipping her hand into the basket, as she put it down at the foot of the bed; her hand then moving quickly, behind her back.

“Your teeth,” she repeated.

“Yes,” came the reply, “my teeth. Long and sharp, aren’t they? All the better to eat you with, my dear.”

With this, the wolf, for that is what it was, not her grandmother at all, threw off the covers and slowly crawled along the bed towards her, growling and with saliva dripping from its ugly jaws.

At this point, the girl’s arm swept around from behind her back. The beast halted. The nozzle of a Mauser P08 9mm Luger handgun came to rest in the centre of the wolf’s forehead.

It hardly had time to comprehend what was happening, before she pulled the trigger.

He first saw her coming out of a shop.

She was with a couple of girlfriends. The name of the shop and their bags told him they had been buying clothes. They were all laughing, but it was the smile that lingered on her face that made his pulse race. Several times after this, he spotted her again. A couple of times, coming out of a building, where he imagined she worked and once in a nearby café. After a few days of seeing her around town, he was sitting on a seat in the middle of one of the shopping centre’s thoroughfares. He knew that she would pass that way. He had observed that this was the route she took from her office to the café where she usually had lunch.

Eventually, she came into sight. She was passing, when she suddenly stopped and looked across at him. There was no smile visible as she approached. Standing directly in front of him and still frowning, she said, “Are you stalking me?”

Momentarily lost for words, he could only blurt out the truth. “No,” he said, “but I did wonder if I could take you to lunch.”

Now smiling, she said, “I thought you’d never ask.”

He’d always been a bit of a loser.

From the start, it was obvious that committing crimes would not be a good area of activity to get into. However, one thing led to another and after failing to find work and making ends meet with the odd petty crime, he decided to go for the big one. Robbing a bank seemed to be fairly straight forward and he had given it quite a bit of thought. At least, this would definitely decide whether he was capable of pulling such a thing off. So, with his plan and its careful timing worked out, he entered the largest bank in town and went to the back wall to fill out a withdrawal slip. Like him, several customers were wearing covid 19 masks. With his cap pulled down to his eyebrows, he looked along the row of tellers.

Seeing that an attractive woman was serving only one client, he walked across and stood behind him. As the man moved off the amateur bank robber went forward with his piece of paper. The request for all immediately available cash to be placed in the large brown paper bag he slid across, was carefully read by the teller. She seemed to be surprisingly calm as the notes were being stuffed in and the bag handed over.

He was amazed at how well the whole affair had gone, as he slowly made his way to the front door. This was the case, until he found two arresting officers waiting at his car…

Sometime later, having received an unusually light sentence, probably because he had attempted to rob while unarmed and had carried it all out with no threat being made, he now had a not uncomfortable cell in a prison in a nearby town. It was around this time that he had been told that he had a visitor; one that he wasn’t expecting.

Shortly after, he found himself sitting down in front of the very same teller!

She began by apologising for having pressed the emergency response button beneath the counter. “I had to do that. I hope you understand?”

“Of course,” he replied. “It was your duty, after all. That was what you, as an employee of the bank, were expected to do.”

She smiled. “I knew you’d be understanding. The eyes have it, you see?”

He shook his head. “Sorry?”

She shrugged. “I could tell from just your eyes that you were actually a very nice person.” She stared at him for a moment. “This is the first time I’ve seen you properly, without your mask, I mean. The newspaper photos didn’t do you justice.” Becoming a little self-conscious, she blushed.

For several beats, he was lost for words.

“Sounds silly, does it?”

With his own cheeks going red, he said, “No, not at all.”

She straightened. “Of all the tellers, I have wondered why you chose me?”

Without hesitation, he said, “Because you had a kind face, I suppose.”

She sighed with relief. “Oh! That’s good, because, and this is probably going to sound crazy, but when you get out of here, I’d like to help you go straight.”

It was now his time to stare. “Do you really mean that?”

With a lovely smile, she said, “I do.”

He asked, “Will you visit me again?”

Nodding, she said, “Just as often as I can, you can be sure of that.”

He seemed to know all about the woman.

His next-door neighbour was certainly impressed with how much he knew. He was telling her that Linda, he thought it was Linda, had been at kindergarten with him. “That would make her about forty-two now,” he said. He went on to say that she had done very well at high school, and that she went on to study at the university here and majored in chemistry. He told her that she worked for the big pharmaceutical company in the city for around twelve years where she met her future husband. They married and she left the company when she fell regnant and never returned to the workforce. He still works there. He’s in management now. More recently Linda, or was it Lydia? Anyway, she has got involved with a charitable organisation that operates a food bank for the needy. She’s also a member of the local golf club… and she helps out at the local school, as well, he told her.

His neighbour said, “Wow! I didn’t know any of that!”

She turned to go in.

Over her shoulder, she said, “By the way, her name’s Lesley.”