Author: Alexander Fawn

The young boy lay in bed, thinking.

His foster parents had taken him to visit their friends in the country. They were very nice, but more people that he didn’t know. There had been a large gnome in their back garden that had a very friendly face. He too was a stranger. He had seen these figures in books. He didn’t really understand what they were. His young world was confusing, but now, in this bed, it was his world. Gradually, his thoughts became actions.

He went in search of a male adult gnome in the fairy tale community. He found what he was looking for. He searched again for a female adult gnome in the fairy tale community. He found what he was looking for. He searched once more for an infant gnome in the fairy tale community. He found what he was looking for.

There, he brought them together, as a family…

He was attending a medical appointment when it happened.

Although he knew that he was there for a psychiatric evaluation, he had no idea what form it would take. He was ushered into the psychiatrist’s room, given a seat and asked to wait. The room looked surprisingly bare, with very little on the walls. The desk in front of him had a laptop that was turned away, a large notepad and several pens. It all seemed pretty basic. He was taking it all in when the psychiatrist entered, apologising for the delay. After explaining that the session would consist of an extensive list of questions, it was suggested that he relax, make himself comfortable and answer all questions as truthfully as possible.

With that, he began to read questions from the computer’s screen, use the mouse to click somewhere, with occasional handwritten notes being made. The questions went on and on, to the point where he was hardly keeping up with them. This had been going on for some time when a man wearing a white laboratory coat suddenly appeared and stood behind the psychiatrist, who seemed to ignore him completely.

He was staring at this strange figure when he realised that the man’s coat had a number of blood stains and that he was holding a very large knife, also bloodstained. As he looked on, he saw the man hold the knife out horizontally to the side of the psychiatrist’s head, then he used the tip to quickly poke his cheek. At this point, the psychiatrist slapped his cheek, as though he was batting off a fly. At that moment the man with the knife seemed to evaporate.

The patient was taking all this in when he became aware of the questioner raising his voice.

The man said, “Sorry, what did you say?”

The other frowned. “The question was; do you ever get the notion that you can see things that aren’t really there?”

“Of course not,” came the reply.

They had arranged to meet in another town that evening.

It was the latest action movie, and they were both looking forward to it. Richard knew they would make their way separately, she by bus and he on his motor scooter, straight after work. They would meet outside the cinema and Chloe would have the tickets ready to go in. The rain was pelting down when he finished work and he had to spend time getting into his waterproof gear before leaving. The downpour caused everything to slow down, and he knew there was a good chance that he’d get there late. Sure enough, he was several minutes late. Parking the scooter and getting out of his wet gear took time.

Anyway, despite this, he went straight in to collect his ticket. After a thorough search the man said he was sorry, but he couldn’t find any ticket. Roger was really annoyed, but realised she had probably waited until the very last minute, then in her panic, she had forgotten to buy a second ticket when she went in. He weighed things up. Would he go back to her place and wait for her to get home, or would he just go home himself?

He decided to go back to hers.

It was much later and getting dark, when he stood leaning on the gate, waiting for signs of the bus. The rain had finally stopped, and he moved further out into the road when he saw bright lights coming towards the junction at the top of the street. He began to walk slowly towards it as it pulled up. He stopped when the bus pulled up and passengers began moving to the exit. It was lit up like a CinemaScope movie.

He couldn’t see her at first. Then he caught sight of her in the line of people gradually moving forward. There was a boy behind her that he didn’t recognise. He was trying to put his hands on her shoulders, but she was shrugging him off. As she turned around, he tried to kiss her. Obviously annoyed, she pushed him away, quite hard.

Having watched all this, Roger hadn’t moved. He just stood there until she eventually appeared, walking around the back of the bus and making her way down the road towards him. When she saw him standing there, she walked a little faster with a big smile on her face.

After thanking him for waiting for her to get home, they hugged.

In that moment, regardless of the earlier mix-up, all his frustration simply faded away.

He was a tourist in Porto Rico, when it happened.

He was booked into a hotel for a week, with the intention of sunbathing on the beach, swimming and kayaking. That was all he wanted to do, all week. Having done a fair amount of kayaking back home, he hired one on the first day of his holiday. As kayakers go, he was not short of brawn. It was when he was on this initial paddle that he first noticed the nearby island, not far off the coast. It was just one of a number of Caribbean islands, but there was something compelling about it… It was when one of the paddlers told him it was called ‘monkey island’ that his curiosity piqued. He felt a peculiar and most unexpected attraction to it that he couldn’t explain.

That evening, in the hotel bar, he made enquiries. He found out that the island was actually a primate research centre. Apparently, it was inhabited by over two-thousand rhesus monkeys and tourists were not allowed on the island. The urge to visit it grew even stronger.

The next morning, after a restless night, he went to the beach early and rented a kayak. Within minutes he was paddling out to sea. When he reached the island, he continued around to the far side. This would allow him to remain out of sight from the mainland, as the beaches became busier with holidaymakers.

After dragging his craft up onto the beach, he stood looking around. They had been right; the island was teeming with monkeys, as far as the eye could see! Being overwhelmed with the sheer numbers of them, he was unaware of movement behind him. It made him jump, when a friendly voice said, “Good morning.”

“What?” he blurted, as he turned around with a shudder.

Doing this, he came face to face with an exceptionally large monkey. It stood upright on its hind legs with its hands put together in a prayer-like gesture. It bowed slightly and grinned. “Good morning,” it said again. “We have all been watching you. It has been decided that you come to us as the chosen one. We were right, you don’t just hear a jabbering when we speak. You have the power to hear what we have to say. We have been expecting you. As you can see, there are many of us on the island. We are all excited about your much anticipated coming.”

With a sweep of its arm, it went on, “Our whole community has been waiting. Together, we will enable you to become the chosen one; the powerful being that you were born to be. It is here that you will come to know your full potential. Let us go together to the heights and look out across the sea.”

In a trance-like state, he followed the animal up to the cliff’s edge.

“Now,” it said, “with your regenerated abilities you can spread your arms wide… and fly!”

Spreading his arms out, he leaped.

The screaming didn’t stop until he hit the rocks.

Moments later, the large monkey was joined by another. It peered over the edge, then, shaking its head, it said, “That’s the fifth one this month. How do you do it? Talk them into it, I mean.”

“Bloody tourists! It’s easy. There’s one born every minute.”

The lizard is lying comfortably in scrubland, soaking up the warmth of the day.

He feels the sun’s rays heating his body. Dreamy images begin to fill his head, they remind him of a time… yes, of a time back then. He doesn’t remember all of it, but enough. It was Buenos Aires in 1972. He was staying at a hotel with his wife and daughter. It was half holiday, half business. His company was considering an investment in real estate. The board, of which he was a member, had agreed to the proposed meeting and his time away in Argentina. Now, with business affairs done and having paid the obligatory visit to the presidential palace, he was relaxing. His wife and daughter were in the pool at the back of the hotel, and he was stretched out on a sun lounge.

Like now, he was allowing the heat of the day to permeate his entire body.

Yes, he remembers it well

He will sleep now.

He’d always wondered about his neighbour.

He was a nice enough guy, but just a little bit odd. Most of the time he came across as being perfectly sensible, but there would be those odd occasions when he’d say the most ridiculous things. It had been going on long enough that he could see that it was getting worse. They’d be chatting away quite normally, usually over the garden fence, the way two old retirees would, when out of the blue, he would do it again. He would come out with something quite absurd. At first, he thought the man was pulling his leg because he would have such a straight face, while at the same time saying something completely ludicrous. This was no longer the case. In fact, he had hinted at the idea that maybe the man needed help.

The whole thing came to a head the morning he was pottering in the garden, when the man next door came to the fence and beckoned him over.

On this occasion he wasn’t talking, he was whispering. He looked around nervously. “It’s Sally,” he began.

“What about her?”

“She’s trying to kill me!”

“What are you saying?”

“Look my friend, you really do need to get some sort of help.”

“Why’d you say that?” the other whispers.

“For heaven’s sake, man! You live on your own with your dog, and Sally’s a German Shepherd!”

He was brushing his teeth when it happened.

The bathroom grew dark and he was filled with a sense of wonder. At first, he had no idea what was happening, while at the same time he was experiencing some kind of euphoria. It was a sensation that he’d never felt before. He took the toothbrush out of his mouth and stood in the pitch-black room, not moving. Gradually, a great awareness flooded through him. In some strange way, he knew that it was just the beginning of a great understanding. He began to see the truth of it all. All of the questions he had ever asked came tumbling into his mind, each one followed by a succinct and definitive answer. Who am I? What am I doing here? Where did I come from? What is my purpose? How did all this come about? Is this universe real? What happens after death? Is there a God?

The questions and answers continued in this way for some time, until he felt so overwhelmed that he dropped his toothbrush and gripped the edge of the basin. At this point, the room lit back up and he found himself staring at a pale version of himself in the mirror. Despite feeling completely exhausted, he knew that he had to tell his wife all he had learnt. He would sit and tell her everything.

When he entered the bedroom, he found her asleep. He proceeded to excitedly shake her awake. “I have something to tell you.”

“What!”

“I need to tell you things and it won’t wait until morning.”

“What time is it?”

“That doesn’t matter…”

“What do you mean? Of course, it does. I’ve an early start tomorrow. Can’t it wait?”

“Look. There is just so much to tell you, and I can’t risk forgetting any of it.”

She struggled to sit up in bed, took a sip of water from her bedside glass, and said, “OK. This had better be good!”

“It’s more than good. It’s truly wonderful!”

She nodded. “Go on.”

It was at this point that the epiphany folded in on itself, as it were. He just sat on the edge of the bed realising that this vast array of knowledge was ineffable. He simply couldn’t put any of it into words. He was utterly speechless!

After a few moments, with her eyes drooping again, she snuggled back down under the covers.

He couldn’t be sure, but he thought he heard a muffled, “Goodnight.”

The weather was nice and the countryside was looking most definitely picturesque.

With the rising of the morning sun, the wildlife stirred. In the surrounding meadows, animals began to move, with two of them entering the lane that cut through the greenery. A cat from one end and a rabbit from the other.

As they came together, the cat raised a paw and with a polite greeting, said, “Good morning rabbit, ribbit,”

The rabbit chirped and said, “Good morning to you, cat; and I’m not a rabbit, I’m a bird,” and chirped again.

The cat said, “Well, if it comes to that, I’m not a cat, I’m a frog, ribbit.”

Just then, a dog came by and seeing that an argument was brewing, he interjected with, “Good morning cat, good morning rabbit, let’s not stand around bickering, it gives us animals a bad name… moo!’

The tunnel was part of an underground mining operation.

Safety inspections were being carried out and a worker with a light-emitting device is making their way through a tunnel. Some distance ahead; they could make out some sort of door barring their way forward. As they approached, they could see that it was a heavily built metallic structure.

Meanwhile, in the Crab Nebula, in the constellation of Taurus, some six thousand lightyears away, a worker with a light-emitting device is making their way through a tunnel. Some distance ahead; they could make out some sort of door barring their way forward. As they approached, they could see that it was a heavily built metallic structure.

The alien opened the door moments before the human got to it.

It would be a gross understatement to say anything other than they both received one hell of a shock!

She was on her way to the bus stop when the woman jogged past her, running hard.

Then, without warning, she suddenly stumbled and collapsed, right in front of her. As she went forward to see if she was all right, she thought about the recent CPR Training course that her company had put their staff through. She knelt beside her. She wasn’t getting any response and couldn’t find a pulse. Getting her phone out she called for an ambulance. After rolling her onto her back and confirming that her airway was clear, she started CPR. With her recent training in mind, and remembering the 30:2 ratio, she began with thirty compressions followed by two breaths. This went on for several long minutes before the ambulance arrived. This was quickly followed by a local tv news team that were in the area. Meanwhile, a crowd of onlookers had assembled.

She was greatly relieved when the medic took over. While the woman was being stretchered to the ambulance, the medic made a point of thanking her. He said that because of her fast response, there was a good chance that she had saved the patient’s life. All the while, the local camera crew were all over them.

When she finally got home, she could fully relax. The whole thing had happened so fast, she’d had little chance to think. She needed to make a quick snack, take a shower and get changed, before her boyfriend picked her up. They were going to a show, followed by a meal in a fancy restaurant that he had booked.

She was coming out of the shower when she heard the phone. Wrapped in a towel, she picked up.

He was quick to start. “Hi. I’m afraid we’re going to have to cancel. I’ve just seen the local news report. The one where you’re giving the Kiss -of-Life to the jogger.”

Feeling confused, she said, “OK. Pretty exciting, eh?”

“Not really,” he said, “That woman happens to be the one who’s been refusing to sign the divorce papers for the last several months.”

“Oh!” was all she could say.

He went on, “I must go. They’re expecting me at the hospital.”

With that, he hung up…