Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2024 i Take a Break Fiction Feast

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In the garden on Friday afternoon, I tackled some weeds in a border while my dad conversed with my new neighbour. Though Dad still looked frail, he seemed hearty enough. I’d moved him in with my family to convalesce after he’d left hospital. Now I stood eavesdropping shamelessly. ‘I heard a rumour you’re a witch, Isabelle?’ he said over the fence. I frowned. Pardon? All wavy black hair and sooty eye shadow, the middle-aged woman who’d recently moved in to number eight cackled out a laugh. ‘Yes, I am! I do magic for a small fee.’ ‘How small are we talking about?’ asked Dad. She leant over the panel and the clematis attached to it and whispered something I couldn’t hear. Dad nodded. ‘That’s very reasonable. I’ll go and fetch…

When Sam from my office was dumped by his girlfriend, I felt a bit sorry for him stuck in his flat on his own. ‘You don’t mind if I bring him back here, now and again, after work,’ I suggested to Malorie. ‘Just so long as it’s not every night,’ she replied. ‘Two’s company and all that and we haven’t even been married a year, Jamie. I don’t want to be relegated to fetching crisps and beers from the kitchen while the two of you watch football.’ ‘Just once a week, then. And I’ll cook, so you don’t have to. Promise.’ The first time Sam came round, he was a bit shy to start with. He’d never met Malorie before. But when he spotted the budgie cage, he lit up.…

I’m not a bad person. It’s not like I intended to become a blackmailer, it just sort of happened. That’s not a great defence, I know. Neither is the fact that, just like my best mate, Maria, I was hard up, though I reckon that could be what they call mitigating circumstances. Perhaps I’d better give you the whole story, and you can judge for yourself if I was right or wrong. It all started after yet another really late shift at the factory. My car had a puncture and I couldn’t afford to get it fixed, which meant I had to wait ages for the bus and then hoof it nearly a mile. I was shattered, so when I saw Maria and her hubby in Luigi’s, I thought my…

The date is ingrained on my memory: 25 March 2022. Not a particularly noteworthy date for most people. But for me, that was the day my life changed forever. That was the day I went to my own funeral. The child, a girl of about 10, her long blonde hair gusting out from the hood of a deep crimson tracksuit jacket, appeared from nowhere. One moment, I was cruising along the M6, half my mind listening to Abba, the other half rehearsing the sales presentation I was about to give in the function suite of the Green Leaf Country Club. The next, the girl stepped out from behind a car that had broken down on the hard shoulder. My body flooded with ice-cold adrenaline. Every muscle tensed. My feet slammed…

First day nerves From an early age Susan White had strong reservations about joining the family business. Anxious to escape home, she worked extremely hard throughout her school career to achieve the necessary grades to enable her to study drama at university. The day she left home for university, Susan’s parents were proud and sad in equal measure. Charmian White had always hoped her daughter might have a change of heart and join the family business. Alas, it wasn’t to be. As Susan bid her parents goodbye, Charmian reminded her: ‘Don’t forget, if you change your mind you’re always welcome to return.’ ‘Thanks, Mum,’ Susan said. ‘I appreciate the offer.’ With tears in their eyes, Charmian and Cedric watched their daughter leave. ‘Don’t worry,’ Cedric assured his wife. ‘I’m sure…

It was almost four in the morning when Megan walked through the unlit bookshop to check the model werewolf was where it was supposed to be. She wouldn’t be able to sleep unless she was certain, not after the night she’d had. The model lived between the shelves in the horror section. No, not lived… She mustn’t let her imagination run away with her. She was in a ordinary bookshop, owned by an ordinary man. A bookshop that just happened to have a model werewolf in it. Actually, it didn’t look all that much like Megan’s idea of a werewolf. Like the image on the sign outside, it was more of a regular, hairy, friendly dog — even if it was standing upright and displaying its canine teeth. In the…

You’ve got a postcard,’ my young neighbour said, when she came back into the garden after using my loo. ‘Who from?’ I asked. ‘Someone called Shelley,’ Louisa replied, handing me the postcard. ‘Is she a friend?’ I nodded as I gazed at the white horse pictured on the card. ‘Yes — I went to school with her, and she still sends me a postcard when she goes away.’ ‘That’s nice.’ Louisa smiled and sat down on the bench beside me. ‘And Seville looks lovely, doesn’t it?’ ‘It does,’ I agreed. ‘I’ve always wanted to go there, but Jack’s got a thing about flying, so we have to go somewhere we can drive to.’ ‘Oh, that’s a shame,’ I said. ‘Yes, but we’ve driven to France a few times and it’s…

I’ve always had to keep my eye on my sister, Angela. I’m three years older than she is, and I’ve spent a lot of my time just watching out for her. Helping her down from trees when she got stuck. Stopping her from running across the road without looking. Making sure she buttoned her coat when it was cold. Not that she has ever appreciated it. ‘Stop nagging me, Marie,’ she said when I told her to do up her shoelaces before she left the house on her first day of school. Of course she didn’t pay any attention to eight-year-old me, and she tripped and fell and banged her chin before she’d even reached the gate. ‘What did I tell you?’ I called smugly from the front door. ‘I…

Fiona pulled into the lay-by and stared out through the windscreen. ‘Why are we stopped, Mummy?’ said six-year-old Noah from the back seat, bringing her back to earth as he always did. What must he think, she wondered? She’d woken him from his dreams at seven o’clock and bundled him into the car, not daring to risk her escape being foiled — her emotions and thoughts yet again being smoothed over by her partner. Daniel would be awake in another hour or so. His silky tongue and ready charm had already thwarted two attempts to leave. The tears brimmed over, all the ones she hadn’t allowed herself to shed Promising, but never delivering. That was Daniel. How had it come to this? There’d been warning signs, red flags. Culminating in…

Guess where Andy’s taking me this weekend!’ said Jessica, as she sat down with her cappuccino. Cathy sighed. Jessica was always bragging about what her precious Andy had given her or where he’d taken her. ‘No idea,’ she said. ‘Go on, guess!’ said Jessica. ‘I have to warn you it’s our six-month anniversary of going out together, so it’s really special.’ ‘Paris,’ suggested Sue. ‘Paris!’ Jessica laughed. ‘No, Paris in October would be freezing!’ ‘Er… Barbados?’ ‘That would be really silly! We’d no sooner get there before we would have to turn right round and come back. No, we’re going to Venice!’ ‘Venice!’ Cathy cried. She stared at Jessica enviously. ‘I’ve always wanted to go to Venice.’ ‘Well, you’ve got an anniversary coming up soon, Cathy, haven’t you?’ Jessica asked.…

Margaret didn’t like the idea at all. She gazed at her teenage daughter in her all-too-real witch’s costume. ‘Isn’t it enough that you’ve all dressed up?’ she asked her. ‘I don’t think trick or treating is very nice, going round, threatening old ladies...’ ‘Oh, come on, Mum,’ said Jaz. ‘It’s harmless fun. We’ve made these fantastic costumes, it’s about being seen in them more than anything else. The twins would love it.’ ‘But... what tricks would you play?’ Margaret asked. ‘None!’ ‘I’m going to throw stones through the window of anyone who doesn’t give us sweeties,’ said George. ‘He’s joking!’ said Jaz, quickly. ‘I’ll look after them, Mum, make sure they behave, I promise.’ Margaret sighed. ‘I don’t know, I should come with you....’ ‘But you’re eight month’s pregnant and…

Robert gave Natalie one last lingering kiss before he rolled out of bed and hurriedly dressed. Natalie gazed at his toned body. ‘So, what would your wife do if she found out about our affair?’ ‘Tara once said she’d kill me if I ever cheated on her,’ he said, then shrugged. ‘That’s what you get when you marry an actress. Histrionics.’ ‘Aren’t you worried she could be serious?’ Robert burst out laughing. ‘That wife of mine has just taken three weeks to build up the courage to touch a gun she has to wield in her new play. And that’s just a stage prop that fires blanks. No, she’s not serious. Besides, even if she did find out, she loves me too much. She would forgive me. Tara believes marriage…

I’m not really in the mood for a Halloween party,’ said Jade, having rung her friend back and exchanged pleasantries. No doubt Bree was trying to matchmake again, and she’d have to turn down yet another of her bestie’s well-intentioned but unsuitable choices. There’d been Geoff, the model railway enthusiast. Phil, who was consumed with a love of motorbikes. Clive, who’d been as dull as ditchwater, and Johnnie, who talked more than he’d listened. ‘Oh, come on, it’ll be fun,’ Bree wheedled. ‘It shouldn’t be all battling the forces of darkness and fending off unwelcome male attention. There are good men out there too, you know. Besides, you love a party as much as me.’ ‘Well…’ Jade hemmed and hawed before eventually giving in. Bree was right. It had been…

Lynne felt as though the whole world was crashing down on her. One moment she was fast asleep, safely tucked up in her own bed that Sunday night, the next in a terrifying, roaring thundering crash, part of her ceiling suddenly collapsed in on her. For a moment, she didn’t dare open her eyes, not sure where she was or what was happening. All she knew was that twigs, leaves and chunks of something which afterwards she realised was plaster was raining down on her. Finally, when everything had stopped falling, with her heart thumping madly in her chest, she opened her eyes and wiped the dust from her face. At first, she thought that somehow she’d been blown up into a tree. She gazed in horror through the darkness…