Edition 1 - September 2022

Nov 05, 2023
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gray wooden sea dock near green pine trees under white sky at daytime
Photo by Tj Holowaychuk on Unsplash

These stories were written at the Online Flash Festivals held by Retreat West in 2021 and 2022.

A Notepad to Save the World

November 5, 2023
A Notepad to Save the World

The all new 365-page A4 notepad (lined / unlined). Hard Cover: Sky blue.

About this item: Each blank page /day offers a unique opportunity for you to change the world. Whether you sketch, jot or journal, every contribution to this quality notebook could help provide a better planet for our grandchildren.

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Twelve Years On

November 5, 2023
Twelve Years On

I remember… The Covent Garden restaurant was my suggestion: bentwood chairs, faux-bistro mirrors, not too pricey, not too cheap. Your tailored suit, wafer-thin watch peeking from white cuff, jeans and T-shirts discarded somewhere down the years. Wiping my damp hands down my charity shop skirt.

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Stained Glass

November 5, 2023
Stained Glass

I started with the rough design handed me by my parents. Straight lines from school to college to work and independence, easy to score and cut. Happiness and love were harder to define and shape, the heart consisting of curves and points. Wary of its fragility, I tried my best to be careful but couldn’t avoid breakages a…

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In Memorandum

November 5, 2023
In Memorandum

I remember the disappearing car. Waving in the hope that you could still see me in the rearview mirror. Standing by the gate as the centre of my world rocked and bounced and everything important stretched and tore away. Watching the shadows ebb and flow in the ceiling’s peeling paint. The darkness of the dormitory. Lis…

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The Big Bad Wolf Makes a Whiskey Sour

November 5, 2023
The Big Bad Wolf Makes a Whiskey Sour

Demerara, muscovado, granulated, icing… “WHERE’S THE CASTER SUGAR?” Wolf roars. Red stomps into the kitchen, looks in the cupboard, points. “It’s right THERE!” Walks off, muttering, “Bloody men can never see what’s right in bloody front of them.” Wolf pours sugar onto the scales. “95, 97, 99 grams, 103 FUCK FUCK FUCKIT!”

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Tug of Love

November 5, 2023
Tug of Love

Around her right wrist the girl on the train has a bracelet made of human hair. The narrow braid gleams with shades of brown and gold, auburn and grey, black and ginger. I can’t take my eyes off it. She sees me watching and holds out her wrist across the aisle for me to stroke the silky plait. Then she holds the hand up t…

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5 Steps to De-Horning a Rhino

November 5, 2023
5 Steps to De-Horning a Rhino

Rhino horn shavings are traditional ingredients in Chinese medicine, but the whole horn is also prized as a status symbol. To protect the rhino, they are dehorned to make them less attractive to poachers. Locate and isolate. It can be difficult to find the world’s third-largest land mammal amongst the kaleidoscope of greens a…

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Concealer

November 5, 2023
Concealer

Her painted lips (Electric Orchid – the searing pink of a flamingo wing) curve into a brief smile, ‘These guys are sisters, not twins,’ she says. Picking up a fat-nibbed pencil, the colour of strong coffee, she leans in and begins to draw over my eyebrows with a look of concentration so fierce I am wax under its flame.

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All Teeth

November 5, 2023
All Teeth

On Saturday, while the other girls in their matching yellow pinafores set up their sugary lemonade stand under a yawning canopy of maples, I’m standing on the corner of Stone and Midway, sun blasting my cheeks and toes pinching in my too-small sneakers, selling fake smiles.

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A Beginner’s Guide to Mindfulness Meditation

November 5, 2023
A Beginner’s Guide to Mindfulness Meditation

Allow your eyes to close as the thunderstorm arrives; wherever you’re seated now will be just fine. Let the throbbing band across your forehead tell you that it’s time. Focus on taking a slow, steady, intentional breath: in… 2… 3… 4… hold… 2… 3… 4… out… 2… 3… 4… rest… 2… 3… 4….

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Winging It

November 5, 2023
Winging It

Morning light floated between ill-fitting curtains, over the clothes-strewn floor and fluttered across the pillow onto Susie’s face. Forcing reluctant eyes open, she peered at her clock which blurred in a hexagonal kaleidoscope before swimming into focus.

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A Word in Your Ear Before He Hits You Again

November 5, 2023
A Word in Your Ear Before He Hits You Again

I’ve often watched you walking in the woods. I approve: nature is the best therapy. Some doctors prescribe time in gardens and parks, or on beaches, to help calm troubled minds and boost the immune system. The day you hugged the oak, I felt the full weight of your pain: your dark palette of bruises; your fractured lip; …

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