Starfish – A Short Story!

4 mins

The sand felt hot and grainy as Gareth and Eve walked along the beach.

‘Here?’ He chanced glancing at Eve.

‘Yes, this is fine,’ Eve replied before rolling out a large beach towel on the golden sand. Gareth followed suit, then gazed around admiringly.

‘This really is a good choice Eve, nice and secluded.’

‘Would you?’ Eve responded holding out a bottle of suntan lotion, ‘thanks!’

Gareth did as requested before smearing the lotion on his own arms and legs and then gestured for Eve to do his back. The sun was hot even in the shade of the large greying rocks behind them. It was a welcome break from the dreary overcast weather of London. Gareth sighed with contentment before turning his head to look at his fiance. His eyebrows shot up with bemusement.

‘Eve, what’s happening? What are you doing?’

‘This is my starfish impersonation.’

‘I see,’ Gareth replied solemnly. ‘Eve, what grown woman lies on a beach, arms and legs wide apart like that?’

‘Stop being such a wet blanket,’ she retorted, ‘we are very secluded here besides.’

‘Sometimes I feel I don’t really know you,’ Gareth pressed on mildly troubled.

‘That’s nonsense!’ Eve replied squinting into the clear blue sky. In the far distance children were yelling and playing excitedly.

‘Hmm!’

‘Please allow me to think my thoughts on this gorgeous beach,’ Eve implored.

‘I’d give you a penny them, but I don’t have that kind of money!’

Eve sat up and peered at her fiance intensely before speaking. ‘You know everything about me. You know about Jason, and that we have been divorced for four years now. That’s over with.’

‘But sometimes I get the impression you still have feelings for him,’ Gareth said uncertainly. I mean, I know you’re still in touch with him.’

Eve shot him a cautionary look.

‘What’s that look for?’

‘Because if I want to be in touch with an old friend, I don’t see what could be wrong with that. You can’t expect a woman of thirty-seven to not have had a past,’ she continued in a brittle voice.

Gareth looked into the distance, calmed by the blueness of the sea, the frothy waves gently nudging the shore. He turned and felt dazzled despite himself as he looked at Eve. Thick brown hair tumbled down her back, golden after only a few days in the Algarve.

‘What I also want to know is, what’s your fascination with those starfish anyway?’ He enquired now.

Eve’s eyes snapped open. ‘I like them because they are mysterious and resilient creatures of the sea.’

‘Really! Is that so! They just look like giant creepy crawlies to me!’

Eve shook her head, ‘I can understand why you would say that but I see them differently, and when I’m in there,’ she nodded in the direction of the water, ‘I feel at one with nature.’

Looking at Eve’s long arms and legs Gareth didn’t doubt that for a moment. Sometimes he wondered if she originated from the sea, and was some sort of undiscovered marine creature!

This knowledge did nothing to sooth Gareth’s building concerns however, if anything it only seemed to deepen them.

‘Eve, we’re getting married next year and I just want to be sure of you, but sometimes your actions make that difficult.’

‘Actions?’ Eve arched a dark brown eyebrow.

In the distance families were drifting back to their hotel rooms as it was almost evening. Soon sunset would descend in all its pink and orange glory.

‘Take last night,’ Gareth pressed on in a lowered voice, ‘when we were intimate, I felt that I wasn’t reaching you and certainly not moving you.’ His voice caught in his throat at the last submission.

‘You know what I think?’ Eve said with the flicker of an arm, ‘You think too much. Or could this be your way of saying you are having doubts about next year and want to pin it on me?’

‘I am not saying that at all! I certainly want to marry you next June, but if you need more time to think about it, then please let me know, instead of shutting me out of here,’ Gareth pressed his heart region faintly.

‘Yes,’ I want to marry you, ‘ Eve replied lightly, ‘now let’s go for a swim,’ she added standing up quickly and taking hasty strides to the water. Gareth rose to his feet.

Gareth was amazed by Eve’s transformation. She, unlike him, was a strong swimmer and came alive in the water. Her arms and legs sliced through the water with such ease. The look of pure bliss on her face was captivating. Gareth flapped around clumsily for a short while before heading back to shore.

‘Don’t forget we have a table booked for 7.30,’ he hollowed over the din of the crashing sea.

‘What?!’

‘Dinner later!’

‘Oh that!’ Eve bellowed back. ‘If I’m not back by next June, don’t wait for me!’

With that Gareth collected his beach things and headed for the hotel. He turned around just as Eve plunged back underwater with a huge splash. In that moment he saw clearly why Eve had such a fascination with the sea and its creatures. She was one of them, elusive and mysterious. He also conceded, she was no good on dry land.

How could he have known you could never fully capture someone like that. With a final glance he walked heavily across the sand.

The End

*****************

Thanks for reading!

Until next time

Sharon

Image courtesy of Pexels – Mark Walz

Tube Train – Poem

Swoosh, rattle,

click, clack, dash! –

a train rushes into a dark cavern

swerving and snaking its way

through dust and grime.

Pit-like are the tunnels

a dark labyrinth –

London’s winding underworld.

*

Passengers squelch and crush,

carriages clatter and hiss

along metallic tracks.

People are belched

from the belly of the train

and scuttle to their everdayness! –

a train roars off into

the foggy labyrinth.

*********

Thanks for reading!

Image courtesy of Rudy and Peter Skitterians – Pixabay

The Thief Of Time!

Hello and welcome from London!

So this is the thing; most time-poor writers or other creatives don’t have a lot of it to waste. Life happens at a fast pace now, so how you spend those days is crucial. After all, you’ll want to devote as much time as possible to your craft.

So here’s the point of this moan! You want to take some time out of your hectic day to order something on the internet. It doesn’t matter if it’s small or large. You envisage a quick thing, like it was years ago when you simply went along to the shop and came home, bag swinging!

Fast forward 2024. You navigate the site (not always easy) and make your purchase. End of story! Not on your life! In a day or two you are kindly requested to leave FEEDBACK! What feedback?! I bought a can of cat food for my kitty, they ate it, end of story. Isn’t it? Or I bought a little gadget for my kitchen. Thanks. Moving on. You would be so lucky!

If you dare to look in your email box and see the amount of feedback you are expected to leave, it’s ridiculous! Most of us creatives have better things to do than get caught up in this modern-day phenomenon. And where does it get you anyway? Probably nowhere, apart from eating into that precious little time you have for writing that book which is far more important and rewarding!

But this is the real kicker! So I am looking to purchase something quite big online, but guess who reads all the reviews first, before they press the BUY NOW button!!

Go figure!

Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time

Sharon

Image courtesy of Kevin Ku – Unsplash

A Boy And A Horse – A Tale of Magic!

4 mins.

‘Please, please Dad, can we keep him?’ young Frank Campbell pleaded with his father.

Joe Campbell rubbed his chin before speaking, ‘hmm, I don’t know son, he must belong to someone else,’ he replied softly staring at the large brown horse standing docilely at the back gate. ‘He’s a beauty though isn’t he,’ Joe Campbell continued, ‘and huge!’

The horse peered at them through melting brown eyes.

If Joe didn’t know better he would have thought the stallion was also pleading with them to take him in.

‘What do you say Dad?’ Frank piped up again pulling on the hem of his dad’s checked shirt, ‘look at him, he likes us.’

‘I wonder where he came from?’ Joe asked looking the horse over again, ‘there are no farms around here for miles.’

Just then the horse bobbed his head up and down, stepped towards Frank and allowed himself to be petted. Frank rubbed him gently on the neck.

‘You see Dad.’

‘OK, let me talk this over with mum, see what she says.’

Later that evening Joe explained the mystery to Rose Campbell, ‘we do have a large shed, he could stay there in the meantime. Someone is bound to come looking for him.’

‘This is true,’ Rose Campbell added sagely.

At that very moment Frank ran into the kitchen where his parents were discussing the fate of the horse.

‘Well son,’ Joe announced brightly, ‘he can stay in the shed for now, but you’ll have to look after him when you get back from school.’

‘Thanks Dad, thanks Mum that’s great!’ Frank said excitedly, ‘I’ve named him Eric.’ With that Frank turned and promptly ran through the back door and all but skidded into the shed. He told the horse who neighed delicately as Frank stroked his face.

One week later Frank and Eric were inseparable. The horse would trot alongside Frank on his walk to school, along the winding country lanes and would gallop and clomp from nowhere on Frank’s walk home. Frank would talk about his day with Eric, who proved to be an avid listener, with his tail swishing from side to side.

‘Don’t forget to do your homework,’ Rose Campbell instructed her son some weeks later.

‘I will mum, I’ll do it in the shed with Eric.’

‘OK,’ Rose replied shaking her head from side to side.

Frank petted Eric before sitting down with his maths homework spread out on the hay. Frank was never good at maths, in fact he was hopeless at it. He did some sums and was about the write down the answer when suddenly Eric neighed and clomped his hooves. Eric knew what the horse was trying to tell him and changed his answer.

And so it was that one ten-year-old Frank Campbell got top marks in his class for maths, much to his parents’ delight.

The next day in Geography lesson Frank was sitting at the back of the class struggling to answer the teacher’s question. He thought and thought but could come up with nothing. Just then a brown horse appeared at the window pushing his face close to the glass. ‘Eric!’ Frank mouthed alarmed, before glancing round nervously to check if any of the other kids had seen him. They continued to look at the teacher and had not noticed anything out of the ordinary. And just like that Frank Campbell knew the answer to the question and his small hand shot up with pride.

That afternoon Frank walked home feeling elated about his good results. He looked for Eric but didn’t see him. When he got home he would tell Eric his good news knowing the horse would listen like the best friend he was. Frank was feeling so chuffed he didn’t hear the footfalls behind him.

The first shove almost sent him tumbling to the ground. He steadied himself and was struggling to stand when another hand pushed him and grabbed his rucksack.

‘Poor boy! How comes you are so clever now?’ Danny the class bully asked menacingly. A punch landed on Frank’s shoulder and the tirade continued, helped by two other boys. Frank gulped and did the best he could to defend himself. ‘You never get anything right,’ Danny continued as he quickly looted Frank’s rucksack before flinging it to the ground. ‘And how come your Mum and Dad are so old?’

Frank didn’t know what to do as he toppled to the ground, if only there wasn’t three of them!

And just then he heard a familiar clomp! From out of nowhere a large brown stallion charged dangerously towards the melee. He stopped short of the four boys bearing angry white teeth, and reared up onto his hind legs. Frank looked up and despite himself, grinned.

‘Watch out! It’s some crazy big horse!’ All three bullies screamed before running the fastest they could away from the scene.

Frank Campbell scrambled to his feet and dusted himself down as Eric stood by protectively. ‘Phew, that was close,’ Frank sighed, ‘thanks pal!’

That was the last time Frank was ever beaten up and bullied again.

*

It was the end of July and the school summer holidays had finally arrived. Frank was super excited because he could spend all day with Eric. Frank skipped to the end of the garden with the horse’s favourite red apple in his hand, but when he pushed open the door, the shed was empty. The boy looked everywhere for the horse. He searched and searched until nightfall. And no Eric. He looked for him the following day and the day after that, but there was no trace of him.

‘Maybe he has simply gone back to where he came from,’ Rose Campbell said to her son two weeks later.

‘He wouldn’t do that!’ Frank wailed.

‘Sorry son,’ Joe Campbell said, ‘you never know, he might come back one day.’

And the horse did come back. It was September and Frank Campbell was trudging back home from school when he heard a gentle neighing and a clatter of hooves behind him. He turned around slowly and rushed to the brown stallion, patting him and grinning gleefully.

‘Where have you been?’ Frank cried, ‘I was really sad without you.’

Boy and horse walked companionably for a short while along the winding lane and in that time Frank Campbell understood everything. Eric had gone to help a little girl in Sussex the way he had been helped.

Frank knew his best friend would have to go again. He hugged him and let Eric go slowly. He stood at his back gate and watched as the brown horse simply melted into the distance.

The End

**********

The inner child that is in all of us can always use a little magic!

Thanks for reading!

Sharon

Image courtesy of Monika – Pixabay.

The Call of Spring – A Poem

I hear a whisper on the morrow

it goes like this:

Spring is near!

Spring is near!

I see blossoms, opaque like falling tears

On the trees!

On the trees!

I hear birdsong high in the light, bright

morning sky

chirp a chorus

Spring is near!

Spring is near!

Lemon daffodils nudge through cold earth

and salute to the heavens!

A mild breeze stirs abound,

the pitter patter of spring

moves around,

winter departs, slowly –

the call of spring beckons, softly!

*********

Author’s note:

I live in a ordinary tree-lined street in north London, England. Every year near springtime the blossoms on the trees are beautiful for a short while, before they fall.

Thanks for reading

Until next time

Sharon

Image courtesy of Ray Hennessy – Unsplash

Stephen King – Rose Madder (Clues To His Success)!

You don’t need to be a horror fiction fan to know the household name of Stephen King. He is huge and has been a published writer for the best part of fifty years.

What I wish to discuss here are what I see as Stephen King’s secrets to success referring to his 1996 novel Rose Madder. Don’t worry, it is not my intention at Sharon’s Writers Tidbits to scare the living daylights out of anyone, I’ll leave that to real life (just kidding)! So this will NOT be a book review as such.

Suffice it to say Rose Daniels is an abused wife who concludes one day that enough is enough and decides to flee. The only problem with that is, her husband Norman is unhappy with her decision and decides to track her down, helped immensely by the fact he is a cop!

You would have thought this would be your typical cat and mouse thriller, the chase then the catch or escape. But the clue is; this is Stephen King a master storyteller. Apart from the fact that Rose Madder could fit into several genres, horror, supernatural, fantasy or thriller, it’s Stephen King’s writing style that sets him apart from many other writers.

In Rose Madder there are two protagonists Rose and Norman (a dual point of view). He manages to portray the two conflicting characters perfectly. You really want Rose to escape from her husband and start a new life which she does. Yet at the same time the crazed mindset and the pursuit of her husband creates a great deal of tension. You are anxious to find out what he will do next in pursuit of his target!

And this is the skill employed in the novel Rose Madder; the thrill of the chase is chilling, the suspense feels real and thus a compelling page-turner is born. This novel will keep you reading into the small hours. And this is a long book!

I feel the real clue to Stephen King’s success is that he writes with such great attention to detail. He gets under the skin of his characters with frightening effect. He draws you in with excellent characterization, a good sense of location, even though in Rose Madder he deliberately keeps the location vague (somewhere in the midwest of America). You feel you have a front seat to whatever battles his characters are facing. And so this makes for very engaging fiction.

Stephen King has many, many books to his credit and many have been made into movies. I personally like Misery starring the late James Caan and Kathy Bates (1990).

You may or may not enjoy horror fiction but the writing skills and attributes mentioned here can be applied to any writing genre.

Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time.

Sharon

Please Stay! A Poem

Please stay! Please stay!

Just for one moment more!

Please stay! Please stay!

And watch my glad heart soar!

Be still,

Oh, how the sun doth catch the outline of your face!

Please stay! Please stay!

I am lonely for the rumble of your laughter –

be here, until twilight or after,

for I am anchored to you in this journey.

Please stay with me

until there is no ending –

let your going cease,

for you are nature’s masterpiece!

***********

I composed this poem in memory of a late friend of a friend, who died recently. We had some good laughs during a time when people still held house parties you know the type that didn’t finish until the crack of dawn! He was my contemporary, and now he is gone!

And then a serious tragedy hit closer to home. Last Sunday my beloved older brother fell seriously ill! Totally devastating! It made me think again about how important people really are and when it comes down to it, all we really have in this life, is each other.

Thanks for reading

Love Sharon x

Book Length, Does Size Matter?

Hello and welcome to the home of the fascinating and curious observations regarding the book world and writing.

Have you noticed that the length of the average novel is getting longer? Or is this just me? As a ferocious reader I’m usually reading at least three books at any given time. And these books are taking longer and longer to complete.

If novels are getting longer, then is this trend set to continue in a world that is already time poor?

I remember reading The Wolfen by Whitley Strieber published in 1978. It’s a thriller about super-intelligent wolves who prey on humans and who have avoided detection for thousands of years. That is until they kill two young police officers! I regard The Wolfen as one of the best thrillers I have ever read. And this is the thing, it’s only 252 pages long!

One of the best romances I have ever read is The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller. It’s the story of a chance meeting between a married woman and a photographer. It was made into a movie starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep, released in 1995. Need I say, the book (a novella) was a mere 208 pages, but it lacked nothing.

By contrast A Game of Thrones by George R R Martin is just short of 800 pages (1996). Stephen King’s Christine is about 750 pages long (1983). Martina Cole’s crime novel Goodnight Lady (1994) is 832 pages. This list could go on and believe me I have many, many more great tomes on my bookshelves waiting to be read!

Now, I’m well aware that classics like Les Miserables (1862) by Victor Hugo is 1,500 pages long. And then there is War and Peace (1868) Leo Tolstoy is approximately 1,440 pages! However these are classic epic tales written during a time when the pace of life was generally slower.

So how long does your book need to be for the modern reader? Does size really matter? I couldn’t possibly answer conclusively. Will longer novels become more commonplace, especially if they go on to become bestsellers as they seem to? It may.

As a reader, I feel the length of a book shouldn’t really matter as long as I’m being entertained. And if I can’t turn the next page of my book fast enough, then the writer has done their job.

Thanks for reading!

Until next time

Happy reading!

Ps: You might like Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, a great epic novel! It’s lengthy!

Pachinko, Min Jin Lee – Book Review

TIM – Colleen McCullough – Book Review

Hello and welcome to a brand new year! I hope your festive season was a joyous one!

Every so often you come across a book that touches you and the 1974 novel Tim by the late Australian writer Colleen McCullough, did just that.

Colleen McCullough is also the author of The Thorn Birds, which may have heard more of.

Tim is the story of an intellectually challenged young man who crosses paths with the confirmed spinster Mary Horton, who is almost twice his age. The story takes place in the suburbs of New South Wales, Australia.

Tim Melville who is a builders labourer is hired by Mary Horton on the off chance to do some gardening. Tim is happy to help, so long as it’s all right with his father, Ron Melville. Ron Melville agrees to Tim landing some additional work, thinking only of the extra money. Thus begins a relationship that is curious from the start because of the obvious dynamic between an older woman, with the simple minded, much younger man. But this is no ordinary looking man. Tim is very attractive, spectacular and catches the eye of most people wherever he goes. Needless to say, Tim is oblivious to all the attention he receives.

And this is the beauty of the novel by Colleen McCullough. Tim’s naivety and sincerity is a pivotal theme throughout the book. It’s this very aspect that Mary Horton is drawn to the most – if she can get beyond his looks!

Being an avid reader I wanted to read the book after having watched the film starring Mel Gibson and the late Piper Laurie, many years ago. The film is good, but the novel is better. You get a lot more background to the characters and gain a real insight into working class life in Australia during the 1970s.

There is some opposition to Tim and Mary’s friendship coming from Tim’s sister, Dawnie. However, the real conflict of the novel is with Mary herself as she decides what to do with Tim; should she walk away from him, or should she stay.

Finally, the romance and the devotion between Tim and Mary is so tender at times, it’s enough to take your breath away! Be warned!

*******

I read the e-book from Amazon but you may be able to obtain a copy from the secondhand markets.

Thanks for stopping by

Until next time

Sharon

Ps: The full movie is available on YouTube!

In My Life – Beatles Song!

I think this Beatles song sums up very well the subject of my previous post.

Enjoy!

Image courtesy of Unsplash – Neenu Vimalkumar