Selling Up

He edged the silver Mercedes into nervy traffic going Eastbound towards the City. Red brake lights sparked all around, as uneasy drivers were spooked by the downpour they were locked into at sixty miles an hour.

It was only after a period of acclimatization to the conditions that Jacob noticed the opposite carriageway, where there was no traffic at all. It wasn’t much further before the cascade of ominous blue flashing lights exploded into view. Here he had to be even more wary, because drivers’ attention on his side was distracted, trying to rubber-neck a chaotic scene they could barely make out.

He noticed the catastrophic damage to the upside-down vehicle, the unusual colour of which made him peer more closely than he should have. In the magnetic spell of the image, he only just avoided the fast approaching back end of a container truck, hastily applied brakes causing it to fishtail a little. He managed to stop within a whisker of his own disaster.

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Again and Again

She came to me every week. A crowd of skinny dark faces parted as I walked to her, alone in the impeccable dark blue suit. Perfect in a thousand other places.

“I love you.”

The smile appeared amidst the heat and dust.

“I know.” She took my hand and led me to the cottage by the sea.

“What about Erica?”

She always asked. In my guilt, she looked at me with a knowingness she never explained and in those moments she held me all the tighter; loved me all the deeper.

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Never the Same Again

I left her in the morning. Took the 13 bus home in thirteen minutes. Up the stairs, the apartment looked the same as ever. And it would never be the same again.

Stared at by faded families of generations past on the mantelpiece, the very frames made me cry for the first time.

I would go back to her later in the day, after a freshen-up and a rest. I took my time to savour the quiet, for I could feel the difference already and I wasn’t sure that I liked it much. Our life, which had been so wonderful, was changed now forever.

I’d need to create other photographs – in new frames – in the times to come.

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