CHAOS THREATENS, sample...

          As James sat in the pub having a beer, he couldn’t help but notice there were only two other people at the bar; one the barman, the other, a lonely middle aged woman.

          ‘Hey, how ya going?’ he asked the woman. She pretended not to hear him as she swirled her finger around the top of a wine glass.

          ‘Hey there – how ya going?’ he said a little louder.

          ‘Well how do I bloody-well look like I’m going?’ She hissed as she continued to stare into her almost empty glass.

          ‘Ah – okay I guess.’

          ‘Well I’m not bloody okay.’ She turned to face him, looked right through him. ‘My boy and husband are out there somewhere,’ she gestured with a slight nod toward the window behind James. ‘Don’t look like they're comin’ back. That fucking Chaos took ‘em. M-u-r-d-e-r-e-d ‘em it did.’

          Her husky voice lingered heavy on the air like low hanging cigarette smoke in a dimly lit room. Murdered 'em it did, ran through James’s mind over and over, the mental weight of the four simple words sending his brain into a pulsating confused mess, a confetti of thoughts. He looked her over, wondered where she'd been, what she'd done. Was it karma for previous sins, fate, or just plain bad luck? She sat low on her stool, her tangled black hair curled down and rested upon the bar, her face drawn and grey in expression just like her posture. She turned to face him again. James sat back startled, half expecting her head to spin three hundred and sixty degrees. She opened her mouth again and said,

          ‘Murdered.’

          James attempted to chat with her a while, but the conversation kept fading like a poorly fuelled fire. With each uncomfortable silence the flames would fail but James was ready with questions, more fuel. Eventually the shower of sorrow doused the fire until finally only smouldering ash remained. James was surprised that she managed to hold herself together; in fact, she didn't shed a single tear. Maybe all the years of living with an abusive alcoholic husband had somehow built up her defences against the sorrow within. Maybe she’s glad he’s gone, his disappearance finally putting an end to her torment, but on the other hand the loss of her son would be tearing her apart, the grief building inside her like a swelling gas bottle in a house fire, a ticking time bomb, tick-tick-tick...

Copyright,2010 J.WILSON

Unlikely Mates.

From the trading of insults, relationships can be formed.  To insult someone is to test their tolerance, and the way in which one responds after receiving an insult is generally spontaneous and therefore an indicator of one's wit.  Fair enough there are plenty of well-known come backs, but after a few insults are traded they generally make way for some more original improvised comments.  To share insults with another – and find it amusing instead of upsetting – is often an enjoyable experience, and believe it or not friendships can be built on such a relationship.  For Jock and Kelly, this is the way it all started.  Kelly, been a true-blue Aussie, started straight into Jock with the kilt insults, and from there their little game helped them on the road to friendship.  The evidence of this is the fact that they now travel together along the flooded back roads towards Harford in Jock's ute. 

James Meets Sky...

      James nervously walks around the bar.  He takes Sky by the hand and leads her to the front of the fireplace, where they begin to slow dance.  Sky laughs and leans back as they spin around.  James pulls her tightly against his chest, she looks into his eyes. ‘I really like you James, I don’t know why, there’s just something about you.’  

      James can't believe what's happening.  He feels like he's walking toward the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and it's not moving away.  He's smiling, can't help but smile, even-more so when he replies. ‘Magnetic is all I can say.  As soon as I noticed you, I was yours.’

       As their lips meet everything around them disappears; the food, the fire, the pub – gone.  They may as well be spinning around kissing on a random shape that drifts off into an empty black nothingness, the universe surrounding them folding in on itself, disassembling – as if it were a cast away origami figurine, created by the hand of God.  Tonight James and Sky have found the ultimate treasure and now their hearts beat hard within their chests.  They spin slowly, for they are the earth and their minds and spirits are the circling planets.  The chemistry of the touching lips sends shock-waves down their spines – as if positive just grounded - resulting in tingling lips, and from them drips an energy that neither of them felt before.

       James begins to return as if from a dream to feel her heat, the small of her back cupped in his arm and her breath and smell upon him. ‘Whooo.... Holy shit Sky'

        ‘What?’

        ‘I don’t think I have to ask but did y—'

       ‘Yes James I felt it.  Let’s go to bed.’ She looks into his eyes, into him, and whispers. ‘Please... take me.’

COPYRIGHT-2010-JWILSON