Month: June 2008 (Page 2 of 4)

Tanya felt herself make a sudden and involuntary intake of breath, as the zepplin appeared out of the fog. It was almost silent, as it slipped into view, tendrils of mist curling down the sides of the hull, like strands of gossamer.

She had always been fascinated by dirigibles, she was fairly sure that it was because the first Bond movie that her parents had let her see was the one with the fantastic airship in a shed. Now here she was about to board her creation. She was a modernised re-creation of the Hindenberg that was no longer susceptible to the weaknesses that led to the famous disaster that destroyed the reputation of airships on the world stage.

If this flight went well she would be one step closer to making a success of the most off the wall idea that anyone had had for a while; the return of trans Atlantic airship cruising as an alternative to jet airliners. The concept was simple; rather than rush to New York in five to six hours, why not arrive having spent two and a half days in luxury?

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You can see the original post on Ficlets.com by clicking here.

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This Ficlet was written on the day, but posted to this blog at a later date, due to time pressures – if you don’t believe me check on Ficlets.com by clicking on the link above.

Eva pulled her hand back, shocked by the heat. She had not expected the stove to be on and so had simply reached out for the pan to pick it up by its rim.

The dull pain of a burn was already throbbing in her fingers as she plunged her hand into the cold water standing in the sink. She pulled the plug out and turned the cold tap on with her other hand, so that she could hold the affected area under cold running water.

As she stood there, attempting to protect herself from a nasty blister and a scar, she cast her gaze out across the beach. She knew that she often took for granted that she lived right on the beach, or as near as dammit at any rate. The deck outside the kitchen door ended a few feet from the sea wall, and the beach was the other side of that.

The sun was setting, and she could see Jake sitting in his usual place, playing. She wondered why he always came down to the beach to play at sunset; he would get a lot more from busking in the daytime, particularly on a Sunday when there were tourists.

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You can see the original post on Ficlets.com by clicking here.

Jake leant back against the groyne and slipped his feet out of his shoes. He loved the feeling of the crushed shells that made up the beach under his feet. Hundreds of years of shellfish farming here had led to an entire beach made up of seashells.

The sun was sinking over the Isle, like a giant flaming orange that was slowly being lowered onto the land. There, in the quiet, Jake took out his pipe and began to play.

Sometimes when he went through this ritual, day trippers who had forgotten to leave earlier in the evening would stop and listen to him as he cast the melancholy laments of his own composition onto the offshore breeze, but not this evening. It had rained almost all day and the town had been spared the usual July influx of tourists and sun worshippers that would come from as far away as London to eat oysters and blister in the sun.

As he played, the sun continued to sink and all of his thoughts turned to Odette. The music came out of him as if it had its own anima and he felt at peace once more.

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You can see the original post on Ficlets.com by clicking here.

Jo smiled at her, a mask of well meaning lies. The thing was that Jo was filled with jealousy and she did not know how she was going to cope with this situation, let alone all of the other ones that were to come.

She had never thought that Amy’s modelling would bother her. She had seen Amy’s portfolio, but they had been curled up on the sofa together, the morning after they had first made love. It was exciting to see these beautiful pictures of her new lover in all her glory. Now that she was here, a photographer and his assistant looking at her, and talking about how to make her look more sexy, and Amy taking delight in the process, the motives of the shoot and the result; it was a shock.

Men and women all over the world were going to see these pictures and be turned on by something that Jo felt should be for her alone. She knew that she had to get over this or hide it from Amy. Amy wanted to do this, loved doing this and she was so happy that Jo seemed so supportive, and Jo felt so lost and so scared.

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You can see the original post on Ficlets.com by clicking here.

Amy held her breath, trying to ignore the cold, rough floor against her shoulders and her buttocks. When she had seen the location she knew that the photos were going to be striking, but her heart had sunk a little when the impending discomfort had dawned on her in the next moment. Still she had sat in icy streams, even posed in the snow; these were not the most extreme conditions that she had endured. Her thoughts were interrupted by Darius;

“That’s fantastic, Amy, thanks so much. Why don’t you get up and get warm for five to ten? John’s got a brew for you, and I’ll get the lights set up for the next shot.”

She had never worked with Darius before, but she liked the work he had sent her and the general buzz amongst the other models she knew was that he was respectful and yet a fun guy. She shrugged on the robe that John brought over to her, with a mug of tea, and quickly flashed a look at Jo; she was smiling at her, and that felt good. She was glad to have brought her; her support in this meant the world.

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You can see the original post on Ficlets.com by clicking here.

Tom steadied himself again and went back to thinking about his breathing. In is down, out is up. In is down, out is up. On the third cycle, as the sight was in place he held his breath and gently began to squeeze the trigger. Bang! Immediately afterwards he heard the clang of the plate target; another good hit. Time to move.

The searching group were only ten metres to his left as he slid away into the longer grass towards the third hide point he had scouted on the walkthrough before. All of the aspirant snipers had to find their own hides and their own routes between them before the test. It was as important a part of their skillset as actually being able to make the shot, if not more important. A good scout sniper can enter a forward position, kill the enemy and then leave, unmolested, ready to do so again the next day, and the next.

They never even saw him, and now he was in position again. He checked the wind, using the pennants on the radio antennae, adjusted his scope, in and out and hold and squeeze.

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I looked down at her in that bed, connected to machines that beep and breathe and tell the doctors what they call ‘her vitals’; “I put her there” is all that I could think.

If only I had been more careful, if only I had been paying more attention, if…

I felt Louise’s arm around my shoulder and she squeezed me in that way that says “it’s ok, I’m here”. I let my head fall onto her shoulder and closed my eyes, hoping that I would wake from this horrible nightmare when I opened them again.

She led me out into the corridor and sat me down on one of those moulded plastic chairs designed for ease of storage and economy of production as the important driving forces; comfort being almost ignored. A hot, black coffee appeared in my hands, and then she sat beside me and locked her eyes onto my face.

“My daughter would never blame you for this, and I don’t either, so please stop blaming yourself. It was an accident; no blame.”

I wanted to believe her, but my Sara was almost dead, and I was not, and I was driving.

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You can see the original post on Ficlets.com by clicking here.