Gerald Daniels

“Resting Place” by Gerald Daniels

I watched the English landscape unravel itself as the train sped towards London. My old city awaited my return with indifference I thought, but it felt good to allow myself to be drawn by its pull and I let memory bear my fear.               I walked from the station to Southwark Park for no other reason than to allow myself the luxury of remembrance. It had been thirty five years, slightly more than half my life. I avoided the places where I'd been happiest. &nb...

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“The Lightness of Friendship” by Gerald Daniels

Submitted to Contest #105

Chris.                    I didn't want to take Mikey but I owed him and we both knew that. At the end of the day it all boiled down to the fact that he was depressed and depressed people aren't the best company on a weekend away. I would liked to have gone with anyone else but him, but it was too late now to go back on my word as he'd already booked us a couple of rooms in a hotel, and I'd made a promise.        ...

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“The Kitchen Radio” by Gerald Daniels

Submitted to Contest #100

The morning light seeped between the slats in the kitchen blinds, gentle and pale. Thin rectangles of dust danced lazily in the delicate beams casting spinning shadow dots on the work tops and doors. A little radio, plastered with greasy fingerprints and flour, spoke of political elections, pink roses and lost friendships. A pot boiled and hissed it's steam on to the window and little puffs of spray fizzled onto the hotplate as the water rose over the rim.               &n...

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“Dear Sam” by Gerald Daniels

Submitted to Contest #97

Dear Sam.                I know you've got a lot on your plate at the moment, especially given everything that's been going on in the world. I don't expect you to give a response to my message, it's good enough to know that you're listening and you'll take my thoughts as seriously as ever. I would really appreciate it if you might be able to find the time to get back to me though, given everything that's happened. I have to say it feels quite liberating to know that y...

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“King of the Dance” by Gerald Daniels

Submitted to Contest #93

               Tonight he was going to face the world and actually leave the house. He was going to throw caution to the wind and take his rightful place in the sparkling, fashionable, heart-thumping life that he used to have. There would be no more watching through the windows, no more pressing his face against the glass and no more skulking away back to a life of suspicion and self-doubt. He walked along a tiled passageway and entered a dull hallway with low timber ...

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“Sunny Days ” by Gerald Daniels

Submitted to Contest #92

        I've left my reading lamp on the lowest setting, with the flexible neck straight so that the lampshade directs a soft light at the ceiling. I'm leaning my back against a pile of pillows looking longingly at the locked doors of the wardrobe. As soon as the social worker left I'd slipped the key out of my sock and shut myself in for the night, but he came back into my room an hour later and caught me slumped like a dead dog (his words) on top of a pile of my old clothes. After I got out he'd made...

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“Billy” by Gerald Daniels

Submitted to Contest #91

               We'd been told three times now, and I expected the fourth to be less than polite. Billy shuffled his feet and I noticed his eyelid twitch. I slammed my book shut and hoped the thump would send a defiant message to the librarian.                "Okay both of you, out!" she shouted. "I've told you three times to keep quiet in here."         &...

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“The Ladder” by Gerald Daniels

Submitted to Contest #89

I spoke to them with the calm of experience, but it didn't help me much. The fact that I had done it before was no guarantee that I could do it again. When the moment came I feared I would have to confront the depths of myself once more, throw caution to the wind and thrust myself forwards without any thought for my own safety. It might be my last leap of faith, or it might not. It was largely down to a question of luck.               I walked along the trench, the st...

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“The Staircase” by Gerald Daniels

Submitted to Contest #88

For many years, maybe longer than I care to remember, I've stood sentinel at the bottom step, biding my time until I too will put my foot upon the staircase. The waiting has taken its toll on me, I'm fifty years older than my death and my body has aged beyond the point of my passing. But time stretches out before me, slowly unwinding itself until the moment when I feel I can forgive. But there are knots in its cord, little trickery's that tighten and weave in on themselves, slowing everything just when I think I have a clear run to the end. ...

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“Marcus Bromhead” by Gerald Daniels

Submitted to Contest #87

        My name's Marcus Bromhead, it's 1976 and I'm studying for my final exams at The Farrsholt School for Boys. I walk to school every day because walking gives me time to think, and because my mother can't afford to buy me a bicycle. On the way home I pass a narrow strip of land that belongs to the allotment society, strips of cabbages, sprouts and potato plants all growing at peculiar angles and tended to by flat-capped old men with baggy trousers and torn shirts. Sometimes I sit in the long grass...

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“The Dahlia Show” by Gerald Daniels

Submitted to Contest #86

Father sat with his legs outstretched in front of the gas fire, his feet so close to the heat that the steam rose in a continual haze. He was still wearing his gardening clothes and the bottoms of his threadbare jeans were circled with mud which would eventually set solid and flake on to the carpet as he moved about the house.                As he dozed his head flopped to one side, the light from the standard lamp emphasising the weathered skin of his face and the da...

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“The Green City” by Gerald Daniels

Submitted to Contest #85

               The morning mist was clearing but the passing cars still had their sidelights on. I wondered where everybody was going and to what worlds of work they were heading, I imagined most would spend a day staring at a computer screen. There was a moment when I felt a tinge of guilt, a slight regret maybe, but I gave it to the wind, let it drift away and into the head of some other poor victim. I'd earned my retirement after all and I was determined not to bec...

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“Room with a View” by Gerald Daniels

Submitted to Contest #84

                                        Spring               I've been here for five and a half years now, two short of the record for the longest stay. Three inmates have enjoyed a longer wait, two of which aren't exactly aware of the fact and the other they keep hidden ...

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“God of Water” by Gerald Daniels

Submitted to Contest #83

                God of Water                Deep within the cavernous, multi-layered waters of the ocean trench I lie still and slumbering, unaware of the eons of silent time that have passed since my body became peaceful once again. A warm, soothing current washes through me, encouraging and full of promise, but daring me to rise through its balmy, turbid structure. Like a brave and foo...

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“Avatar” by Gerald Daniels

Submitted to Contest #82

                Avatar               There was no escaping the heat during that summer. Only one front lawn in the cul-de-sac showed any sign of life and that was because a secret sprinkler showered the baked ground every night. In the morning the grass would glisten in the fresh light before evaporating into the morning air, little streams of water ran down the path and made shallow puddl...

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