Howard Halsall

“Too Good to be True” by Howard Halsall

Last New Year’s Eve I celebrated the occasion with a group of friends in central London. We all agreed to meet up at Bar Italia for a civilised coffee and a flaming Sambuca before progressing round the bars and clubs of the West End. The rain that was forecast never arrived and it was mild evening for late December. Late night revellers arrived by underground hoping to see out the old year in style. Shoals of bright young creatures swam down busy the streets of Soho on a rolling tide of alcohol and gay abandon. It had been a tough year and w...

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“King for the Night” by Howard Halsall

After thirty-two years of loyal service at Warburton, Flickwick and Featherstone Inc., Charles Swinburne had run out of excuses for avoiding the annual Christmas party.For over three decades, he’d missed the event by wriggling out of arrangements, dodging invitations and feigning the symptoms of every non-fatal virus known to humanity. Not that Charles disliked or shunned his workmates; he just didn’t like large social gatherings. Two was company and three gathered at the water cooler was a crowd, by his reckoning. On a one-to-one basis, he ...

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“Room at the Inn” by Howard Halsall

Submitted to Contest #123

George Hartley stared down at the rows of assorted parents, parent-governors, teachers and siblings and his stomach tightened like a boiled crustacean. He wiped a moist hand on his innkeeper’s shirt and disguised a dry cough with an acrid smelling palm. Mr Brewer queued George from the wings and directed him to take centre stage. George swallowed and stepped forward to hit his mark underneath sizzling spotlights. Two costumed classmates trudged towards him; one with a false beard and the other bearing a pillow stuffed inside her voluminous g...

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“Cold Comforts” by Howard Halsall

I knew this shortcut was a bad idea as soon as we slowed down to twenty miles per hour. In retrospect, twenty miles per hour was fine, because we’ve been stationary for three hours and now my stomach’s complaining like a blocked drain. It sounds like it’s got a voice of its own and it isn’t shy about speaking its mind.#Late night Christmas shopping is never a great idea on an empty stomach. Jenny and I met up in town after work on Christmas Eve, each clutching our lists of necessary purchase suggestions. We’d left everything to the last minu...

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“Nobody's Fool” by Howard Halsall

Submitted to Contest #121

There’s no doubt about it. Olga and I are grateful to the state for allowing us to work at the Hotel Cosmos. At our time in life and advanced age, there aren’t many other countries that would look after us in this way. We get to see each other at lunchtime and the chef saves us a plate of the day’s special for our evening meals. If it weren’t for the relentless nature of the work and the freezing cold conditions, we’d be laughing all the way home.#Vladimir is a stubborn old fool, but he’s my silly old fool and after sixty years of marriage, ...

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“A Time to Remember” by Howard Halsall

Submitted to Contest #120

The recent lockdown gave me time at home and at last I’d run out of excuses. For over thirty years, I’d been meaning to sift through that box of paperwork and letters. It’s not that I procrastinate, you understand; I’ve always attended to my affairs and left no correspondence unanswered. However, blowing the dust off my family’s heirlooms was a daunting task. An ideal moment hadn’t happened, or maybe I’d avoided making the time. # So, being honest, I’d chosen to forget about the chore, given there were two hundred envelopes to open...

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“The Distant Roar” by Howard Halsall

The sounds of happiness are drifting down the sea front promenade as we pull up outside the Saint Brides Bay Inn. Somewhere inside, a strident bell clatters twice and through the open doors, I can see a young barman gathering empty glasses. He chats with his remaining customers before returning to the cash register to check the night’s takings.“Listen, Jill,” I say, nudging my wife, “I’ll grab the keys and a couple of beers.”“Drinks? Where are…?” She looks around. “We’re here already?”“So much for sharing the wheel.” I chuckle and kiss her c...

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“The Night Creatures” by Howard Halsall

Submitted to Contest #117

Jessie and I never saw the van that killed us that night at the crossroads. It flew out of the darkness like a predatory raptor swooping down on its prey. An anxious resident who’d heard the crash called the emergency services. Fifteen minutes later, they arrived to discover the other driver had abandoned his stolen vehicle, leaving us unconscious and trapped inside our mangled car. The paramedics performed defibrillation as we raced to the hospital, however after all their efforts, they declared us both dead on arrival.#I’d passed my drivin...

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“Wild in the Country” by Howard Halsall

“Be good for Pops, Kim,” said Mum; her voice distorted with digital splats.“You’re so hard to hear, Mum,” I said, raising my voice as if that would help. “I promise I’ll come for you,” she said. “It’s just hopeless with the petrol shortages, love.”“But, when, Mum?” I shouted. “When will you come?”Mum’s response is inaudible; her words are throttled by bursts of static crackles. It’s as if Mum’s phone has choked her to death. “Is the signal always this bad here?” I ask. Pops shrugs his shoulders and continues she...

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“The Scenic Route” by Howard Halsall

Submitted to Contest #114

“Do wanna do something fun?” Kasey says, hauling my suitcase onto the back seat of her coupe.Mum’s smiling and clutching Dad’s arm; he’s shaking his head and pointing at his watch.“Do you have anything in mind?” I say, waving them goodbye one last time.“Let’s take the scenic route,” she says, gunning the motor.I pull the door closed and we’re off.#Kasey and I go way back. We met on our first day at junior school and both went to Rosemary Wood High together. She was the big girl who was great at soccer, and I was the brainy one with pigtails ...

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“Unknown Pleasures” by Howard Halsall

I do not know why I’ve ended up in this café. Portobello’s isn’t the smartest or trendiest place to eat on Mars. Maybe it’s because the chef only uses natural ingredients and eschews the synthetic dietary substitutes we eat every day.#The Solar-Mining Corporation manufactures most of its employees’ food here on Mars. This was a novelty three years ago, but now their limited cuisine tastes all the same. The heightened chemical flavours have a sour after-taste that catches on the back of my throat. It reminds me of that popular mousse they use...

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“Off the Road” by Howard Halsall

“We have plenty of time,” Jimmy said, outside the hospital. “He’s going nowhere.” “You know what?” I said, alighting the vehicle. “I should’ve driven.” The visiting hour was almost over when we arrived at Dad’s bedside. He looked pale and clammy and the nasal feeding tube didn’t do him any favours. His dry, rasping inhalations sounded as though he’d swallowed a sheet of sandpaper. I mouthed an apology, but he raised his hand and sighed. “Forget it, son, I just---”Jimmy cut him off and launched into one of his endless...

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“My Year as a Pirate ” by Howard Halsall

For my fourth birthday, Mum and Dad gave me a black tricorn hat, an eye patch, and a skull and crossbones flag. However, it was Mrs Devland who provided a sea-worthy vessel in which I could rove the oceans in search buried treasure. I had the time of my life but my pirate days were curtailed when my mother’s engagement ring went missing prior to my fifth birthday.#My father had given Mum the three stone diamond ring as a token of his sincere intentions. That was ten years ago; shortly after they met. Since then, they’d been too busy to get m...

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“A Spectre on the Shore” by Howard Halsall

The first time I met Ken Small was in 1990; he was up to his ankles in shingle and adjusting the volume for his metal detector’s headphones. Ken’s doctor had recommended exercise and fresh sea air to restore his well-being following an all-consuming twenty-year obsession and consequent divorce. It was on this beach that he’d unearthed the remnants of warfare and the truth about the needless deaths of nine hundred and forty-six soldiers prior to D-Day.#I’d visited Devon for a peaceful weekend in late September; a welcome respite from my hecti...

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“Lost and Found” by Howard Halsall

Submitted to Contest #103

“Turn left and proceed on the route for twenty-five miles,” says my iPhone.Damn it! Jerry wasn’t joking about tonight’s road closure. He warned me I’d have to go cross-country this evening. I never know when to take him seriously. Commuting this way is never an option unless I’ve an hour to waste. I mean, who’d choose to take the scenic route to work, anyway? And what kind of prankster picked July to dig up the roads? We’re in the middle of a heatwave, for God’s sake.#Everyone knows the Singleton district for its endless meadows of graz...

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