Victor Flute

“Job search” by Victor Flute

Submitted to Contest #92

It was 6.00 a.m. on a cold dark winter’s morning but thankfully no frost, snow or even rain. Yesterday had been a disaster. The interview panel made it clear that as I did not already live in Cornwall I was a foreigner. They spent little time on questions about my qualifications, experience or my attitude to various professional situations. Instead they asked about my opinion on fougos – which luckily I knew were Iron Age structures and that no one really knew what they were for. I knew that many people in that area believed they were refuge...

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“The Winner” by Victor Flute

Submitted to Contest #87

The Winner Puck  is always playing tricks. He enjoys watching people become confused but he does not want  to harm anyone. Have you ever got ready to go out, walked into the hall and found you car keys are not in the pot on the hall stand? You are sure you put them there when you came in – you always do. You look on the floor in case you dropped them and reach up to search your coat pocket taking a glove out of each pocket to search but putting them carefully back. You need to get going so you go and fetch your spare car keys fro...

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“To be or not to be?” by Victor Flute

Submitted to Contest #86

To be or not to be? On a beautiful sunny day in the middle of March I look out on to my front garden. The bank, for my front garden slopes down to the road, is covered with daffodils, celandines and violets. I am able to stand outside without a coat as the cold March wind has stopped. Spring has started and signs of new life are everywhere. Birds are singing, squirrels are leaping about in the trees where leaf buds are swelling. This year this is more significant than usual as I too am promised a new life. For a whole year I have been shield...

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“ENTRANCED” by Victor Flute

Submitted to Contest #83

Entranced Imogene climbed the steps to the Beach Watch Office and let herself in. She put the coffee on and waited for the three volunteers to come and sign in. While she was waiting she listened to the weather forecast – another warm day with a gentle offshore breeze. She loved this summer job. Although paid the minimum wage from the beginning of May to the end of September free meals, coffee and travel expenses were included. She had inherited her parent’s home so these earnings covered all her basic costs for the year. Out of season she p...

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“Once Upon This Time” by Victor Flute

Submitted to Contest #82

Bill Gates has just written a book “How to avoid Climate Catastrophe” which explains why getting to net zero emissions by 2050 is a big, big challenge. When I read this, the hymn “Think of a World without Any Flowers” came to mind. You can Google it if you don’t know it. The hymn asks us to think about a world without: flowers, trees, animals and people. It asks us to thank God that we have these. It is difficult to imagine a world without any form of life but this presumably is what people like Greta Thunberg, Caroline Lucas and now Bill Ga...

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“Mislead” by Victor Flute

Mislead Brian grew up on a farm a mile and a half from the nearest village and two miles from the school in that village. After leaving the village there was a footpath along one side of a rural road which lead to the village church, nearly three-quarters of a mile from the beginning of the village. After half a mile a muddy track ran for a mile up to the farm. The nearest  house to Brian’s was more than a mile away in any direction. He usually arrived at school with muddy wellingtons which often smelt of farmyard manure. As he lived so...

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“Hugh” by Victor Flute

Submitted to Contest #80

Hugh sat on the settee and looked at his grandfather who was dwarfed by his arm chair. “Dad said you were taller than him once and weighed sixteen stone” “I did but marrying your grandmother allowed me to halve my weight in a few years. Before then I was a vegetarian in a meat eating world and was fed lots of potatoes and cheese. You grandmother was a vegetarian and so I was fed a better diet. Over the last twelve years I have shrunk several inches – that’s what age does to one.” Hugh’s grandmother came in carrying a tray and her husband lea...

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“Jeremy” by Victor Flute

Submitted to Contest #78

Writing Contest #227 Prompt 5 JEREMY  Jeremy’s father was a master-baker and confectioner, and therefore in a reserved profession, so was not called up to fight in the second world war. He volunteered all the same and was rejected as he had flat feet. So he decided to take up a post as Baker and Cook at a Reformatory School (Juvenile Correction Centre). He would be baking for the school and the village nearby and dealing with, and cooking meals for, boys who had been committed to corrective and job training, for breaking the law. ...

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