short fiction
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No matter how many ways he tried to look at it it had been an awkward moment. They hadn’t exchanged phone numbers. The boy had said there was no need, that he was usually at the same club. Most nights he was there. ‘In that room downstairs?’ ‘Sometimes in that room.’ ‘I don’t even know…
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‘My mother’s coming,’ said Yvonne. ‘Be careful what you say. She’s very perceptive.’ Ben nodded. Mrs Morelli walked in. ‘Hello Ben,’ she said. She lit a cigarette with the large flip-top lighter on the mantelpiece. She clamped the cigarette in her mouth, looked in the mirror, and fixed her hair. Ben watched her discreetly…
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She heard the key in the door, put the lid back onto the chocolate box, and licked her fingers. He came in and threw his jacket on the floor, took off his shoes, and slouched in the armchair. ‘How was it?’ she said. ‘Dan’s worse than ever,’ he said. ‘I don’t think he’s aware…
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I woke in the dark. The cabin stank of stale cigarettes and beer. I pulled on all of my clothes, but couldn’t find my shoes. I walked barefoot up the steps, leaving Cubby’s hulk snoring in the dark. The moon was huge and the light falling on the deck was bright grey and harsh. The…
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At the bathhouse, I smile at a man in the changing area. I’ve come out of the sauna to get a cup of water. He’s sitting on a small white towel, on the bench next to the fan. We start to talk. He’s sixty-two. He tells me that he has found love recently. ‘It came…
Barry Lee Thompson 