May 14, 2020, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story that answers the question, “What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you are in absolute danger?” Go where the prompt leads!
Life Crossing
I had only just pushed the wheels of the buggy onto the road, after checking to see all was clear, yet the roar of the engine was close. Either I had missed seeing this approaching car, or the driver wasn’t driving at the designated speed limit.
Knowing I wouldn’t be able to reach the other side, I grabbed the buggy handles and jerked it back, as fast as I could.
Heart beating as if it would break out of my ribcage, I checked inside.
Bless him, he was still asleep. But I knew our lives had flashed before me.
Partners bowing down
While facing one another
Ready to perform
Their first dance, after a break
But, can they keep their distance?
Ritu 2020
Today’s poem is less about dancing and more about my thoughts as we are preparing for maybe going back into school come June 1st.
I am a Reception teacher, the 4-5 year olds, and they, along with Year One and Year Six pupils, have been suggested as the first classes to head back to school when the time is right.
My first thoughts?
How on earth can we socially distance thirty 4-5 year olds (x2) in a classroom, and outside at playtime?
Apparently, by halfing the class numbers… and using other teachers to take smaller groups, staggering drop off and pick up times and playtimes and eating lunch in our classrooms.
Will we get PPE?
No, because the govt doesn’t think it’s worth it. (But at least my head has ordered some things, just in case.) Seems that as it is nigh on impossible to socially distance them, what’s the point? Oh, and they are less likely to suffer from COVID-19… Actually they are more likely to be asymptomatic carriers… So they may not suffer… but what about us?
Am I going to bring it back into my home?
This is the scariest part. I can’t see other members of our family, they can’t even meet their own grandparents, but we can mix as a teacher with her class. Then we all go home, and there is the potential of infecting our own loved ones, if someone in that group is carrying the infection asymptomatically.
Do I want to go back?
This is a really tough one. I desperately miss my class, and I am anxious because I know there are many who are going to be falling behind in their learning. But, are we safe? We are trying to keep abreast of learning by using online methods, but these things are not as easy for the younger children. Older kids can access the online learning much easier than the little ones. They need practical, hands on activities to help them learn. So, for my babies education sake, I do want to go back, but I am not wholly convinced yet, that it is right.
Quite honestly, I feel like a guinea pig. Are the government sending us back first, to see what happens? If a few extra children and teaching staff fall ill and/or die, will that be the cue for them to decide to close again?
I am delighted to (re)introduce, my dear blog and fellow writer pal, Jim Webster, with news of not one, but two new books! And he has been kind enough to share a short story too!
Those of you who are familiar with Jim and his Talli Steelyard series, will be thrilled, and if you haven’t got in to them yet, well, now is a perfect time!
Without further ado, let me get Jim on the line, with a short story titled Remarkably Sharp. This is the picture that inspired it.
Remarkably Sharp One or two of my patrons are ladies who are quite handy with a cutting remark. Perhaps I should rephrase this. I suppose most of my patrons are adept in this field, but some have, through long practice, mastered the art. But every so often one comes across somebody who can be cutting and witty. Although she is not a ‘professional wit’ (by which I mean one who is invited to events purely because those inviting her hope she will deliver some devastating put-down to a victim included in the guest list purely for the purpose) Andei Addlespur was cutting in more ways than one. She was not merely taught fencing, she was a master swordsman. Let us deal with the ‘master swordsman’ first. There are few, of any gender, who are recognised in Port Naain as having achieved this level of excellence. Examination is entirely practical, you are expected to fight for your ‘crown’. All bouts are against known experts and all are to first blood, fought without armour. Injuries are neither unknown nor unexpected. For the final bout the prospective master is matched against an Urlan, trained from birth to be a soldier and a warrior. The candidate is not expected to defeat the Urlan, (although some do) but must impress them with their skill. As you can imagine, new masters are not created every decade, never mind every year, and Andei was, for many years, the youngest. Indeed at the time, it was her youth, not her gender, which was held to be remarkable. There were some who were prepared to quibble about the wording of the designation. When she was awarded the title it was registered with the Council of Sinecurists. A clerk wrote back, querying whether a lady could be ‘master’ and swords’man’ and was there was another equivalent title. Old Toldan, the oldest of the surviving Masters, and hence in some ways their spokesman was not impressed. I was fortunate enough to be asked to pen the letter he sent, (he wanted it written in a better hand than he could manage) and the words I can remember still. “I care not whether our new Master stands or sits when they visit the jakes. We have assessed their skill with the sword and they have reached a standard where, frankly, they can call themselves whatever they damned well like. There are probably not six people in the city with the ability to query their decision. But if you are not happy with the situation, take up your blade and have it out with her in person.” Personally I felt rather sorry for the clerk who was probably just checking that the terminology was right, lest they inadvertently offend. Still, like the other masters, she tended to support herself through teaching, and whilst Andei would consider anybody as a pupil, she did tend to teach women. This led her into many complicated situations. There are any number of reasons why a lady might learn to fence, and take lessons. The first is a genuine love of the art, allied to a desire to be able to both defend herself, and to maintain a level of fitness. These ladies tend to gravitate to Andei because she is a good teacher, and has a reputation for being gentle with beginners. This latter quality is unusual, many masters are brusque with beginners, feeling that they are casting their treasure before the dogs. Most masters prefer to take competent pupils who have reached a good standard but who can then be stretched and pushed until they’ve achieved the best they can. The second reason why a lady may wish to learn to fence is that she has conceived a desire for the fencing master rather than the art. There are any number of ‘fencing teachers’ who have stepped forward to gratify this group. The problem with these ‘fencing teachers’ is that they don’t have to be very good, as their pupils are never going to aspire to achieve mastery, they merely have to be better than the average Port Naain husband. To be honest this doesn’t set a very high bar. This then set a pretty problem for the husband of such a lady. What to do? He was almost certainly unable to match his wife’s paramour blade to blade. Indeed to do so would be to acknowledge that the fellow was actually his wife’s paramour. Most would prefer to avoid forcing an open breach, in the expectation that their wife might get over what was, hopefully, a short lived infatuation. The arrival of Andei upon the scene suddenly gave these gentlemen a way through their dilemma. They would hire her to teach their wife, ensuring that she arrived when the ‘fencing teacher’ was present. The husband would introduce Andei into the situation, explaining that he was so impressed with his wife’s devotion to her new interest that he decided to hire for her the very best. This forced the lady’s own fencing teacher into a difficult position. One particularly foolish and over-confident individual dismissed her with vulgar abuse. Andei merely stood with her hand on the hilt of her blade and commented, “One day you may achieve the level of sophistication set by this table, it at least has a certain polish.” When he drew his sword and attacked her she casually disarmed him and drove him from the house, thrashing his buttocks with the flat of her blade. Another of these gentlemen saw her as she walked along Ropewalk and decided to take advantage of the busyness of the street to insult her. He told her, at length, what he thought of her. She glanced at him briefly and replied, “I don’t care what you think about me, I don’t think about you at all.” It has to be said that Andei was never vindictive about it. If the fencing teacher went, Andei just left it at that. On occasion she would come across the same individual, but in a different household. In these occasions it was often enough for her to just stare at him for him to make his excuses and leave. Still, there are always those who seem too stupid to learn their lesson. Flatan Artwight was one of these. After being ejected from one house, he decided to get his own back by starting a whispering campaign. This alleged that Andei won her coveted status not by her ability with the blade but by engaging in unusual erotic practices with various unnamed (but obviously powerful) people. One evening I was helping Madam Kalinsa plan an entertainment she was holding the following week. I did notice she keep looking at the clock, but wasn’t entirely sure why. Then a maid arrived and announced, “It is time for your fencing lesson, Master Flatan Artwight has arrived.” I thought this a little strange, as it was late in the evening and I knew that Madam’s husband was in Prae Ducis on business. Still I made my excuses and left, passing Flatan in the hallway as I did so. I was walking down the drive towards the road and met Andei Addlespur walking towards the house. I bowed slightly. “Good evening Andei, I confess I am surprised to see you here.” She gave one of those quick smiles which displays teeth rather than humour. “Master Kalinsa asked me to keep an eye on things and drop in if necessary.” She paused as if pondering the situation. “Would you be so kind as to announce me please? And when you do, stress I am entering the house behind you.” Nothing loath I turned round, walked back into the house and was met in the passage by a bemused maid. “I have a message for your mistress, and could you greet Andei Addlespur at the door and show her in please.” With that I knocked on the salon door and after allowing a short period to elapse I entered the room. Madam was seated on the settle and Flatan was apparently engaged in getting a speck of dust out of her eye. Without ceremony I announced, “Andei Addlespur has arrived, your maid is at this very moment showing her in.” Flatan cursed, opened the window and climbed out. Intrigued I made my way to the window. As Flatan prepared to tiptoe into the shadows and make his way through the garden to the road, Andei appeared in front of him with her sword drawn. The light from the window glinted on the blade. She said nothing, merely watching him, her sword half raised. Finally Flatan’s nerve obviously broke because he drew his sword and charged towards her. She deflected his blow with her blade, guiding it to her left. Then she half stepped sideways to avoid his attempt to body slam her and trust with her sword. Flatan fell dead. She looked down at the body, sighed and wiped her blade on his shirt. Then she turned to me as I stood at the open window. “Tallis, I think I’d better spend a while in Partann. I am not sure if the authorities are going to smile upon this particular incident. I could see that. “Well you have rather burned your bridges. They could claim it was murder, even with me as a witness to state he attacked you.” I got a genuine smile for that. She sheathed her sword. “Always remember, Tallis. If you’re being pursued by idiots, burning your bridges sometimes seems an entirely sensible thing to do.”
And now a brief note from Jim Webster.
It’s really just to inform you that I’ve just published two more collections of stories.
More of the wit, wisdom and jumbled musings of Tallis Steelyard. Meet a vengeful Lady Bountiful, an artist who smokes only the finest hallucinogenic lichens, and wonder at the audacity of the rogue who attempts to drown a poet! Indeed after reading this book you may never look at young boys and their dogs, onions, lumberjacks or usurers in quite the same way again. A book that plumbs the depths of degradation, from murder to folk dancing, from the theft of pastry cooks to the playing of a bladder pipe in public.
Once more Tallis Steelyard chronicles the life of Maljie, a lady of his acquaintance. Discover the wonders of the Hermeneutic Catherine Wheel, marvel at the use of eye-watering quantities of hot spices. We have bell ringers, pop-up book shops, exploding sedan chairs, jobbing builders, literary criticism, horse theft and a revolutionary mob. We also discover what happens when a maiden, riding a white palfrey led by a dwarf, appears on the scene.
