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Gordon Lawrie

Her Final Journey

22/12/2024

 
The pain came in the bathroom. She'd been expecting it, but not just then. Let me be clean, be respectable.
 
Desperately, she reached for paper and did her best, pain racking up all the time as she stretched. Not here, please, not here, she thought.
 
Gasping, she pushed herself up by pressing down on the flush button and rearranged her clothes as well as she could. Then it was all about staggering through to the sitting room by steadying herself against walls. Give me strength this last time, please.
 
She made it into her favourite chair and closed her eyes.

At Santa's Grotto

18/12/2024

 
A little boy is next at Santa’s Grotto.

“Well, young man, what’s your name?|

“Noah,” the boy replies.

“Nice name. And have you been good this year?”

“I hope so.”

“Very good, Noah. What would you like for Christmas? A football?”

Noah hesitates. “Santa, I don’t really need any toys. What I’d like for Christmas is peace in Ukraine, the bombing of Gaza to stop, children to stop dying in mass US gun shootings, racist attacks in the streets to end… and for people not to starve anywhere in the world.”

Santa sighs. “Would you settle for a train set?”

A Fatal Mistake in the Heat of Battle

1/12/2024

 
The room’s heat rose, the contest intensified: I could see sweat trickling down his face. Deep in concentration, I sensed he was nevertheless in great peril. This was my moment.

He paused for effect, then placed his three squares with the declaration “Down! Twenty!”

He should have paused a little longer.

My lip curled. Calling out in triumph, “A fatal mistake!” I laid down seven golden squares – G-O-O, then on the other side of his D, W-I-L-L.

“Goodwill!!” I screamed, “Triple-word, triple-word, plus I’m out!! 167 points!! I’ve won, I’ve won!”

“Damn,” he said. “My turn for the dusting again.”
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    Flash Fiction

    Flash fiction is very, very short fiction indeed - short stories of any sort of length from a Haiku to ten minutes' reading. Good for when you're in a hurry. This series is a selection of contributions to Friday Flash Fiction, where there's a limit of 100 words. I try to make all mine exactly 100 words.

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    If you enjoy these stories, why not download Gordon's first two collections of these, called '100 Not Out' and '200 Not Out'? Available for all types of e-readers including Kindle and iPad, for free. Completely free, no strings.

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