Robert C. Day's Blog, page 31

Mommy

Mommy says that it’s not nice to talk with my mouth full but lots of peoples do it all the same like when we was in the diner having soda there was a man and a lady talking and they was both talking at the same time as they was eating and she was pretty with blond hair like my dolly but he was older than her and he looked like he might be smelly with his beard and his head that was shining with the sweat that was coming out of him onto his head but not the top of it ’cause that was covered w...

Freedom

(WARNING: Do not read this if you are of a sensitive nature. Themes of alienation and cruelty.)

Seven parallel bars crossed by a further three set at a right angle. All in one piece with no visible join. Made from a rigid material with a brownish-grey metallic appearance. There is a space behind them, and inside that space, further to the back is a lighter material with a pattern of smaller bars on it. Brown leaves closer to the front of that space – held in place by some kind of substance....

Bogeys

I wonder how long a bogey* lives for.

I tried to find out on the internet, but the results were inconclusive. It seems that no one has done any research into this important question.

I have no idea why this issue has not been taken up by the great minds of today. I mean, just think how many generations ofvaluablegenetic material are waiting beneath the average school desk! The implications for the nascent cloning industry are of paramount importance here.

So c’mon all you lab techs and resear...

Duppy

Mr Kapasi thought he had seen everything, but this woman was beyond all of his forty-six years of experience, twenty-five of those as a tour-guide in India’s entertainmentcapital – Mumbai. He had parked his car in a shady spot where the mid-day sun could not reach, and yethe felt like he wasbeing slowly baked. He fanned his face with today’s Hindustani Times, but to no avail – sweat stillstood out on his smooth brow.

He checked his watch – nine minutes to go before he was due to pick up his n...

Points of View

Robertinstalled thenewly-codedvoice-activated artificial intelligence programme onto the smartphone andreadied himself to take it for a ride. Pulling up thelatest exercise on the Creative Writing Masters course he had justsplashed outfor hedrew a breath and spoke“What is first person point of view?”

The voice came back, clear as a bell, and he smiled. As headjusted the volume downa touch, he heard the phone say “In a first-person narrative, the story is revealed through a narrator who is also...

Mother & Child

(continued fromJammin’ Until the Break of Dawn)

“What the f … Ma!”

“Mary, Mother of God – put it away already, Child. What you think this is – strip club or something. Away. Away.”

“Okay, okay!”

“Better. Time you get up now, Jack. Your sister coming in one hour and she don’ wantsee you looking like that?”

“Tina? What’s she coming here for?”

“I tell you last night. You no listen me, Son. She having plenty problem with husband so she coming home.”

‘Home? There’s no room, Ma. Not since you stuc...

Jammin’ Until the Break of Dawn

(this is related toNightmare)

Jack could tell from the rank smell that the bedding needed changing. He turned the pillow and settled his head into it again, but it made no difference – the same stench rose into his nostrils, gagging him slightly. But even that was better than the dream. He opened his mouth so that he didn’t have to breathe himself in. So that he didn’t have the stink of fear, anger, frustration and a deep sense of shame grabbing at his throat again. These were the things tha...

Nightmare

(connected to the character created inThe Pen)

Jack just wasn’t himself. Literally. He was a small girl. He was a small girl in a boat with no rudder and without a sail, much less a small outboard motor. In his dream, he was a small dot on a landscape of surpassingbeauty.

Small, small, small – can you see a theme emerging here. Take note – this could be important later on.

The boat itself was not at seabut was in the midst of sand dunes that made the girl (that he was in the nightmare) cry h...

Talking Turkey

Scrooge was a bit of a mean bugger. One night he had some bad cheese before he went to sleep. Three weird dreams later he woke up a changed man and lived happily ever after.

That’s the short version. That’s the version where the author tells us what happens. Fortunately, Dickens was rather more savvy than that – he went out of his way to show us the various attributes of Scrooge’s character. By dramatising his facets, features and foibles, Dickens shaped the narrative in such a way that the...

The Pen

The Character
Jack Buccolski, 35, short and stocky, part Polish, part Italian, wholly English, robustly healthy and fit.
Suspicious of everyone, and energetic to the point of disdain for all who can’t keep up with him. Of low intelligence, but very cunning and conniving.
Pretty much a loner, even though he has a wide network of family most of whom he loathes. On nodding terms with the local Polish community but has a poorer grasp of the language than he thinks, so is laughed at behind his...