There is a fight on the pavement outside. Shouting, swearing, pushing, polo shirts stretched tight over beer guts, the full show. The confrontation is fuelled by alcohol, the participants’ attention on each other rather than the overlooking windows. The fisticuffs, however, are not where your attention should be. Take a step back from the window. What do you see? Frost creeping up in between the double glazing where the seal has blown. The dried husks of a few flies littering the windowsill.
Further back, to where black mould is creeping down from the ceiling and onto the wall above the window. The vinyl has started to peel and yellow. Scroll back again, and the source of the groaning sound you’ve been hearing becomes clear. A refrigerator is losing its battle against the still-cold air; the shuddering and whining have an end-of-life quality to them. There is a pool of brown liquid underneath the door whose provenance it is probably best not to investigate.
Look around to where bills, pizza fliers, and letters from the DSS are forming a second floor underneath the front door. Junk mail parquet. The clothes on the hallway radiator are crispy. Start towards the door now. Turn back to the kitchen window. There are pictures on the walls of births and weddings, all framed in pine and mahogany and the same feathery layer of dust that coats everything. It lies on the one-hob cooker. It lies on the dishes on the draining board. If it weren’t for the light throwing the armchair into shadow, you would probably see it covering the leather upholstery. There is only the chair back’s silhouette against the wan light, however, that and the outline of a hand on one of the armrests. One slipper is visible on the carpet, tucked in close. The back of the chair hides the rest.
The flat is too small to pan out any further, but no matter. We have seen where the true story lies – in between the windowpanes, at the edges of the picture.
*Thanks for reading, folks. Image courtesy of Needpix. Some of my recent short stories include ‘The Lure’ and ‘Wire’.
Matthew Richardson is a writer of short stories. His work has featured in Gold Dust magazine, Literally Stories, Near to the Knuckle, McStorytellers, Penny Shorts, Soft Cartel, Whatever Keeps the Lights On, and Shooter magazine. He is a doctoral student at the University of Dundee, a lucky husband, and a proud father.
Not necessarily in that order
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Great sensory imagery that really pulls the reader into the scene.
Cheers Tom. Hope it didn’t pull you in too much – it felt like a pretty grim flat at the end! 😂
Great tale, filled with such glorious imagery; and, so well penned as usual.
Thanks so much Goff. Always such a compliment coming from you.
Pleasure. Have a great day.
Always this sense of mystery in your stories, matthew. Something unsaid or unknown. Not easy to achieve. Nice one, mate
Cheers Peter much appreciated. Gentleman as always.
This has such a film-like quality to it, Matthew. The partial revelations lead the reader only so far and leave them to fill in the blanks. Very clever.
Thanks Chris. Tried to keep this very minimal and, like you say, let the reader do a lot of the work.
Wonderful imagery and so very poignant. I read it as an indictment of our societal rush to follow the excitement, while the violence of neglect remains unnoticed.
Thanks Annie. Yeah I just wanted to explore how attention is drawn to brashness and extroversion in society, often at the expense of where the deeper stories lie.
You did so elegantly!
Nice blog
Thanks so much. Very kind of you!
terrific piece: left we wondering if the two worlds were in some way connected; I read your comment above and realize that is not your intention but they well could be — but that is another story and it may not be a short one
Thanks so much John. Hadn’t considered linking the two but you’re right, there is scope for them to be connected. Hmmm…
good luck with that 🙂
Reminds us of the little details we often fail to notice. Good use of descriptive language and 2nd person narrative point of view
Thanks so much. Very kind of you!
Beautiful, loved the style, rhythm and vivid depiction. Much appreciate!
Thanks so much. Glad it read OK!