Shadow and Light | Short Story

Keep the home fires burning; that was what the troops had sung in the Great War. And she does, never going out without a carnival glass lamp switched on to welcome her home, its warped, lead-lined shapes throwing up a kaleidoscope of shapes against the wallpaper.

Locking the front door behind her, she starts the Morris and lets it tick over, still glancing through her front window at the bright, coloured glass. The blackout is still in force, of course, but no German bomber is going to release its cargo based upon seeing a carnival glass lamp from twenty-thousand feet. She pulls away from her front door, the gravel crunching beneath the Morris’s thin tyres.

The blackout has benefits, of course. There are fewer cars on the road, for one. The claustrophobic, eyes down and just get on with it attitude of the war has made people insular. It is as though by drawing their thick curtains they can shut out the fighting itself. With all of the attention on Britain’s southern coast or on the U-boats hunting the Atlantic convoys, no-one pays any attention to certain…occurrences right here at home. No-one has the mental fortitude to piece things together.

The final approach to the house has to be walked, of course. She rolls her feet as she approaches, scotch tape in one hand and a ball point hammer in the other. The house is blanketed in silence and darkness, smothered by them. There is no shifting of bedsprings when she runs the scotch tape along the stained glass in the front door, no hitching of breath in uneasy slumber. The occupants are blacked out, smothered in greys and blues.

A crack, and the coloured glass comes away in her hand with minimal fuss – the scotch tape. A warm, butter yellow – this will make a lovely addition to her collection. Reaching through the gap, she eases the latch up. Still, there is no sound from within. The hammer is a comforting weight in her hand. Searchlights pierce the gloom overhead as she pulls the door to behind her.

Thanks for reading folks. Recent short stories include ‘The Kinmount Straight‘ and ‘The Clacks‘.

Matthew Richardson is a writer of short stories. His work has featured in Gold Dust magazine, Literally Stories, Close to the Bone, McStorytellers, Penny Shorts, Soft Cartel, Whatever Keeps the Lights On, Flashback Fiction, Cafelit, Best MicroFiction 2021, Writer’s Egg, Idle Ink, The Wild Word, Down in the Dirt, and Shooter magazine. He has a Professional Doctorate in Education. Matthew blogs at www.matthewjrichardson.com.