*****Henry Eric Jameson Rowley: 1955—2024. *****Loved innuendo, so may have died age 69 intentionally. (Pause for laughter). *****Famous actor, famously generous friend, infamously extravagant party host. *****Gregarious, gossipy, sometimes garrulous. *****My lifelong companion, together four decades. *****Quote Tennyson’s “In Memoriam” here? No. Beautiful but stodgy. Also, not sure it IS better to have loved and […]
Notes For A Eulogy Read More »
*****Guillem arrives late, as always, rapid-firing apologies at his boss as he bustles through the beach bar and pulls on his apron. He stops at my table first, pointing to my near-empty glass. “Another beer, Miss?” Miss. Sweet, when I’m old enough to be his mother. I smile and shake my head. *****The day
It Never Really Happened Read More »
I know exactly when I should have died. Not in any mystical, predestined sense—in the same way there’s an optimum moment for shareholders to sell before prices plummet. May 18th 1998, Bali. That’s when my stock peaked. Our fifth wedding anniversary. That morning, I defied a vicious hangover to wake at dawn and
Competition Thirty-Two Highly Commended: Those Glorious Waves Read More »
“Suzie.” “Suzie.” “Suzie.” Your voice rises with each repetition. I lower my book and force a smile. You’re leaning forward, elbows on knees. Your frown pulls your eyebrows down, smoothing your forehead. You slightly resemble a man I met 23 years ago. His overweight uncle, perhaps. “I didn’t drink today,
Competition Thirty-One Shortlisted: Wet Brain Read More »
The boy is happy. See him sitting atop a double-decker bus with his new friend Grace as they bump along Northumberland’s coast and listen to shared music on the boy’s walkman, headphones linked. The North Sea’s a grey beast down to its deep gloomy heart, but on rare summer days it wears a glitter crown.
Competition Twenty-Nine Shortlisted: Impossible Summer Read More »
