No Windows by Chris Green Pablo Picasso said, if I don’t have red paint, I use blue. You have to be able to adapt to changes of fortune. I did not plan my early retirement, but here I am on a Tuesday morning sitting in my recliner with a toasted teacake and a cup of … Continue reading No Windows
Tag: contemporary
Domino Logic
Domino Logic by Chris Green ‘I am not Dirk Vandenberg,’ I say. ‘No one called Dirk Vandenberg lives here. There has never been anyone going by that name on this number.’ This is the eighth or ninth phone call for Dirk Vandenberg I have had on the landline this week. At first, I put the … Continue reading Domino Logic
Hunky Dory
Hunky Dory by Chris Green Writers of self-help books are fond of telling you that life always offers you a second chance, it is called tomorrow. This is all very well. It’s something you can look forward to. But what if you could have your second chance yesterday? This would mean that you still had … Continue reading Hunky Dory
Ghost
GHOST by Chris Green ‘You remember that creepy old man I told you about?’ I said. ‘The one I saw outside the kite museum. Well, Dad! He’s back.’ ‘I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about, son,’ Dad said, looking up briefly from his Melody Maker. On a Thursday, his day off, Dad liked to read … Continue reading Ghost
Philanderer
Philanderer by Chris Green I have lived in the same town most of my life, yet I almost never bump into anyone from my past. This is surely beyond the realms of coincidence. I remarked on this to Suzi only this morning. She maintained we often come across people I know, but could not come … Continue reading Philanderer
Mario and Lorelei
Mario and Lorelei by Chris Green Lorelei Love possesses a rare talent. She knows that things are going to happen before they do. As a result of her premonitory powers, Lorelei’s life has been alternately comforting or frightening, depending on what is scheduled to happen. Unfortunately knowing something is going to occur does not give … Continue reading Mario and Lorelei
You Never Can Tell
You Never Can Tell by Chris Green Annie and I are sitting in a café called Lemon Jelli sipping peppermint tea. The space is laid out to look like a continental bar with comfortable seating and 1930s French travel posters on the wall. We have come to Newton Abbot for the market. Annie is shopping … Continue reading You Never Can Tell
DARK
DARK by Chris Green I am in the garden at The Pig and Whistle on a hot August evening. About a dozen of us are sat around a table. Darkness is descending, rapidly, the way it does in mid-August. The English summer is so fleeting. Blink and it is gone. Every year it seems the … Continue reading DARK
Be Here Now
Be Here Now by Chris Green 1: 'I recommend you listen to two hours of Einaudi each evening,' says Dr Hopper. 'His soft piano music is perfect for quiet contemplation. You will notice a remarkable improvement in just a few days.' 'Two hours of Einaudi?' I repeat. 'But I like listening to experimental jazz on … Continue reading Be Here Now
Little by Little
Little by Little by Chris Green It is said that everyone who looks into their family history will sooner or later discover a deep dark secret, some unexpected turn of events. Time is a slippery customer. There are inherent dangers in unearthing the past. You never know what you might find. Perhaps the past should … Continue reading Little by Little
The Continuing Story of Wet Blanket Ron – Part 4
The Continuing Story of Wet Blanket Ron – Part 4 by Chris Green I thought that I had put the character of Wet Blanket Ron to bed. I had written three stories in the Wet Blanket Ron series and I felt that this was probably enough. No writer wants to keep going over old ground. … Continue reading The Continuing Story of Wet Blanket Ron – Part 4
Walter Funk
Walter Funk by Chris Green Walter Funk was a legend. Yet, if you ask most people today, they will not have heard of him. Walter Funk has no Wikipedia page and an internet search will take you instead to the Nazi economist, Walther Funk, but we need not concern ourselves with him. Walter, on the … Continue reading Walter Funk
Oleander Drive
Oleander Drive by Chris Green The black Mitsubishi has been parked there for several days now. Les Rubio first noticed it on Monday, when he came back from a business lunch at The Whistle Blower. The big SUV has been there in the same position, on the opposite side of the road fifty yards from … Continue reading Oleander Drive
Blowing in the Wind
Blowing in the Wind by Chris Green I am walking Malcolm on Panhandlers Hill when I first spot him. In fact, it is Malcolm who spots him first. Malcolm is a cocker spaniel and he is very sensitive to changes in his surroundings. We get a few hill walkers around these parts and at first, … Continue reading Blowing in the Wind
Cats and Dogs
Cats and Dogs by Chris Green It hasn't been a good Spring. I have spent most of it listening to birdsong on Birdsong FM because there hasn't been any birdsong in the garden. Every week when Sophie and I tune in to CountryWatch, they go on about global warming. March was the hottest on record … Continue reading Cats and Dogs
MISSING
Missing by Chris Green Not wishing to start the day just yet, I listen to the springtime chirping of the birds outside the window while I piece together the events of last night. The concrete that seems to be lining my head lets me know I had a fair bit to drink. I got in … Continue reading MISSING
ABRACADABRA
Abracadabra by Chris Green I have just pulled into the DIY superstore car park when I catch a snatch of Abracadabra on the new radio station I have found. Blitz plays nothing but rock, which is fine, as none of the other stations will touch it. I have not heard The Steve Miller Band for … Continue reading ABRACADABRA
Across The Universe
Across The Universe by Chris Green There has been a secret underground line in the south of England for years. It can be accessed through a network of tunnels originating from the basement of a former Turkish dry-cleaners in Dulwich. The line runs for sixty miles deep underneath the Weald to the coast near Newhaven. … Continue reading Across The Universe
The Continuing Story of Wet Blanket Ron – Part Three
The Continuing Story Of Wet Blanket Ron – Part Three by Chris Green In his nineteen years on the force Sergeant Crooner has happened upon many strange scenarios. If he has learnt one thing from police work though, it is when something seems amiss there is usually a rational explanation. Cause and effect, action and … Continue reading The Continuing Story of Wet Blanket Ron – Part Three
THE WAR ON TERRA
The War On Terra by Chris Green There are now just thirty four of us trying to save the planet. I've counted. Thirty four, plus a few more perhaps living off the grid. The other seven point four billion residents of Terra are hell bent on its destruction, some pushing to get the job done … Continue reading THE WAR ON TERRA
Thursday Night and Friday Morning
Thursday Night and Friday Morning by Chris Green A car outside my window sounds its horn three times and I stir from my sleep. I was on a golden beach listening to the gentle echo of summer voices. Dolphins were playing with gondolas in the surf. A woman with long dark hair and iridescent tantric … Continue reading Thursday Night and Friday Morning
The 16:06
The 16:06 by Chris Green The 16:06 from Paddington is usually on time. I rely on its punctuality to catch my connecting train from Taunton to Bridgewater, where I live. It runs at the right time for me. I do not like to work late on a Friday and I don't want to spend a … Continue reading The 16:06
Just The Way It Is
Just The Way It Is by Chris Green A second did not seem an important integer, but therein lay the problem. It was such a small unit of time. Yet, such was the degree of precision operating in the overcrowded skies that if Quincey Sargent had returned from his break seven seconds earlier or seven … Continue reading Just The Way It Is
FILM
FILM by Chris Green I have never watched an interactive film before. IF, as it is becoming known, is a revolutionary idea to get the audience involved in what they would like to see happen on the screen. I am watching with an open mind. I feel that democratising cinema in this way has great … Continue reading FILM
DRUGS
Drugs – a short story by Chris Green We are lounging in the garden of Astral Parlour, the name we have given to a pair of crumbling farm cottages deep in the Cotswold Hills. It is a summer afternoon and the sun is high overhead. There are about a dozen of us. I can't say … Continue reading DRUGS
The Continuing Story Of Wet Blanket Ron – Part Two
The Continuing Story Of Wet Blanket Ron – Part Two by Chris Green I can hear a phone, one of the emergency ones I keep in my office drawer. Each has an individual ring tone, but I've lost track of which ring tone is for which client. It seemed a good idea, at first, when … Continue reading The Continuing Story Of Wet Blanket Ron – Part Two
Toker’s End
Toker's End by Chris Green My DuckDuckGo search came back with the names of several estate agents in my area, but King and Castle seemed to be the premier firm, not least because their advertisement said so. So, later that day I called into their High Street office and asked if I could see Mr … Continue reading Toker’s End
Footsteps
Footsteps by Chris Green You may not have heard of Tregorran. Most people haven't. It is a tiny hamlet, remote even by Cornish standards. Although I keep hearing that providers are investing millions of pounds to tackle poor reception in rural areas, I have no phone signal where I am staying at Little Wormwood Cottage, … Continue reading Footsteps
Retriever
Retriever by Chris Green Einstein posits that the distinction between past, present and future is no more than a stubbornly persistent illusion. I can see where he was coming from this morning as I go through the mail. This certainly seems like the same CheapCall bill I received the day before yesterday. And the same … Continue reading Retriever
Cadence and Kascade
Cadence and Kascade by Chris Green I wake in an unfamiliar room. My head is pounding and my mouth feels like a dried up drainage ditch. I am used to more formal surroundings, when I wake, a comfortable bed and sometimes a cup of tea. My recall of how I came to be here is … Continue reading Cadence and Kascade
Love Letters
Love Letters by Chris Green Living on what estate agents term a centrally located estate, I get dozens of flyers pushed through my door. As I have no interest in moving house, have all the double-glazing and kitchen fittings the house requires, and I do not eat pizza these are swiftly dispatched to the recycling … Continue reading Love Letters
Come Rain Or Come Shine
COME RAIN OR COME SHINE by Chris Green ONE: RAIN It had rained every single day for the three summer months. Every morning at around five past seven with my bacon and egg sunny side up I would watch the weather forecast on JustNews. The weather presenter would come on and shrug sheepishly in front … Continue reading Come Rain Or Come Shine
Happy TV
Happy TV by Chris Green The position on the Programme Development team at Happy TV, had not been widely advertised so I felt fortunate that I subscribed to Occult magazine, as it had been one of a very few that had carried the ad. What an opportunity, I thought, better by far than writing dull … Continue reading Happy TV
Chris Green Stories 