Free Short Story - changed every season (solstice and equinox) - Thanks for your interest!
This flash fiction was written for Amazon Tellables’ “My Box of Chocolates” told in the British voice of Archie, a chocolatier who took a side-trip to False Key.
Archie’s Encounter
by
Kathleen Spalding
It was our first full day in False Key, and I dutifully trailed my wife through the tourist district while she searched for the perfect souvenir. Mid-day, I spied a welcoming sign, "On the Wall, Serving 99 Brands of Beer."
“I wonder if they have Southwark,” I mused. My wife waved me on, and I crossed the street to join On the Wall’s long line of customers.
Inside the small shop, a middle-aged man sat at a table, signing autographs. I couldn’t place him, but he looked familiar. A photograph a woman brought in for him to sign solved the mystery. He was an unusual and talented singer in Hotel Cirque's variety show, which my wife and I had enjoyed the previous night.
As I left the counter with my bottle of Southwark, I stopped to compliment Pat on his impressive singing. We struck up a conversation. I learned that he had been an average bloke with a boring job ten years ago, when his wife had entered their young daughter into a series of beauty pageants.
A failed struggle with their daughter's first costume had forced his wife to tearfully admit she was no seamstress. To cheer her up, Pat offered his assistance. His newfound talent for sewing not only saved the day, it launched a new career.
Pat's pageant dresses were soon in high demand. One happy customer led to another, and a chance meeting opened up a whole new market -- drag costumes. When one of Pat's customers heard him sing, the rest, as they say, was history. Between creating costumes and performing six months a year, Pat has earned more money than he’d ever thought possible. He's been able to pay off his mortgage, save enough for his children's college education, and invest in a retirementment fund, which he hopes to enjoy with his wife.
I had to chuckle, remembering Pat in last night's show at Hotel Cirque. He'd belted out "Nothing is as it Seems" in a clear tenor voice and full costume -- gold-sequined evening gown, six-inch spike heels, and a towering auburn wig. A devoted husband and father with a successful career as a drag singer; some things are indeed not as they seem.
The End
Pat is also a talented YouTube prankster, but sometimes the tables get turned. He appears in “False Impressions Parts 1 and 2,” published in Somewhere South of Reason, More Stories and Poems from False Key.
On the Wall is the setting for “Barnacle,” also published in Somewhere South of Reason, More Stories and Poems from False Key.
Archie’s Encounter
by
Kathleen Spalding
It was our first full day in False Key, and I dutifully trailed my wife through the tourist district while she searched for the perfect souvenir. Mid-day, I spied a welcoming sign, "On the Wall, Serving 99 Brands of Beer."
“I wonder if they have Southwark,” I mused. My wife waved me on, and I crossed the street to join On the Wall’s long line of customers.
Inside the small shop, a middle-aged man sat at a table, signing autographs. I couldn’t place him, but he looked familiar. A photograph a woman brought in for him to sign solved the mystery. He was an unusual and talented singer in Hotel Cirque's variety show, which my wife and I had enjoyed the previous night.
As I left the counter with my bottle of Southwark, I stopped to compliment Pat on his impressive singing. We struck up a conversation. I learned that he had been an average bloke with a boring job ten years ago, when his wife had entered their young daughter into a series of beauty pageants.
A failed struggle with their daughter's first costume had forced his wife to tearfully admit she was no seamstress. To cheer her up, Pat offered his assistance. His newfound talent for sewing not only saved the day, it launched a new career.
Pat's pageant dresses were soon in high demand. One happy customer led to another, and a chance meeting opened up a whole new market -- drag costumes. When one of Pat's customers heard him sing, the rest, as they say, was history. Between creating costumes and performing six months a year, Pat has earned more money than he’d ever thought possible. He's been able to pay off his mortgage, save enough for his children's college education, and invest in a retirementment fund, which he hopes to enjoy with his wife.
I had to chuckle, remembering Pat in last night's show at Hotel Cirque. He'd belted out "Nothing is as it Seems" in a clear tenor voice and full costume -- gold-sequined evening gown, six-inch spike heels, and a towering auburn wig. A devoted husband and father with a successful career as a drag singer; some things are indeed not as they seem.
The End
Pat is also a talented YouTube prankster, but sometimes the tables get turned. He appears in “False Impressions Parts 1 and 2,” published in Somewhere South of Reason, More Stories and Poems from False Key.
On the Wall is the setting for “Barnacle,” also published in Somewhere South of Reason, More Stories and Poems from False Key.
