This is probably the biggest blend of fact and fiction that I’ve written to date.
I worked in this garden. I knew a couple very similar to this couple. But no one died and the continued existence of all human life on the surface of the planet was never threatened, at least not as far as I noticed.
As for the idea, well, if you’ve ever been locked in a struggle with weeds and brambles you will know how it can come to take over your whole life. xx
“A white arrow painted on the road.
Gorse like wind-blown spume on the crest of a hedge.
A buzzard soaring against the pale blue sky.
Ben had heard about something called “mindfulness” on the radio yesterday. It was supposed to be a way of not dwelling on the past or worrying about the future and Ben had such a lot of past and such a lot of future to dwell on and worry about that he’d decided to give it a go. It seemed to be just making lists of stuff that you could see as and when you saw it but the woman on the radio had said that it grounded you in the here and now and that was good for you. Good for your well-being, or something. Ben thought that was what she’d said. It didn’t seem to be making much of a difference yet. Perhaps it took time?
A stop sign and a junction.
An oncoming car.
Oops.”
From SILVERBACK, a collection of imaginative short fiction published by Climbing Tree Books. Available in paperback or as an eBook via Amazon and other booksellers.
