narratorAUSTRALIA Volume Three

  ~~~

  Murray breathed in the damp, smoky fog and watched his chilled, exhaled breath billow beneath a lamp light.

  Bea Miles, slumped in a hidden doorway, muttered snatches of The Dark Lady.

  A cat flattened herself in the gutter. A screeching tom mounted, and bit into her neck.

  An old man in a raincoat, battered Homburg hat on the back of his head, squatted on his haunches, frozen except for a faint movement of his right arm.

  The deep note of a ship’s horn sounded the incoming tide. Seamen shouted to each other in voices from other worlds.

  Far away in a dark street, the stiletto heels of a lone prostitute pinged against the cobblestones.

  ‘I’ll get those bastards,’ Murray said. ‘As long as it takes, I’ll get them, one by one.’

  The sound of the race call echoes in Murray’s memory. He steps on the indelible yellow chalk mark on the pavement, and chafes at the script with his shoe, attempting to erase a letter from the word ‘Eternity’.

  Thursday 3 October 2013

  Wish For An End

  Kylie Abecca

  Port Albany, WA

  A heart left broken, blackened and charred,

  Left behind burned, cracked and scarred,

  Time is my enemy, one I can never turn back,

  My life is left hollow, empty and black,

  For friends I have none, that I truly do trust,

  To rely only on myself, is now a must,

  I wish to break down the barriers, so my life can move forward,

  A desire I don’t know how to work toward,

  Keep my chin up, fake a smile and pretend,

  And hope that one day my turmoil will come to an end.

  Friday 4 October 2013