Postcards from Kronk - the second collection of daily stories. (2025)

There's a feeling of deja-vu I get every time slide past the laboratory. Look who's back, back once again with the renegade masters. Shouldn't be here I think, from another place, the marks on my arms and wrists suggest I've been bound or confined recently. There's crust on my lips and I can't seem to shift the smell of sulphur. Every time we conduct this experiment it's the same, the cabinet, the controlled explosion, the faster than light sub atomic particles, back once again from where I've always been. Throwing the switch back once again, there's a sense this has already happend recently, I see her face through the window before the white light and then we're back at the beginning once more, the days seems blurred at the edges now. They decided not to continue with the tests, I hear them saying this as I shift past them on the other side, the power is too unstable, they can't risk anymore men. So I'm here again, in a loop, my life ...

Beautiful Jane, her caravan shiny as robot spit enjoyed her first cigarette of the day. She stood in the door way breathing in the morning air, her skin prickled against the cold. " What ya got there ? " Cousin Lex was stuffing something in the boot of his Vectra, struggling to get it to close. " my worldly goods J " he squinted up to her and smiled, " you can come with me if you like " She smiled back, " Shame Lex, I got to smoke this cigarette then have a lie down, otherwise..." " We got to get going now, you know that dontcha ?" " Can't worry about Christmas when I'm still fretting over breakfast Lex, things'll come good " He shook his head and gave the boot one last slam, this time it caught, . " I'm away "The camp looked too open now people were starting to leave, each family knocking a hole in the side of their giant sandcastle, the water was set to burst in and flood them all. She thre...

Herman hated visiting his Gran, even before she'd died. She'd look at him through misty glasses and poke him in  the ribs, remarking on how skinny he was. Granny Tuppence lived in Hull with his Uncle Ron, a crooked, beaked man with a moustache that bent his whole body over. He was once a big noise in local politics and called in favours with the Rotary Club and the local Mason Lodge to gain permission for a home burial. The service was short but moving, everything seemed in order, ashes to ashes and all that. The following week, however, when Uncle Ron premiered his 'Ultimate Ventriloquist Show' Herman felt his soul curdle. Those matinee performances spoiled his weekends for the whole summer.

As the fundamentalists regained power in Cyprus the world held it's breath as operation Dante began. In four days, it was claimed, the Underworld would be revealed. Members of the United Nations tutted and threatened to send in advisors, ambassadors and monitoring teams but he's not worried. Pygmy Goza, the new Cypriot President, alone on a hill, chuckling to himself, throwing meat scraps into the air for his his Hawk, if only they knew...

" Reckon it wouldnt be long before you showed up " Albert greets me with a plastic cup of liquified coco beans and indicates to follow him. My watch shows it's not nine yet, if I'm lucky I'll still get to Dads for supper. " how many you think we have ? " It's hard to answer, there's blood everywhere and a couple of hands, both slightly chinese looking, the rest of the stuff is too small to identify, clods of bone and gristle. " Well must be a at least three, Id say  " I indicate the three large areas of flesh and blood, each up to ten feet apart. " Idiot, "  the cups knocked from my hand and I get a slap round the face for emphasis. " These goddamn blocks, sent her hurtling from one to another, like a pinball, she got slammed into nothing. Just the one, pretty girl I bet, but she's gone now, mushed. " I nod, know better than to question. " Seems like no one saw it again." The collision blocks ...

The wind most knocked him sideways, twelve hours since the sun had gone out. Harry checked his watch, he was already late and thinking about how to sneak in without being seen. The world that had been handed from the religious to the scientists had now been left abandoned, nothing made sense anymore, all the prophesies had amounted to nought. In the lift, Harry gets the feeling deep in his gut, the world may be dying but he's still going to get it in the neck.

Like pulling a zip together, bringing the beginning and ending of my life together as it should have been. You've aged, the lines run deep reminding me of the times you've had without me. Those you've held, the tears you've shed, the laughing that couldn't stop, a lifetime in those lines. But as we sip tea and I pretend this is a one off I'm packing my bags and closing the few doors that hadn't been slammed shut in my face. This is my town now, Wrexham, you said we could meet up, the once and here we are. You've stopped drinking sugar and you've stop dying your hair, you're more confident and as beautiful as I can remember. We part and I walk away, my story saved for another day.