November 2020
My short story, Compliance, was published by Oxford-based publisher Fairlight Books on 12th November.
COMPLIANCE
I look up at the clock on the wall. A quarter to nine. I wait for Miss Flood’s light knock on my door. I listen but hear nothing. I continue to wait. The world beyond my office is a muffled, soft-carpeted silence. My eyes have settled on the photograph of my mother and father. It stands by itself on a shelf by the coat stand. They look out at me – arm in arm, indivisible – from within a silver filigree frame. It is a photograph which brings me little in the way of gentle memory. I check my wristwatch.
Now, it is nine o’clock…
And now, a quarter past nine…
Miss Flood knocks and enters.
"Oh, this was so sad. But beautifully written." - RA
"Really loved this story. Elegant, spare, expressive ... a real pleasure to read." - MH
"Bravo! A jewel." - SP
"A beautifully-written piece which I much enjoyed." - RJP
♦ Read the whole story at Fairlight Books