Number Five

The equilibrium between water and air had been accomplished, I was afloat. The cabins along the starboard side stretched until they got lost in the sun. One of them had voices inside and a poster on the door. It was announcing the performance of a lifetime. ‘Where legends come to life!’ It said. And ‘The Amazing Adventures of James Navis.’ 'Audition within’. It said underneath. The room froze to a standstill when the sea sky behind me cut across the gloom. There were six people, one man was in a seahorse outfit smoking an extra-long cigarette. There was a woman dressed as a mermaid and her scales sparkled. She frowned heavily. They’d made a small stage out of palates and cloth was draped about the walls, in colours of the sea. ‘I’ve come to audition for a part in the play.’ I said. She turned to the seahorse man. He shrugged his shoulders. ‘For James Navis?’ ‘Yes’ I said. ‘I’m terribly sorry, the part’s been taken already.’ She gestured to an old man slu...

I kept seeing Io in the periphery of my waking day. In the night she was right in the centre, sitting there, a little sprite with forthright eyes and strange clothes made of opals and pearls. She started getting in the way. She started following me everywhere I went, rattling along on the bus, sitting staring in the office weekly meetings, gouging out my attention, plucking little moments and gawping at delicate baubles in her palm as if they held a secret. I ignored her as best I could. I took a trip to the edge of town, where the field receded into the horizon like the sea tickling the shore,  the frail and tired scraps of nature before me,  the city island behind. I'll forget all about Io, she was never going to be the one. This search is fraught with meanderings and double-cross paths, I can take my time.  The clouds agreed, the trees cheered and bowed their heads, then I saw a wave across the barley field. How pretty. As nature conv...

It didn’t take long to muster the necessary energy. In fact it was there all the time under the surface, like a pocket full of coal, carbonised since the dinosaur times.  The waiting was not such a big thing. I always waited, time was always be relative, it still is in fact. I bemoaned my tiredness, drew strings over my eyes, lifted the lid off the day and wept goodbye to my dreams. “Goodbye sweet dreams. I can’t remember you so well, but it doesn’t mean I don’t love you.” I mused at the paradox and scratched my tired arse. There’s no coffee, no awakening agent, just sunlight. I had a mackerel, smoked and dipped in pepper, squashed onto a bit of brown toast. It worked a bit. The news babbled on about Brexit. The day crept into me and I dragged my way to the great outside. Systems engaged, I took a breath or two, they worked a bit.  Bright light forcibly pressed into the retina, that worked a lot. Roads to cross, trains to catch, crowds at Wa...