there-could-be-a-sting-in-the-tale

Eddie (his real name, age 37) had been running his website for almost 20 years now. You may have come across it whilst searching for inspiration (!) on the internet: - EDDIE’S READY – DEBUNKER OF MYTHS, TELLER OF TRUTHS AND LICENSED SPIRITUALIST He’d started it as a bit of a joke whilst at University. The freshers were clogging up the Students Union bar, making his enjoyment of the evening as a whole and the obtaining of beer in particular difficult. Loud and crowded. Just what he hated. But then he overheard a conversation on the next table. “I’m telling you now,” said one, beer glass swinging violently from side to side, “Princess Diana was killed on the orders of the royal family. It wasn’t an accident at all. It’s obvious.” Another member of the group turned to the speaker. “Don’t talk crap. The driver of the car was pissed. It was travelling too fast. An accident, pure and simple. Sad but unfortunately true. Prove to me it wasn’t an accident.” The conversation became mor...

First Delivery Late morning in a time during the first lockdown. Audrey is working in the downstairs office at home. Her husband Jeff is upstairs asleep after completing a night shift. She hears a thud as a letter drops from the letterbox onto the carpet. Funny, she thinks, I’ve not seen the postman. She goes to the door and picks up the letter. No stamp, so no postie. She opens the door. No-one around. She closes the door and looks at the envelope. The address is handwritten - ‘Private and Confidential - For the Personal Attention of Audrey’ - and inside the envelope are two sheets of white paper. The first reads: - I KNOW EVERYTHING. WE NEED TO TALK. I WILL BE IN TOUCH SOON. The second sheet provides more details of what was seen and when. The information is accurate. The sender reveals what they did to help Audrey evade detection that day. She had no idea. Audrey is anguished. She thought she had got away with it. Clearly, she hadn’t. What is going to happen next? So...

They didn’t want to make fools of themselves, so they chose a long, straight bit of the canal upon which to land as gracefully as possible. If it all went a bit pear-shaped, at least they would have plenty of water available to use to rectify any problems occurring. Sadly, as they were ducks, the expression ‘gracefully’ tends not to apply when such fowl are out of the water, particularly where landing on it is concerned. The actual event itself would have gone viral had it been filmed and downloaded to social media. It was a blustery day. The pair of them glided down towards the water, side by side as they had been taught by their parents, and had indeed done many times before. However, at the critical moment, which as any duck will tell you is immediately before making contact with the water with your webbed feet pushed forwards to act as brakes once they touch it initially, a strong gust of wind blew up from nowhere and completely unbalanced them. Instead of pointing forwards as in...