normblog

Short short story 11

Head On (by Wendy James)

At least they're over the mountains before it really sets in. Such heavy rain, so loud. In the dim warmth of the car she feels submerged, subterranean. But safe: the Land Rover is solid; the wipers rhythmic, efficient; Brian steady and intent at the wheel. The children are asleep, Elsie curled against a pillow, Danny sprawled, lips flickering, hands twitching, restless even in slumber. She'd like to sleep herself, but won't, in deference to Brian and out of some vague childhood superstition: if she nods off on a journey she won't wake, will never arrive. She'd rather face whatever's coming head on, as it were...

And then, just as she's winding her seat back, preparing to relax, there's this sound like a gun firing and the car is bucking and skidding; the steering wheel jerks madly, twists out of Brian's hands. She pushes herself up. Time slows, augments. What's happening? Brian?... feels her lips thick around each syllable, turns her head, the movement infinitely heavy, towards the children, still sleeping, thank God... turns back. Brian has caught hold of the wheel again, but she can see that there's no response, that the connection between driver and machine has been severed irrevocably. And suddenly she knows, knows as if it's something she's known forever, that this is it. There's no possible way to avoid the coming impact, the rapidly approaching headlights, unwavering, expanding, inevitable. Oh, but the children! She sits upright, stricken, clutches the sides of her seat, closes her eyes...

[The short short story comp is announced and explained here.]

Short short story 10

The Pool Shark (by Luke Vinten)

The only time I ever met a pool shark was in a pub behind Waterloo Station, on a sweltering July afternoon. I was sitting by the pool table when a man approached me. He was very smart, with a bright red shirt, shiny black shoes, and neatly-clipped hair.

'Do you want to play pool for a fiver?' he said, and I saw at once what he was. I told him that I didn't play, which was more or less true.

He went away. But soon his challenge was accepted by another bloke, a sporty type in a tracksuit. They set up the balls and began. I watched with interest.

The man in the red shirt was very good and very cocky. But he also missed some easy shots, eventually letting his opponent win the game and the fiver.

They agreed to play again. The pool shark went to fetch the triangle.

As he passed my table, he gave me a big wink.

I thought, 'Aha!'

The second game was identical to the first, a close match until Mr Tracksuit pulled ahead at the last moment.

Again the pool shark winked at me. By now I was gripped.

They played a third game. My friend lost again. His opponent took the money and left.

The man in the red shirt sat down alone at a table. I went up to him.

'So... what was all that about?' I asked.

'Bastard was better than me,' he said.

[The short short story comp is announced and explained here.]

Biggest

Wherever you're going to be in an hour's time, this is where I'm going to be - well, in front of the version of it on my television screen. As the man said, it doesn't come much bigger.

Update at 3.15 PM. Interesting piece here:

It's a new patriotism. New patriotism means: not the old one. Another one. We're still trying. The old patriotism lived in a Germany that doesn't exist any more. This new patriotism is going to be as different from the old one as Germany today is from what it used to be. Just as the ongoing World Cup will have as much in common with the 1936 Olympic Games as Beckenbauer does with Hitler, or Sönke Wortmann with Leni Riefenstahl.

What we are experiencing at the moment is more a soccer enthusiasm than a national one, but we'll only realise that when our team finally loses. The flags will hang at half-mast for three days, then we'll begin smearing our faces with other colours. Then we'll be for the Brazilians, Italians or Portugese. The fact that we were for Germany, just as the French were for France, the Italians for Italy or the Brazilians for Brazil won't be forgotten. Nor that it was alright to be proud of Germany without mutating into anything close to a Nazi. That's possible. What a miracle! It's this feeling of continuous, German harmlessness that allows me to celebrate with a waving flag.

Rally for Sakchai Makao

Shetland is stepping up its support for local man Sakchai Makao to help him fight his legal battle against deportation to Thailand.

Fund raising events and a "Good Luck Rally" have been organised over the next week to boost his chances of winning his case at an immigration tribunal, next week.
.....
The rally will be held at Clickimin Leisure Complex next Tuesday (4 July), the night before he sets off for North Shields where the immigration tribunal will be held, on 7 July. Both local MP Alistair Carmichael and MSP Tavish Scott are expected to attend and voice their support for the campaign...

Campaign co-ordinator Davie Gardner said: "The response to this campaign, both inside and far beyond the Shetland community, has been overwhelming and totally unprecedented and has had a significant affect on all of us.

"A great many people want to wish Sakchai well before he leaves for the hearing [-] so, given that they have already done so much for him over the past few weeks, we felt the campaign should arrange an informal and personal chance for them to say goodbye for now and good luck before he leaves for this crucial part of the current legal process in North Shields".

(Thanks: BrS.)

Manc-Scouse conspiracy?

Darren, the Inveresk Street Ingrate, is noticing signs of republicanism in the England team. Maybe Neville, Carragher and Rooney have been reading Mike Marqusee.

Feminist

The most recent edition of Arena magazine has a piece by Guy Rundle on the Euston Manifesto. It contains a sniping reference to Pamela Bone. Pamela has sent an email to Arena in response:

In the June-July edition of Arena, Guy Rundle writes, in an editorial regarding the Euston Manifesto, that one of the international signatories to the manifesto is 'our own imperial feminist Pamela Bone'. I must first advise Mr Rundle that I am not 'his' anything. Secondly, although I suppose I should be flattered that he has not forgotten me, I must wonder why Mr Rundle feels it necessary to refer to me quite so frequently: given that in 22 years of writing in a much larger publication - The Age - I have not once referred to him; that the copies of Arena regularly sent to me have been unsolicited; and that I in fact I have written very little for six months, having retired from The Age last year after having been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

The Euston Manifesto is a document prepared by a group of British academics and writers who met regularly at a pub near London's Euston Station. The architects are members of the Left who wish to distance themselves from what they see as the knee-jerk anti-Americanism and cultural and moral relativism that has plagued much of the Left in recent times - indeed, from the kind of views which may be said to be typified by the writings of Guy Rundle. I do notice Mr Rundle makes no mention of the fact that another international supporter of the manifesto is one of Australia's most eminent philosophers, Professor Raimond Gaita; perhaps he felt this would lend the document too much credibility.

As for the term 'imperial feminist'; I am certainly a feminist, and I am happy to be deemed 'imperial' if that is taken to mean that I wish to impose on other cultures the basic human rights that are taken for granted in this culture (for I doubt he means the word in its other sense, 'majestic'). Indeed, if I could, I would forcefully replace those cultural traditions that allow the stoning and beheading of women, or the throwing of acid in their faces, with one that grants women individual rights under the law. Happily, I don't need to, for brave Muslim women are themselves beginning to force those changes.

Read the rest of Pamela's email at Tim Blair.

The normblog profile 145: Susan Hill

Susan Hill was born and bred in Yorkshire where she learned to sit still and watch cricket from the age of four at the Scarborough cricket festival. She went to grammar schools there and in Coventry and then read English at King's College, London. She published her first novel as an undergraduate and has been a full-time professional writer ever since. Her novels include I'm the King of the Castle, Strange Meeting and the ghost novel The Woman in Black. The play adapted from this has been running in the West End and round the world for 18 years. Most recently Susan has written a trilogy of crime novels. She is married to the Shakespeare scholar Professor Stanley Wells. She blogs at her website Susan Hill.

What has been your best blogging experience? > Finding out that over 900 people had visited my blog the previous day.

What has been your worst blogging experience? > Having my blog quoted in The Times, which made me realize how careful I have to be about what I say and the way I say it.

What are your favourite blogs? > Charkin Blog, Dove Grey Reader and Grumpy Old Bookman.

Who are your intellectual heroes? > Keir Hardie and Christopher Hitchens.

What are you reading at the moment? > I always have half a dozen books on the go, not counting books I am reading for my Masters degree in Theology. But as of last night: Personal History by Katharine Graham; Greene on Capri by Shirley Hazzard; Delta Wedding by Eudora Welty; Fleshmarket Close by Ian Rankin - and I'm re-reading A Time to Keep Silence by Patrick Leigh Fermor, and Waterland by Graham Swift.

Who are your cultural heroes? > Benjamin Britten; Marilyn Monroe.

What is the best novel you've ever read? > Dickens' Our Mutual Friend.

What is your favourite movie? > Casablanca and Some Like it Hot - a dead heat.

What is your favourite song? > Anything from Guys and Dolls.

Who is your favourite composer? > Benjamin Britten.

What philosophical thesis do you think it most important to combat? > Religious fanaticism. (I speak as a Christian.)

Can you name a work of non-fiction which has had a major and lasting influence on how you think about the world? > The Bible. I am not a fundamentalist. I do not believe everything in the Bible is literally true. But I do believe that it contains the best counsel for good living (among other things).

Who are your political heroes? > Keir Hardie and H.H. Asquith.

If you could effect one major policy change in the governing of your country, what would it be? > Abolish private education so that the most motivated and powerful parents and the brightest children and the best teachers would be forced to enter the comprehensive system and improve it out of all recognition. And I speak as one who was privately educated and sent her daughters to private schools. But I would not have done if the local state system had been as good as the private sector in which they were so well educated.

If you could choose anyone, from any walk of life, to be Prime Minister, who would you choose? > The Prince of Wales.

What do you consider to be the main threat to the future peace and security of the world? > Iran and other fanatical regimes having nuclear weapons.

Do you think you could ever be married to, or in a long-term relationship with, someone with radically different political views from your own? > I have been for 31 years! I am a Keir Hardiean/Bennite socialist, he is a rather apolitical Conservative. It probably works better now than ever because we both despise New Labour so much.

What do you consider the most important personal quality? > Generosity.

What personal fault do you most dislike? > Meanness, both financial and of spirit.

In what circumstances would you be willing to lie? > I was always willing to lie to my children when they were under five, mainly to reassure them. (Is that lightening going to hurt us? No, of course not, it's just God sharpening the scissors.) There are lies and lies. It is the motive that is the important thing. When the doctor told me my mother had advanced cancer he suggested I decide whether to tell her or not - he would fudge the issue. She asked me if she had C; she would not even utter the word. I said 'No, you have a lot of ulcers in your colon and they have been removed.' In consequence she perked up and lived another three healthy years. I have never regretted that lie. But public lies, by politicians and leaders, are quite different. They are always and everywhere unacceptable. The motive is never good.

What commonly enjoyed activities do you regard as a waste of time? > Getting drunk.

Where would you most like to live (other than where you do)? > Anywhere in the UK in front of the sea.

What would your ideal holiday be? > In the above, but with room service.

If you had to change your first name, what would you change it to? > Up to the age of about 12 I wanted desperately to be called Rosemary. Now... I hate Susan but I have learned to live with it. Suze is better. Never Sue. Scherezade would be nice, if only I had an exotic surname.

What talent would you most like to have? > To be able to play anything on the piano, by ear. Best way to entertain people or yourself.

What would be your ideal choice of alternative profession or job? > To be an old fashioned pub pianist – see above.

Which English Premiership football team do you support? > Manchester United.

If you could have any three guests, past or present, to dinner who would they be? > Virginia Woolf, Marilyn Monroe and Christopher Hitchens.

[The normblog profile is a weekly Friday morning feature. A list of all the profiles to date, and the links to them, can be found here.]

Short short story 9

Second Best (by Noga Barokass)

Miss Armoni is destined to meet Mr Shori as she strolls down a very busy street in Jerusalem. All is set for the meeting. The countdown begins. According to the plan, Mr Shori should cross the street just as Miss Armoni steps off the sidewalk and stumbles upon a HotWheels toy car which little Gaddi had absent-mindedly dropped five minutes earlier, as he tried to keep pace with his tired mother who was in a rush to get home to cook dinner. According to the blueprint, Mr Shori was to reach that spot just in time to catch her in his arms, preventing a nasty fall on the asphalt road.

But something goes awry. The angel keeping a vigilant eye on Mr Shori's progress as he crosses the street is momentarily distracted by a question from a novice angel. Mr Shori, instead of looking directly ahead and observing Miss Armoni's plight, unpredictably perceives a very fetching, tall blonde girl wearing a semi-diaphanous T-shirt with a plunging décolleté. His eyes are fixed on her admiringly as he reaches the other side. He barely registers a little commotion going on as two kindly ladies help Miss Armoni to her feet, clucking sympathetically over her badly bruised knees. He walks on. A minute later, he sharply turns around because he just realized that the girl who has just fallen had very fine glittering eyes. But she's already gone. One angel is in big trouble. God doesn't like such mishaps.

[The short short story comp is announced and explained here.]

Cycle talk

No government could ignore them.

That's the Qassam missiles that have been fired from Gaza into Israel; and who is saying it is today's Guardian leader. From that you might infer that the Guardian thinks Israel is justified in taking retaliatory action of some kind to put an end to these missile attacks, as well as to kidnapping incursions into its territory. Forget about it.

No, 'the distinction between preemption and retaliation [is] now bloodily blurred', there's a 'harsh cycle of attack, retaliation and vengeance', and everything's too much of a mish-mash to be able to discern anything clearly about actions and responses - I mean too much of a mish-mash in that Guardian leader.

The fact remains: no government could ignore them, and no other would be expected to.

Unhealthy attitudes (by Eve Garrard)

The Guardian reports a poll among doctors which shows some questionable attitudes:

Smokers who need heart bypasses and alcoholics who need liver transplants should not get them free on the NHS, according to four out of 10 hospital doctors. A quarter of those questioned in a survey also believe obese patients should not be given free anti-obesity drugs or receive free orthopaedic treatments.

There are various reasons why we might think that heavy smokers and drinkers and eaters shouldn't receive NHS treatment for the illnesses they contract. One is that medical treatment is less likely to succeed with them, and if that's true, it's hard to deny that it makes a difference as to whether they should get the treatment rather than other patients who would do better. In health care as elsewhere resources are scarce, and it seems reasonable to use them where they're most likely to work. But another reason is often cited, and that's the thought that these people have brought their own illnesses on themselves, and hence should take second place to patients who are innocent, so to speak, in that their behaviour and choices haven't contributed to their own disease. The smokers etc don't deserve to get the treatment ahead of more prudent patients who've looked after themselves properly.

But there's a real problem with this view. Smokers and drinkers and overweight people aren't the only ones who contribute to their own ill-health. What about mountain-climbers? Are we to refuse NHS treatment to them for the injuries they incur when they fall off their beloved mountains? And there are also sportsmen and women, whose joints in later life may well give disproportionate trouble – should they take second place (or 20th place) behind those who prudently stayed home and watched telly? What about bad-tempered people who contribute to their own high blood pressure? And then there are drivers – well, they didn't have to drive themselves around, did they? It would have been safer to leave the driving to the professionals and take the bus...

So that's one problem with denying NHS treatment to people who bring their own diseases on themselves: it's going to be quite hard to know who to put into that category, and it may turn out to include a lot of us. Furthermore, it's worth noting that smokers and drinkers and people who over-eat are often people who pay a great deal in taxation – many of them are net contributors to the tax base even after all their medical treatments are taken into account (especially since they tend to die early and not draw their pensions).

There are two other reasons that should be taken into consideration. First, denying NHS treatment because the patient brought her own disease on herself amounts to saying that she doesn't deserve the treatment as much as the more prudent patient. And some people feel that it's not the business of health care professionals to be deciding which patient is a deserving one and which isn't. These are moral judgements which fall outside the area of medical expertise, and there's no reason to think that doctors are the right people to make them.

Second, behind that first reason there lies a deeper one: many of us feel that there's something special about health care, something suggesting that we should offer it impartially to everyone, no matter what they deserve or don't deserve. The thought here is that we all have a profound need for health care, since without it most of the other things we want won't be, or will be less, available to us, and at some points that may include life itself. We should, so it is felt, offer health care without discrimination to all members of society – it's too important a service to withhold from anyone. This seems to express a kind of solidarity with our fellows regardless of their moral, or any other, status: a solidarity based purely on common human needs. That impulse of solidarity is not something we should lightly dismiss. (Eve Garrard)