titania's dream

He walks in like a gust of fresh air and takes off his jacket with a whirling flourish. He sits heavily in the chair and starts looking through the post. With impatient haste he turns most of it into rubbish bin fodder leaving aside just a small handful of mail to attend to.

Nell stands in the corner of the room watching his movements. She is hoping that he will undo the parcel tape soon because it is chaffing her wrists.

On Wednesday Meredith walked along the High Street into the fresh breeze, an autumnal breeze. She pushed a clump of hair away from her face and tucked it back in her collar. A single hair twined itself round her finger and she looked at it briefly before it fluttered away in the wind. It had faded from rich chestnut to a lighter dull corn colour and grey. ‘I don’t mind losing a few greys’, she thought.

The hair dances along the street in the breeze and then comes to rest on a jacket.

Elsewhere, a wife, raven haired and dark-eyed, with her Hispanic antecedents responsible for the volatile passion that tortured her. She was insanely jealous. Two days ago a wrong number, a female voice. Yesterday, she was sure she could smell Ghost and envisaged an opulent blonde. Today he walks in with a hair on his coat, a light corn colour, fading to grey. Not even a young woman she thinks. She grabs at the knife. Within moments he lies on the baked earthenware kitchen floor.

His mistress is not blonde, or dark, or even a she, but lies on his desk at work with cap cast aside and the colourless liquid gone.

On Thursday Meredith walked along the High Street into a lighter warmer breeze. She smiled up at the sun and ran a hand through her hair. A single hair twined itself round her finger and she grimaced. It wasn’t so good to keep losing the ones that still had their rich abundance of colour and this one was almost black….

Algernon was not a gentleman of dainty proportions and had a tendency to perspire profusely. Dressed from head to toe in rich, red velvet he had been on stage now for half an hour. He embraced, at the appropriate moment, his diminutive co-star who appeared to visibly wilt as she became aware that not a single part of his costume was now dry.

Barbara unhooked her bra, removed it and hung it on the door handle. It was the signal she always used to let the postman know she was awaiting a delivery.

Hermione stood back from her box and adopted a thoughtful pose. She held the clippers – beautifully crafted in pastel colours – out at arm’s length and delicately snipped a stray shoot. The topiary book lay open at her feet and had box leaves scattered across the pages. She was perfectly satisfied with the general shape but the size bothered her. John’s penis was so much smaller.

Not for the first time Abigail pondered on the meaning of ‘a moment’. How long exactly was a moment? And would it be the same as an instant? If someone said they were popping out for an instant or a moment would that be the same length of time. But more importantly how long would that length of time be. She stood in the kitchen looking thoughtful. Her husband had said he was just popping out for a moment She looked at the clock…..yes, that would be four years ago.

Muriel looked once again into the Maltesers packet. For the dozenth time. And it was still empty.

It was a warm day and Alexander thought of the tin of paint waiting for him by the shed. The brush would be drying up and by the time he returned to the garden it would be beyond repair. It would mean another trip to B & Q. He didn’t much like the shade of lilac either, but she wanted it, she who must be placated. Alexander sighed a little inward sigh, turned his attention back to the present and smiled warmly at his guest. He then parted his strong white teeth and plucked the cherry from her navel.

Tabitha enjoyed the feel of the warm September sun on her face. The slight breeze carried a salt tang from the sea but was barely enough to sway the grasses on the sides of the footpath. Brisk footsteps were approaching from the opposite direction and in a matter of moments a man appeared on the path in front of her. He wore hiking boots and a rucksack. Tabitha decided he must attend the naturist beach on a very regular basis as there was no inch of skin left un-tanned. With the possible exception of his feet, which were hidden.

Eleanor admired the shiny green back of the big-eyed frog. It sat quietly in her lap blinking up at her. A zephyr of spring breeze ruffling the reeds. She sighed. It really was time she got out of the pond.