Friday Flash Fiction - Week 16!

Gemini

Room 1

“Here you are, dear.” A petit woman with heavy-rimmed glasses handed over a sheet of yellowed paper.

“This is what it all comes down to?” Evelyn said, gently taking the piece of paper from the woman behind the desk.

“Yes, dear. Now I’m going to leave you here. Take as much time as you need.”

Birth mother	Penelope Wilson
Birth father	Unknown
Date of birth	May 28th 1970
Time of birth	7:35pm
Place of birth	John Radcliff Hospital, Oxford
Name of adoption parents	Valerie and John Farrow

 

Room 2

“Can I just ask for the record why you’ve chosen to look for your birth parents?” Peter asked from behind a desk.

“I’m getting married,” Tim replied.

“Congratulations.”

“Thanks. My girlfriend, I mean fiancée, and I are both adopted.”

“I see,” Peter said, jotting the information down with a fountain pen. “Well, here you are. I’m going to leave the room. Take as much time as you need.”

“Thanks, mate.”

Birth mother	Penelope Wilson
Birth father	Unknown
Date of birth	May 28th 1970
Time of birth	7:15pm
Place of birth	John Radcliff Hospital, Oxford
Name of adoption parents	Paula and David Hersham

L. Besley

Today is the Day

Today is the day, Samantha thought to herself as she carefully dressed in skinny grey jeans and an electric blue shirt. She’d already blow-dried her shoulder-length blond hair and straightened it. She never wore make-up, but did apply a dab of cherry-red lip gloss. Yes, she thought again, today is the day.

Across the cathedral city James was walking towards the pub at the top end of the cobbled high street. He and Samantha had been there a handful of times, but tonight he could feel his stomach churning. He pushed open the heavy door and was hit by the sound of a cacophony of clinking glasses, voices and music. Amidst the chaos, he managed to order a drink and walked to a table near the back, under a painting by a local artist of the nearby harbour.

Samantha immediately saw him and smiled subconsciously at his lopsided haircut that his housemate had done for him and the familiar green polo shirt. Drink in hand she walked over to where he was sitting.

“Hey,” she said, sliding into the seat opposite him. “How are you?”
“All good! You?” 
She pushed a few strands of hair behind her ear. “Fine thanks.” 
“You know…” he said.
“Yes?”
“I think…”
“Yes?”
“Well…”
“James! Just ask me.” 
“You’ll say yes?”
“Of course!” 
“Thank God!” He breathed a sigh of relief and took her hand. “I’m so pleased.” 

L. Besley

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Flash Fiction diary

Last week was a bit of an experiment, so a big thank you to everyone who voted! It was almost a unanimous vote, so I hope you enjoyed ending A. I've deliberately left it open, so you can decide for yourself what happened! 

This week's Flash Fiction is also a little experimental in style. Feel free to let me know what you think and whether it worked for you. 

This week I was a guest blogger on Leela Devi Panikar's blog, with a piece of Flash Fiction.  Click here to read Moving On. 

I've also started a 6-week online Flash Fiction course with Calum Kerr. I'm really excited to be learning more about this style of writing. 

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Flash Fiction is short enough to read whilst you're waiting for the kettle to boil. It's fairly quick to write too, but with it being so short, every word has to count. 

On 4th May 2012 I decided to embark on a project: to write a piece of Flash Fiction every day. I'm hoping this will keep the creative juices flowing and ultimately help me hone my craft. Every Friday I'll be posting 'the best of the week' onto my blog for you to read. If you have anything to say (good or 'constructive'!), I'm open to comments.  

Thanks, as always, for reading.