A hard hitting, heartfelt video poem, against the war in Iraq
Thursday, 28 June 2007
Wednesday, 20 June 2007
The Belldecopede and the Kaspar Hauser effect
The Belldecopede and the Kasper Hauser Effect
It was a red hot day, the weather forecasters informed us that it was the hottest day of the year so far, and that there was more to come. Many people made their way to the coast where it was a little cooler at least. The sea was packed with bathers; some were even brave enough to swim out a little further. Mike was one such person, he and his friend, Steve, had placed a wager. The bet was to see how far they could swim out, the final destination being a boat which they could see on the horizon.
Mike and Steve had been swimming for about ten minutes when Steve called out,
“Mike, Mike, stop a little, I think we will have to turn back, we have gone far enough.”
Mike turned around whilst treading water and replied.
“You are just a chicken. Well if you want to turn back you go on, but I am gonna see if I can reach that boat. Be sure to have the £50 ready for me for when I get back pussy boy!”
Steve turned around and swam back to shore. Mike continued with his quest to reach the boat.
The boat was owned by Marine Biologist, Patrick Cedar. Patrick was busy compiling his thesis for his PhD on deep water marine life. He was having a well deserved break. He switches off all of the equipment he has below deck and decides to enjoy the sunshine. He climbs the three steps to the deck of the boat and opens the small hatch door. He is greeted by a blaze of sunshine; he reaches into his sleeveless shirt pocket and pulls out a pair of sunglasses,
“That’s better,” he says.
He enters the cockpit of the boat and picks up the mobile phone and dials.
“Hello sweetheart, Yeah, its really nice today, beats the other week, when it was lashing it down with rain. The sea is so calm, a perfect day for studying Marine life…. Yeah…….yeah,”
He walks to the front of the boat.
Mike was within 50 metres of reaching the boat when he felt a sharp pain in his calf area of his leg,
“Ouch, Cramp,” he said to himself.
He reached down to rub his leg when he felt something grab his ankle, and at the very same time feeling a sharp short electric shock going through his body. He was dragged underwater momentarily, as soon as his head peered through the surface water he began to panic. Something was attacking him. He started to splash about and shouted out to the direction of the boat.
“Help! Help me please, get me out of here.”
Mike continuously thrashing about in the water he was being dragged away from the boat.
“You on the boat help; I am being attacked by an underwater monster!”
Patrick had heard the scream
“Sorry sweetheart, I have to go, it looks like someone is in trouble; I will phone you later, Bye, love you”
He put the phone down and immediately rushed to the cockpit of the boat to switch on the engine. The engine fired up straight away, Patrick steered the boat towards the point where Mike was thrashing about. Meanwhile, Mike had been grabbed around his torso and was beginning to lose his battle against this thing that had attacked him. He was now feeling a permanent electric shock going all the way through his body. He was only able to move his left hand, which he attempted to use to retrieve a knife from a sheath that was attached to his waist. He managed to release the knife and proceeded to make an effort to cut the monster’s tentacles so he could swim free. The effort was all in vain as he felt a stabbing electrical pain in his knee. Mike dropped the knife. The monster turned Mike so he was face to face with his captor. Mike saw a blue glow then the thing opened, what appeared to be a mouth, it opened so wide it was like a black hole. The Monster consumed Mike immediately.
Meanwhile on the surface of the water, Patrick had reached where he thought he saw Mike thrashing about. He switched off the engine and weighed anchor. Patrick looked overboard, to see a few bubbles rising to the surface which just disappeared and again the water became a still as it was earlier.
“Hmm” Patrick said to himself,
“I wonder whether I was actually seeing things or not, the sun can play tricks on the old eyesight. I will investigate this a little further; my equipment should pick up anything unusual that happens.”
Patrick went back below deck to his room where all the electrical equipment was. There were monitors all over, everything he needed for high tech marine biological research. He switches on the monitors. On monitor one he immediately notices a mass of strange blips. Patrick takes up his note pad and his pencil and begins to record all that he sees. He switches on the other equipment including the underwater camera. The room lights up like Santa’s Grotto. Within seconds of the camera being switched on, he sees a blue glowing light, which changes to red, then to green the again it changes to white.
“This is very strange” he jots down in his notes,
“I have never seen anything like this before.”
Patrick continued to stare at the screen, frantically making notes all the time, scribbling down everything he sees and hears, even drawing small diagrams and pictures of what he sees. He also sets the camera to record so it can pick up everything he sees as a back up to his findings. As the mass of lights approach the boat, Patrick get his very first good look at the creature that is infecting the calm waters.
“ This is the most unusual creature I have ever seen, These are like nothing I have witnessed in my 20 years as a Marine Biologist, they cannot be of this planet, if they are , how on earth have we missed them the mass is huge, there must be hundreds of them.” Patrick writes.
“1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 … 10 legs,” he counts, and then notes it down.
“The body is Bell shaped; it reminds me of the type of bell you hang upon a Christmas tree, it has 10 legs with four very sharp claws on each, it has four tentacles attached to its head which appear to be three quarters its body length they just sway with the sea’s undercurrent.” Patrick scribes.
“This is an important discovery, this must be a world’s first, I may even get a Nobel Prize for science with these findings,” He writes ambitiously.
“Name, name he thinks to himself I must give this thing a name.”
Patrick jots down in his notepad.
“I will call this creature “The Belldecopede.””
Patrick continues to write down his findings as the creature comes closer to the boat
“I now see that the Belldecopede has two eyes that are almost human-like, in form and it has a mouth too which reminds me of a fish mouth.”
The monitor behind him also starts to blip ferociously. Patrick turns around,
“Oh, my God!” he exclaims,
“It appears they are coming from the south too!”
He continues to write in his journal.
Suddenly a knock is heard on the boat, Patrick feels the boat rocking too and fro, the boat is under attack, Patrick writes as his pencil breaks from the pressure he places upon it whilst attempting to write. Patrick attempts to call for the coast guard.
“May day! May day! May day!” He screams into his transmitter, but nothing is heard.
The electro magnetic force that the Belldecopede emit envelops the boat in a force field which disallows any messages to be transmitted, all the electrical equipment on the boat fails too. All Patrick can do is use his trusty old Dictaphone to describe the events as they occur. He picks up the Dictaphone, switches it on and begins to speak into it.
“If anybody picks this up, please tell my wife and my children that I love them very much.”
Patrick begins to shed a tear as he picks up the notes he made, he rolls them up and places them in a water tight canister.
“The Belldecopede is bashing my boat to bits” Patrick stammers into the Dictaphone.
“I really don’t think I will survive this day. I have made my last notes as my pencil broke, I placed them in a canister, and I hope they will be someone.”
Patrick continues to speak into the Dictaphone.
“I see one on my boat now through the window of the cabin’s hatch, My God! It must be seven feet tall.”
Then a thud is heard upon the cabin roof, and smash! As the roof disappears, standing in front of Patrick is one of the many Belldecopedes. It opens its mouth wider and wider. Patrick dropped the Dictaphone, which was still recording.
“The Mouth!” he screamed, “the Mouth!”
The Belldecopede reached towards Patrick with its tentacles, as one of the tentacles touched him it gave him an electric shock, just enough to stun him. Patrick could only keep saying and repeating the same thing over and over again
“The mouth!” he continued to say.
He seemed to be captivated by the monster’s mouth. The Belldecopede wrapped its tentacles around Patrick and dragged him towards the gaping hole that was its mouth. Patrick let out a final yell, everything went silent. The boat disappeared and most of all though there was no sign of any Belldecopede. The Sea was, once again calm and still no breeze, beautiful sunshine shone and reflected on the still waters.
Chapter 2
A secret society
In a secret location in the City of London, a government department for unexplained mysteries had something interesting to work on.
One of their members was on holiday, not too far from where the boat went missing. An enthusiastic diver, he hired a boat to pursue his hobby. One day while swimming around he came across a canister a Dictaphone and a video tape. Obviously recovering them he took them back to the lab to be analysed.
After months of analysis the team sat around a desk. David, who was the member who recovered the items said to the team,
“Ok, I have been through all the notes, I have studied the videotape and the Dictaphone material. We have even sent out agents to the site where I found this stuff, and they have drawn a blank. We do know that there was a boat there on that day; we know that Patrick Cedar made a phone call to his wife. So we cannot pass this off as a hoax.”
“Thank you, David.” said an older gentleman.
This older gentleman was wearing a long white coat, thick jam jar bottom glasses, and the most peculiar looking hat, that looked like a cross between a deerstalker and an RAF Pilots leather flying hat.
“I think that we will have to file this case away and mark it as unsolved mystery and missing Power Boats.”
David passed all the evidence to the older gentleman who took them over to a filing cabinet, he opened the filing cabinet drawer, rifled through the index markers, but instead of placing the evidence in the draw for archiving, he slipped it into a very large pocket on the inside of his long white coat. The older gentleman closed the filing cabinet drawer.
“Well that’s a line drawn underneath that particular case, until something else happens. I am going to get off home now, it’s been a long day, Bye everyone.”
“Goodnight.” everyone replied, as he left the office.
He went down the many concrete stairs into the basement of the building where his car was waiting. The car was a black 2007 BMW with the private number plate, AL1 ENS, remotely unlocking the doors of the vehicle he enters it and sits at the driver’s seat, carefully making sure his long coat does not get trapped in the door, he closes it. He sits quietly for a while. The man switches on the radio, and a panel reveals itself from the dashboard of the car, on that panel an image appears, the image is not of anything earthly. The thing has a head shaped like a giant guitar plectrum; it has a grey-green, warty complexion, with two huge eyes and a mouth which carried the most enormous pointed teeth, resembling those of a shark, parts of its shoulders could be made out it appeared that this thing was wearing some sort of metal plated armour. Words were spoken between the man in the car and the creature on the screen. The language spoken was nothing recognisable. After the conversation took place the man pushed the ignition button and the car disappeared in to thin air.
There was a dirty old tramp hanging around in the basement at this time. He was sat down leaning against a wall, his clothes all tattered and torn, in his hands a bottle of something alcoholic covered with a paper bag. He was witness to the car disappearing. He rubbed his eyes, looked at the bottle of grog, and shrugged his shoulders.
.
Chapter 3
Family Reunion
“Where did I put them?” The older gentleman asks,
. “Oh yes I remember now.”
He reaches over to the glove compartment of the BMW.
“There they are!”
He retrieves a packet of pink and white fluffy marshmallows, and devours the lot.
“Yum, I always feel hungry after a journey through hyperspace; need to put the blood sugars back in the old system.”
Suddenly a bell starts ringing inside the car and lights start flashing, the doors open automatically, and a female voice says,
“You are clear to leave your vehicle, please leave now, and take all your personal belongings with you, thank you for travelling with Nyfesoda Intergalactic Travel.”
“Oh, yes of course!” the older gent says.
“This is where I get out of the car, Ok then, right do I have everything?”
He pats himself all over checking all his pockets, as well as in his long white coat he also checks the pockets in his bright green denim jeans.
“Yes, that’s everything.”
He clambers out of the car, as he attempts to stand up he wobbles around a little bit.
“I will never get used to this space travel thing, give me a tram any day!” he comments.
A small robot approaches; it has a salver on top of it with a glass of water and a small pill. The robot requests in an artificial male voice.
“Sir, you need your Babel pill”
“Oh yes of course I do, otherwise I wont be able to understand these blighters on this station, and they would not be able to understand me. I forgot that the car was Babel compatible.”
He takes the pill in one hand, places it in his mouth and with the other hand he picks up the tumbler of water and takes a gulp of it, to wash down the pill.
“Thank you very much.”
He says, as he wipes excessive water away from his lips.
“You are welcome sir” replies the robot.
The gent makes his way around copious meandering corridors which all look the same; the walls are made from a clinical white marble very stark. The floors too are white marble. The corridors are populated by many beings most of them peculiar looking, not resembling anything on earth.
After walking around the meandering corridors for five minutes or so, the gent arrives at a door, on it a sign which says.
“Head of Intergalactic Intelligence.”
He knocks on the door. A booming deep male voice from within says.
“Come in!”
The gent turns the handle of the door, pushes the door inwards and enters the room. He closes the door firmly behind him. At the far end of the office the gent sees a large oak coloured desk behind it a large brown leather chair, which had its back facing towards him, behind that he sees a window that looks out onto the star filled space scape.
“Nice view. Isn’t it?” the voice said,
It appeared to be coming from the chair.
“Lovely,” said the gent.
The chair appeared to be turning around eventually the chair did turn a full 90 degrees. The gent smiled.
“Hello dad,” he said affectionately.
“Son,” said the large figure that was now sat behind the desk facing the gent.
The large framed figure resembled the same creature that was seen on the monitor in the BMW. It was certainly the same species of creature. He looked larger in real life and a damn sight uglier too.
“Alistair, my son, said the creature, to what do we owe this honour”
“Please dad, call me Ali, I have been asking you for 150 years to call me Ali, but you continue to call me Alistair.”
“Well it is the name that your mum and I gave you after all, and we only get to see you once every decade, or when you want something.” The creature retorted.
“Yeah ok then dad.” Ali yielded.
“So what do you want then,” Ali’s dad asked.
“I think you know why I am here!” Ali stated.
“Bell Monster, from the ocean planet?” Ali’s dad replied.
“Yes” replied Ali, very tersely.
“Why did they go to the earth? You promised, that since the invasion of the Vadishiku, in 1914, that no naturally aggressive alien life form would visit the planet. Friendly types only you said.”
“They are lovely creatures, very pretty don’t you think? The way they change colours is so beautiful don’t you think?” Ali’s dad sarcastically replied.
“But, they murdered two humans!” Ali cried
“It is not a laughing matter; I have evidence here, look.”
He reached into the long, deep inside pocket of his long white coat. He pulled out the canister, the video tape and the Dictaphone, along with the transcript of the findings of the government department Ali works for back on planet earth.
“Just like your mother, that is the human side of you showing through again, feelings, emotions, I can never understand. The Palgian side of you I like, and the human side of you is weak. Are you still taking the Babel pill? Or have you decided to learn the language of Palgia.”
“You are changing the subject. No I have not learned the language and yes I do still take the Babel pill. Why did you allow this to happen? The two men had families too you know” Ali remonstrated.
“They are not dead, you silly half-breed, they are alive and well.” Ali’s dad laughed.
“Really?” Ali enquired.
“Of course!” replied Ali’s dad.
“Can I see them?” asked Ali.
“Yeah I will take you to the cells now.” replied his dad.
“Cells!” Ali exclaimed.
“We don’t want them to find out about the station and the Intergalactic secret service now. Do we? Nor do you want you cover blowing either.” explained Ali’s dad.
“Well, I suppose not.” Conceded Ali.
The large framed creature that was Ali’s dad elevated himself from his chair and slinked steadily towards Ali he place a tentacle upon Ali’s shoulder affectionately.
“Come on then, let’s take a walk to the cells, as father and son and you can check out the two humans.”
The two left the room and Ali’s father locked the door by using only his mind and the power of thought.
“You can do that too son if you try hard enough.” he said.
“Yeah I know.” replied Ali.
The two made their way down the corridor their voices echoing as they edged further away from the office.
“By-the-way, son. What name do you call yourself on planet earth these days?”
“Ali… Ali Enman.”
“Oh very original, I must say” Ali’s dad laughed.
The laugh could be heard reverberating all around the station.
The Cells were in total contrast to the rest of the station they were dark they smelled really badly. They were absolute replicas of cells back on earth.
“You know they won’t remember a thing about the Bell Monsters or their time on the station.” stated Ali’s father.
“Yeah I know, it’s a good job too, other wise they would end up in Brindley Asylum, with the real lunatics.” replied Ali.
“They can’t see me through this glass, can they?”
“No,” said Ali’s father,
“They only see three walls three of them are bricked and one of them is a hologram of a human cell door. Are you going to take them back to earth with you?”
“Yes I will do, just have them put in the cargo hold of my transportation device. Oh can I have a Renault megane 7 seater this time, the BMW attracts too much attention.”
“Yeah sure you can, good invention of the shape shifters, don’t you think?” His father says proudly.
“Yes, quite definitely.” Ali answers.
“Guards take the Humans to my son’s intergalactic craft and make sure that it is a Renault Megane 7 seater.” He orders.
“Yes sir.” The two face-less beings respond.
They immediately change shape into a British Prison Officers and enter the cell where the two captives were busy playing cards. They were handcuffed together and were led out of their cell to the transport that was awaiting them.
“Ok dad I had better be off I have lots of work to do.” said Ali.
“Ok, son it was nice seeing you again. Don’t take as long next time before your next visit”
The two gave each other a hug. Ali made his way to the craft escorted by one of the shapeshifter guards.
“Are the two humans on board, now” Ali enquired.
“Yes, Sir, everything is ready for your voyage back to earth.”
Ali pressed a button by the side of a door which slid open he entered a large cavernous room he stopped by a pair of yellow parallel lines on the floor. He looked up to the very high roof. He could see, what seemed to be a very small hole in the distance through the hole he could see the green and blue planet called earth. A female voice could be heard over the Public Address system.
“Please stand back, the space craft for planet earth is about to materialise as a Renault megane.”
The Megane appeared in front of Ali. A robot trundled up to him also,
“Your keys sir,” it said as it passed him the keys to the craft.
“Oh yes, thank you,” Ali replied
“You can take these,” he handed the keys for the BMW to the robot,
“I won’t need them”
He clicked the button on the remote and the doors opened, carefully he stepped into the megane, closed the doors after he had made sure that he was comfortable and he did not get his long coat trapped. A light flashed on the dashboard, Ali pushed in the cigarette lighter, and steadily a screen appeared in front of him. His father appeared on the screen,
“I just wanted to wish you the best of luck son.” He said.
“Oh yeah, thanks dad, bye”
The screen retracted into the dashboard and Ali put the key into the ignition pressed the ignition button and the vehicle just faded away.
Chapter 4
Home
Meanwhile back on planet Earth it was three O’clock in the morning Mike, the swimmer, woke up on the beach from where he went missing. He looked at his watch.
“My God, its 3’O’clock in the morning, wait until I get hold of Steve. He must think its funny leaving me here all night and not waking me up.” He said to himself.
“I had better hurry home; my wife will be worried about me.”
He got up, brushed all the sand off himself and made his way home. Home wasn’t really that far, just a couple of miles away. He checked his pockets for money, but had not one penny.
“Oh well I will just have to walk he said.”
Eventually, Mike arrived home, he walked up the garden path and rung the door bell, there was no reply so he rung it again, he stepped back and looked up to see if he could see anybody upstairs. The light went on in the hallway a figure came to the door.
“Who is it?” a female voice asks,
“It’s me, Mike, who do you think it is?”
Mike hears the key in the door turn the door is opened.
“Mike?” said his wife very startled;
“You seem surprised to see me, like you have seen a ghost.” laughed Mike.
“I. we thought you were dead.” His wife stammered.
“Dead?” exclaimed Mike,
“I have only been gone a few hours. Let me in I’m getting cold stood here.” He said.
He walked into the living room and switched on the television. There was a special news broadcast.
“Hey Sally come and watch this it’s really weird.”
Sally was making a cup of coffee for Mike; she came rushing into the lounge.
“What is it Mike?” she asks
“There’s this bloke on television; he has just turned up out of the blue. A Marine Biologist called Patrick Cedar. They reckon he has been missing for like three months and has only just turned up today. They are calling it the real life Kasper Hauser effect. He said he had only been gone away for the weekend studying marine life from his boat. He looks familiar to me though it’s as if I know him.”
Mike’s wife just looked and stared at him her mouth wide open, totally shocked at Mikes return, and the comments he is making.
“What’s up, love, cat got your tongue?” Mike asked.
Back at his top floor flat Ali is also half watching the latest news on the television, while he is preparing himself for bed. He pull out a large mirror from underneath his couch, stands it against a chair and proceeds to use a soft cloth on his face. As he wipes away the dirt from his face he also reveals the true image of himself by removing his human mask. A much wrinkled old man with a green complexion appears in the reflection
“Now that’s me!” Ali says to himself.
He turns back the duvet, climbs into bed; he reaches for the switch to turn off the bedside lamp, which leaves the glow of the television. He watches the end of the news broadcast, remotely turns off the TV the room is in total darkness.
“Another job, well done!” mutters Ali.
Chapter 5
It’s great to be back
6am, the clock’s alarm is activated. Mike turns over and pulls the duvet clean off sally to expose her back to the draft coming from underneath the bedroom door. The alarm carries on relentless. Mike slowly opens his right eye and stares at the clock in a sleepy sort of way. 0603 the clock reads. Mike reaches out very slowly and feels around for the clock.
“Got it” he says and turns off the alarm.
He edges himself to the side of the bed he sits down staring at the drawn curtains at the window. He stretches his arms, wipes his eyes and steps onto the bedroom floor, and gives out one almighty stretch.
“That’s better,” he yawns.
Mike walks to the curtains and draws them back revealing a window covered by a net curtain.
“Yuk!” He exclaims, “Looks horrible out there.”
It was a grey overcast day it had obviously bee raining in the early hours of the morning; the streets were glistening with droplets that could have been no more than 30 minutes old. Mike tiptoed into the bathroom he turned on and jumped into the shower.
Meanwhile Sally was beginning to wake up; she eased her self out of bed and reached for her dressing gown which was hung on the coat peg at the back of the bedroom door. The dressing gown already on and tied around her slim mid rift she straightened up the duvet on the bed and proceeded to go downstairs.
Mike came out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waste, feeling much refreshed. He opened the door to the wardrobe and pulled out his shirt, tie and his navy blue suit. He placed then neatly on the bed and began to dress himself.
Downstairs Sally had started to percolate some coffee and had some bread toasting in the electric toaster. The aroma of the percolated coffee wafted upstairs. Mike was starting to make his way down.
“Hmm!” he said, “smells good, can’t beat a cup of percolated coffee in the morning.”
Mike went into the kitchen and sat at the dining table picking up a slice of buttered toast. Sally was busy twiddling with the knobs on the Toaster.
“What’s up?” Mike asked.
“It’s this bloomin’ toaster it’s just stopped working,” she replied.
“What, just now?” Questioned Mike, as he was busy looking at the sports page of the morning paper.
“Yeah,” said Sally, “just now.”
“I’ll get another one,” offered Mike, as he placed the newspaper down, drank the last of the coffee that was in his cup and picked up his briefcase.
“But now I’m off to work” Mike says, as he kisses Sally on the cheek, before he makes his way out of the front door.
The door closes as Mike sets off for the bus to take him to work.
Back in the kitchen,
“That’s really strange!” Sally says in a whispery voice, “The toaster is working now.”
Chapter 6
Back to work
Mike arrives at work to a throng of questions.
“Where have you been?”
“We thought you were dead.”
Mike was becoming very confused; he sat at his desk, turned on his computer, when a voice shouts out
“Mike! My office, now!”
Mike rose from his chair; all the staff on the sales floor were staring in his direction, his colleague whom he sits next to, whispered,
“You are in trouble, three months without telling anybody, that’s absent without leave.”
“What you talking about, I was in work last Friday, remember, we had a pint in the “Green Shovel. Surely you remember? There was a girl in a really tight skirt trying to chat you up, right?”
The man just stared blankly at Mike and shook his head. Mike walked over to the Bosses office.
“You can all get back to work there is nothing to see here. Now!” Hollered the Boss.
All the staff scurried back to their positions and returned back to work.
The Boss, a very large framed man, dressed in a black pin striped suit, walked over to his chair, which was situated behind a walnut desk. He sat down.
“Close the door and sit down.”
He gestured towards a red plastic chair, in front of his desk. Mike closed the door and sat down facing the boss.
“So what’s the explanation then? Why have you been off work for three months, without telling anybody, we all thought you were dead. We even had a whip round for your wife. We made a fiver, well you weren’t that popular, admit it. Well, come on, I’m waiting for an answer.”
“Err I erm,” Stammered Mike.
“I was never away. Why doesn’t anyone believe me?” asked a frustrated Mike
“I fall asleep on the beach and the next thing I know everybody is three months in the future.”
“Have you seen the newspapers this morning?” enquired the boss.
“No, well I mean yes. Why?”
“Did you notice the date on the paper?” asked the boss.
“I read the news not the date.” replied Mike.
“Here,” Mike’s boss passes him the newspaper.
“Look at the date.”
Mike looks at the date on the newspaper; he narrows is eyes and looks at his boss.
“You are all having a joke at my expense.”
Mike stands up and throws the paper in the waste paper bin situated at the side of the desk.
“No, we are not and what I am going to say next is no joke either. You are fired!” shouted the boss.
Mike stared at him with such intensity, the large framed seated man began to convulse and his complexion became a really deep shade of red, when, splat the large man’s head just imploded, leaving a corpse sat in the leather chair. Mike calmly opened the office door, walked out of it closed it behind him and then calmly walked out of the building.
Twelve miles away at Brindley University, Patrick Cedar was busy with his research in the Marine Biology lab. He was surrounded by aquariums with every sort of marine life form known on this planet in them. Professor Gaundell, the senior lecturer and head of the Brindley Institute of Marine Biology, enters the lab.
“Good Morning Patrick, very nice of you to grace us with your presence today” he says sarcastically.
“What? Sorry, I don’t know what you are talking about; I have been working on board the Institute’s boat all weekend, you sanctioned it remember, look.”
Patrick passes a slip of paper to the professor.
“Here is the pass you signed for me.”
“But that was three months ago”
“No it wasn’t!” argued Patrick.
“My wife tried to catch me out on that joke too.”
“It’s no joke, Patrick, I have come to relieve you of your duties, and the University, really, has no place here anymore for you. You have become a liability.”
“But you can’t do that, I am so close to finishing my PhD.” Pleads Patrick
“I am sorry Patrick it must be the pressure of the work. It must be getting to you, it is affecting your mental health.” Explains the professor.
“Are you saying that I am a candidate for Brindley Asylum?” Patrick stared incessantly at the professor, who began to convulse
. “No Patrick, help me, help me please.” The professor cried.
Patrick continued to stare at his victim, when, splat! The professor’s head imploded and the body fell with a thud to the floor. Patrick calmly cleared away his desk. He left the laboratory, closing the door behind him. Calmly he walks out of the University.
Chapter 7
In the news
In his apartment, Ali Enman was busy cooking a full English breakfast, the bacon sizzling in the pan. The phone rang. Ali turned off the heat at the cooker, wiped his hands on a small towel and picked up the telephone handset off the base station.
“Hello, Enman here, who is speaking please.” He asked politely.
“It’s Dave from the department.”
“Hello Dave, I don’t want to seem rude, but, I will be at the office in two hours, can it wait?” replied Ali.
“No, it can’t switch you television on.” Dave demanded.
“Ok doing it now, but why?”
“Just watch the news.”
Ali uses his remote to switch on the television; he sits on the edge of his bed and watches, still keeping the telephone to his left ear.
“….today at approximately 9 am two men were murdered in a most gruesome way.”
The reporter for the news stated..
“Two murders 12 miles apart both men were killed in the same way. The first victim, is named as 59 year old Mr Elliott Stead, Managing Director of, Stead, Williams and Harvey Insurance brokers, the second victim was 62 year old, Professor Roland Gaundell. Both of the victims were found to be without a head it appears, as strange as it sounds, like the heads of the victims imploded, said the medical teams that were on the scene. This was Ronnie Wallasey for Brindley Network News, Back to Dusty Chapeaux in the Studio.”
The camera cuts away and the next thing Ali sees is a newscaster, anchorman sat behind a desk.
“Hello again, from Dusty Chapeaux and this breaking news item, brought to you exclusively from Brindley Network News; just in we have photos of the main suspects in each of these murders. The first picture..”
A picture appears upon the TV screen of a man who Ali instantly recognises as one of the men he fetched back from the Space station. The Anchor man goes on to say,
“This man is 25 year old Insurance underwriter, Mike Penn from Gridley by the sea, eye witnesses who were on the scene said this about Mike Penn.”
The news broadcast goes back live to the scene of the Crime with Ronnie Wallasey interviewing a middle aged man. Ronnie says to the Man.
“So you worked with him didn’t you?”
“Yeah.” replied the man.
“Tell us a little about him.”
“Well there is not much to say really, he was a bit of a joker, loves sport, always at work on time, except for the past three months. He just did not turn in for work; we all thought he was dead. Then this morning, out of the blue he just turns up as if nothing had ever happened, in fact he thought we were all having a joke with him. He claimed he was in work on Friday, and also claimed he went for a drink with me. It just never happened. Anyhow he was called into the office by the boss, and after the meeting he just left, we just presumed he had got the sack. But then Betty, the tea lady went to take him his morning tea, we heard a scream and there he was just sat there without a head, horrible it was, truly horrible.”
“Thank you for that, sir.” Replied Ronnie now back to the studio, Dusty has some real groundbreaking news for us, haven’t you Dusty?”
“Yeah that’s right.” Dusty concurs.
“Just in, hot off the press we have news of the second suspect. You know we brought you news of the return from the dead in true Kasper Hauser fashion, of the Research Scientist, Patrick Cedar, well, this very same man is the number one suspect for the Brindley University murder.”
A photograph is shown of him too. Ali speaks into the telephone,
“So why are you asking me to look at the television?”
“Aren’t these the two men who went missing three months ago, you know, the ones in the unsolved disappearance in the summer, I am absolutely sure they are, I researched it quite thoroughly?” Asked Dave.
“Yeah I think they maybe the ones I’m not sure, would have to take a closer look to be totally sure, but you could be right.”
Ali knew exactly who they were and he was convinced he knew why they were behaving like this, but had to find this out for sure.
“Ok, I will be in the office within the hour, I will speak to you then” Ali hurriedly states.
“Oh, one more thing.” Dave interjects.
“What’s that?” Ali asks.
“The evidence we picked up from the beach, it’s all gone” Dave replies.
“Yeah I know, I had a forensic expert look at it to give us a second opinion, and he said it looked like it was a massive hoax, staged so the two men could have a long holiday.” Lied Ali,
“Oh right” Dave said,
“So they knew each other then?” Dave asked,
“Yeah of course they did.” Ali lied once more.
“Ok, I will catch you at the office then, bye.” said Dave.
“Yeah, bye.” replied Ali. He replaced the telephone handset.
“Phew! that was close I had to think on my feet there. I hate having to lie but, sometimes well you just have to,” he says to the mirror as he fixes his human mask to his face.
“My breakfast is spoilt again, oh dear.” he scrapes the half cooked bacon into the bin.
Outside is parked the Megane. Ali gets into it and immediately makes a video call to his father on the station. The image of his father appears on the screen
“Twice in two days, wow, we are really honoured.” His father laughs.
“Very funny, I’m sure,” Ali retorts.
“What’s the problem Alistair?” his father asks.
“Ok, do you remember the two humans in the cells yesterday?” enquires Ali.
“Yes I do, I am not a senile old fool yet you know I am only 560 years old, why do you ask?”
“Who has used the cells either near them or the same cell recently?”
“Oh yes now you mention it there were two Transgons in the cells earlier, but I thought they had been taken away on the prison ship, oh no, you are not thinking what I am thinking are you son?”
“Yeah I’m afraid I am,” replied Ali.
“The Transgons are the trickiest little blighters in the universe, being able to make themselves invisible is bad enough but they are just pure evil. So we know that they love to reside in the human form now too, ah I get it” Ali excitedly says,
“The Transgons need the human form to survive, without them the Earths atmosphere and the microbiology that is in the atmosphere would also kill them off. They would do anything than go on the prison ship; on there they have Transgon detectors”
Ali punches the air with delight,
“I have almost solved the problem, now I have to find out how and when they will next strike so I can head them off. Father, can you send me a Transgon detector please?”
“Yeah for sure, look in your glove compartment.”
Ali reaches over to the glove compartment opens it and pulls out a small device, no bigger than a mobile phone.
“A Transgon detector, yes! Thanks a lot Dad. I have to go now. I’ve got to save the world.” Ali laughs.
The video communicator retracts into the dashboard and Ali starts up the Megane’s engine and drives off.
“Where will they be?” Ali asks himself, the Transgon detector constantly bleeping at a steady rate.
“Yes, I know, the beach, they need water, they need sea water. So it’s off to the beach I go.”
Chapter 8
On the beach
The Beach was fairly empty; it usually is at this time of year. Ali trundled along the beach with his Transgon detector in his hand, the beeps becoming a little more frequent, as Ali progressed further the beats were rapidly getting faster and faster, which meant he was close to contact with the Transgons. Ali pulled out his mobile phone and telephoned the office.
At the office Dave picks up the telephone
“Hello Dave,” says Ali.
“meet me at the Beach as quickly as you can,”
“Ok I am on my way now” Dave quickly replaces the phone and makes his way out of the office, into the basement car park, gets into his car and drives as fast as he can to the beach.
Ali waits for Dave, he has the two men in his sights, and he is planning his attack.
“I don’t want to give anything away so I need to be careful when I entrap the Transgon within this detector.” He says to himself.
Dave arrives and meets up with Ali on the beach.
“Ok they are over there.” Ali points to where the legs of Brindley Pier were.
As he points he activates the entrapment button on the Transgon detector, in such a way that Dave did not notice anything at all. Ali looked at the indicator on the detector it was showing green which meant that the two Transgons had been caught. Ali places the detector in his pocket and called for the Police on his mobile phone. “Ok we are going to approach them now.” Ali said to Dave,
“Be very careful,” Ali said “they are really dangerous.”
Ali knew that this was not the truth now they were not infected by the Transgon, but he had to carry on with the charade otherwise Dave would start to wonder. The two of them approached the suspect men very carefully. Ali took off his long white coat and folded it up very neatly and placed it on a dry part of the beach.
“When I say now, we pounce on them.” Said Ali to Dave, Dave nodded a bit tentatively.
The police sirens could be heard approaching. Ali and Dave stopped for a moment.
Ali said to Dave. “Lets wait until the Police are a little closer, at least if they are at arms length, I will feel a little more protected.”
They waited until the Police were closer. Ali shouted to Dave,
“Now!”
As he did, Patrick turned around and noticed Dave and Ali charging towards him and Mike,
“Quick run!” he said,
But it was too late the heroic pair had managed to rugby tackle the two men. Ali placed a small notebook in the pocket of Patrick as he was wrestling him to the floor. The Police hurried over.
“We will take over from here.” said the detective inspector.
Dave and Ali released the two men over to the police. Ali picked up his folded up coat and put it back on. Dave turned away to talk to a Policeman, but when he turned back to face Ali, he had gone. Dave’s attention was re diverted when one of the officers found a small notebook in Patrick’s pocket.
“Sir,” the officer said, “this is an instructional booklet on how to make formulas for the implosion of body mass. We have ourselves a solid case on these two. Case closed I thinks sir”
The Inspector nodded in agreement.
The Megane was speeding off somewhere. Dave told the Police that he was a Private Investigator, who had been hired to follow these two men, he told the story that Ali had told him. The Police arrested the two men, who were frantically denying everything.
Although the men had technically done nothing wrong, Ali had to make it all look like it was a human crime; otherwise his cover would be blown wide open.
Meanwhile back in the megane Ali placed the Transgon detector back into the glove compartment and sent it back to the space station so the Transgon could be tried for murder by the intergalactic court.
Chapter 9
A Valuable lesson learned (Epilogue)
Ali had chance to reflect on the consequences of his actions over the last couple of days, and had concluded that, maybe, in hindsight, it would have been better for everyone if the two men had been left on the space station. He should have probably left this one well alone. What a mess this ended up being and it actually taught Ali a valuable lesson, not to interfere with time, what has been done, should be accepted. Everyone was managing to cope with the loss of the two men. To re introduce them into a society that was coming to terms with their loss actually confused people and upset the whole equilibrium, two people killed and a whole town in shock. Ali decided that from now on he will stick to what he does best, and that is, investigating the unexplained incidents.
The End
C. Paul Reynoldson 2007
It was a red hot day, the weather forecasters informed us that it was the hottest day of the year so far, and that there was more to come. Many people made their way to the coast where it was a little cooler at least. The sea was packed with bathers; some were even brave enough to swim out a little further. Mike was one such person, he and his friend, Steve, had placed a wager. The bet was to see how far they could swim out, the final destination being a boat which they could see on the horizon.
Mike and Steve had been swimming for about ten minutes when Steve called out,
“Mike, Mike, stop a little, I think we will have to turn back, we have gone far enough.”
Mike turned around whilst treading water and replied.
“You are just a chicken. Well if you want to turn back you go on, but I am gonna see if I can reach that boat. Be sure to have the £50 ready for me for when I get back pussy boy!”
Steve turned around and swam back to shore. Mike continued with his quest to reach the boat.
The boat was owned by Marine Biologist, Patrick Cedar. Patrick was busy compiling his thesis for his PhD on deep water marine life. He was having a well deserved break. He switches off all of the equipment he has below deck and decides to enjoy the sunshine. He climbs the three steps to the deck of the boat and opens the small hatch door. He is greeted by a blaze of sunshine; he reaches into his sleeveless shirt pocket and pulls out a pair of sunglasses,
“That’s better,” he says.
He enters the cockpit of the boat and picks up the mobile phone and dials.
“Hello sweetheart, Yeah, its really nice today, beats the other week, when it was lashing it down with rain. The sea is so calm, a perfect day for studying Marine life…. Yeah…….yeah,”
He walks to the front of the boat.
Mike was within 50 metres of reaching the boat when he felt a sharp pain in his calf area of his leg,
“Ouch, Cramp,” he said to himself.
He reached down to rub his leg when he felt something grab his ankle, and at the very same time feeling a sharp short electric shock going through his body. He was dragged underwater momentarily, as soon as his head peered through the surface water he began to panic. Something was attacking him. He started to splash about and shouted out to the direction of the boat.
“Help! Help me please, get me out of here.”
Mike continuously thrashing about in the water he was being dragged away from the boat.
“You on the boat help; I am being attacked by an underwater monster!”
Patrick had heard the scream
“Sorry sweetheart, I have to go, it looks like someone is in trouble; I will phone you later, Bye, love you”
He put the phone down and immediately rushed to the cockpit of the boat to switch on the engine. The engine fired up straight away, Patrick steered the boat towards the point where Mike was thrashing about. Meanwhile, Mike had been grabbed around his torso and was beginning to lose his battle against this thing that had attacked him. He was now feeling a permanent electric shock going all the way through his body. He was only able to move his left hand, which he attempted to use to retrieve a knife from a sheath that was attached to his waist. He managed to release the knife and proceeded to make an effort to cut the monster’s tentacles so he could swim free. The effort was all in vain as he felt a stabbing electrical pain in his knee. Mike dropped the knife. The monster turned Mike so he was face to face with his captor. Mike saw a blue glow then the thing opened, what appeared to be a mouth, it opened so wide it was like a black hole. The Monster consumed Mike immediately.
Meanwhile on the surface of the water, Patrick had reached where he thought he saw Mike thrashing about. He switched off the engine and weighed anchor. Patrick looked overboard, to see a few bubbles rising to the surface which just disappeared and again the water became a still as it was earlier.
“Hmm” Patrick said to himself,
“I wonder whether I was actually seeing things or not, the sun can play tricks on the old eyesight. I will investigate this a little further; my equipment should pick up anything unusual that happens.”
Patrick went back below deck to his room where all the electrical equipment was. There were monitors all over, everything he needed for high tech marine biological research. He switches on the monitors. On monitor one he immediately notices a mass of strange blips. Patrick takes up his note pad and his pencil and begins to record all that he sees. He switches on the other equipment including the underwater camera. The room lights up like Santa’s Grotto. Within seconds of the camera being switched on, he sees a blue glowing light, which changes to red, then to green the again it changes to white.
“This is very strange” he jots down in his notes,
“I have never seen anything like this before.”
Patrick continued to stare at the screen, frantically making notes all the time, scribbling down everything he sees and hears, even drawing small diagrams and pictures of what he sees. He also sets the camera to record so it can pick up everything he sees as a back up to his findings. As the mass of lights approach the boat, Patrick get his very first good look at the creature that is infecting the calm waters.
“ This is the most unusual creature I have ever seen, These are like nothing I have witnessed in my 20 years as a Marine Biologist, they cannot be of this planet, if they are , how on earth have we missed them the mass is huge, there must be hundreds of them.” Patrick writes.
“1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 … 10 legs,” he counts, and then notes it down.
“The body is Bell shaped; it reminds me of the type of bell you hang upon a Christmas tree, it has 10 legs with four very sharp claws on each, it has four tentacles attached to its head which appear to be three quarters its body length they just sway with the sea’s undercurrent.” Patrick scribes.
“This is an important discovery, this must be a world’s first, I may even get a Nobel Prize for science with these findings,” He writes ambitiously.
“Name, name he thinks to himself I must give this thing a name.”
Patrick jots down in his notepad.
“I will call this creature “The Belldecopede.””
Patrick continues to write down his findings as the creature comes closer to the boat
“I now see that the Belldecopede has two eyes that are almost human-like, in form and it has a mouth too which reminds me of a fish mouth.”
The monitor behind him also starts to blip ferociously. Patrick turns around,
“Oh, my God!” he exclaims,
“It appears they are coming from the south too!”
He continues to write in his journal.
Suddenly a knock is heard on the boat, Patrick feels the boat rocking too and fro, the boat is under attack, Patrick writes as his pencil breaks from the pressure he places upon it whilst attempting to write. Patrick attempts to call for the coast guard.
“May day! May day! May day!” He screams into his transmitter, but nothing is heard.
The electro magnetic force that the Belldecopede emit envelops the boat in a force field which disallows any messages to be transmitted, all the electrical equipment on the boat fails too. All Patrick can do is use his trusty old Dictaphone to describe the events as they occur. He picks up the Dictaphone, switches it on and begins to speak into it.
“If anybody picks this up, please tell my wife and my children that I love them very much.”
Patrick begins to shed a tear as he picks up the notes he made, he rolls them up and places them in a water tight canister.
“The Belldecopede is bashing my boat to bits” Patrick stammers into the Dictaphone.
“I really don’t think I will survive this day. I have made my last notes as my pencil broke, I placed them in a canister, and I hope they will be someone.”
Patrick continues to speak into the Dictaphone.
“I see one on my boat now through the window of the cabin’s hatch, My God! It must be seven feet tall.”
Then a thud is heard upon the cabin roof, and smash! As the roof disappears, standing in front of Patrick is one of the many Belldecopedes. It opens its mouth wider and wider. Patrick dropped the Dictaphone, which was still recording.
“The Mouth!” he screamed, “the Mouth!”
The Belldecopede reached towards Patrick with its tentacles, as one of the tentacles touched him it gave him an electric shock, just enough to stun him. Patrick could only keep saying and repeating the same thing over and over again
“The mouth!” he continued to say.
He seemed to be captivated by the monster’s mouth. The Belldecopede wrapped its tentacles around Patrick and dragged him towards the gaping hole that was its mouth. Patrick let out a final yell, everything went silent. The boat disappeared and most of all though there was no sign of any Belldecopede. The Sea was, once again calm and still no breeze, beautiful sunshine shone and reflected on the still waters.
Chapter 2
A secret society
In a secret location in the City of London, a government department for unexplained mysteries had something interesting to work on.
One of their members was on holiday, not too far from where the boat went missing. An enthusiastic diver, he hired a boat to pursue his hobby. One day while swimming around he came across a canister a Dictaphone and a video tape. Obviously recovering them he took them back to the lab to be analysed.
After months of analysis the team sat around a desk. David, who was the member who recovered the items said to the team,
“Ok, I have been through all the notes, I have studied the videotape and the Dictaphone material. We have even sent out agents to the site where I found this stuff, and they have drawn a blank. We do know that there was a boat there on that day; we know that Patrick Cedar made a phone call to his wife. So we cannot pass this off as a hoax.”
“Thank you, David.” said an older gentleman.
This older gentleman was wearing a long white coat, thick jam jar bottom glasses, and the most peculiar looking hat, that looked like a cross between a deerstalker and an RAF Pilots leather flying hat.
“I think that we will have to file this case away and mark it as unsolved mystery and missing Power Boats.”
David passed all the evidence to the older gentleman who took them over to a filing cabinet, he opened the filing cabinet drawer, rifled through the index markers, but instead of placing the evidence in the draw for archiving, he slipped it into a very large pocket on the inside of his long white coat. The older gentleman closed the filing cabinet drawer.
“Well that’s a line drawn underneath that particular case, until something else happens. I am going to get off home now, it’s been a long day, Bye everyone.”
“Goodnight.” everyone replied, as he left the office.
He went down the many concrete stairs into the basement of the building where his car was waiting. The car was a black 2007 BMW with the private number plate, AL1 ENS, remotely unlocking the doors of the vehicle he enters it and sits at the driver’s seat, carefully making sure his long coat does not get trapped in the door, he closes it. He sits quietly for a while. The man switches on the radio, and a panel reveals itself from the dashboard of the car, on that panel an image appears, the image is not of anything earthly. The thing has a head shaped like a giant guitar plectrum; it has a grey-green, warty complexion, with two huge eyes and a mouth which carried the most enormous pointed teeth, resembling those of a shark, parts of its shoulders could be made out it appeared that this thing was wearing some sort of metal plated armour. Words were spoken between the man in the car and the creature on the screen. The language spoken was nothing recognisable. After the conversation took place the man pushed the ignition button and the car disappeared in to thin air.
There was a dirty old tramp hanging around in the basement at this time. He was sat down leaning against a wall, his clothes all tattered and torn, in his hands a bottle of something alcoholic covered with a paper bag. He was witness to the car disappearing. He rubbed his eyes, looked at the bottle of grog, and shrugged his shoulders.
.
Chapter 3
Family Reunion
“Where did I put them?” The older gentleman asks,
. “Oh yes I remember now.”
He reaches over to the glove compartment of the BMW.
“There they are!”
He retrieves a packet of pink and white fluffy marshmallows, and devours the lot.
“Yum, I always feel hungry after a journey through hyperspace; need to put the blood sugars back in the old system.”
Suddenly a bell starts ringing inside the car and lights start flashing, the doors open automatically, and a female voice says,
“You are clear to leave your vehicle, please leave now, and take all your personal belongings with you, thank you for travelling with Nyfesoda Intergalactic Travel.”
“Oh, yes of course!” the older gent says.
“This is where I get out of the car, Ok then, right do I have everything?”
He pats himself all over checking all his pockets, as well as in his long white coat he also checks the pockets in his bright green denim jeans.
“Yes, that’s everything.”
He clambers out of the car, as he attempts to stand up he wobbles around a little bit.
“I will never get used to this space travel thing, give me a tram any day!” he comments.
A small robot approaches; it has a salver on top of it with a glass of water and a small pill. The robot requests in an artificial male voice.
“Sir, you need your Babel pill”
“Oh yes of course I do, otherwise I wont be able to understand these blighters on this station, and they would not be able to understand me. I forgot that the car was Babel compatible.”
He takes the pill in one hand, places it in his mouth and with the other hand he picks up the tumbler of water and takes a gulp of it, to wash down the pill.
“Thank you very much.”
He says, as he wipes excessive water away from his lips.
“You are welcome sir” replies the robot.
The gent makes his way around copious meandering corridors which all look the same; the walls are made from a clinical white marble very stark. The floors too are white marble. The corridors are populated by many beings most of them peculiar looking, not resembling anything on earth.
After walking around the meandering corridors for five minutes or so, the gent arrives at a door, on it a sign which says.
“Head of Intergalactic Intelligence.”
He knocks on the door. A booming deep male voice from within says.
“Come in!”
The gent turns the handle of the door, pushes the door inwards and enters the room. He closes the door firmly behind him. At the far end of the office the gent sees a large oak coloured desk behind it a large brown leather chair, which had its back facing towards him, behind that he sees a window that looks out onto the star filled space scape.
“Nice view. Isn’t it?” the voice said,
It appeared to be coming from the chair.
“Lovely,” said the gent.
The chair appeared to be turning around eventually the chair did turn a full 90 degrees. The gent smiled.
“Hello dad,” he said affectionately.
“Son,” said the large figure that was now sat behind the desk facing the gent.
The large framed figure resembled the same creature that was seen on the monitor in the BMW. It was certainly the same species of creature. He looked larger in real life and a damn sight uglier too.
“Alistair, my son, said the creature, to what do we owe this honour”
“Please dad, call me Ali, I have been asking you for 150 years to call me Ali, but you continue to call me Alistair.”
“Well it is the name that your mum and I gave you after all, and we only get to see you once every decade, or when you want something.” The creature retorted.
“Yeah ok then dad.” Ali yielded.
“So what do you want then,” Ali’s dad asked.
“I think you know why I am here!” Ali stated.
“Bell Monster, from the ocean planet?” Ali’s dad replied.
“Yes” replied Ali, very tersely.
“Why did they go to the earth? You promised, that since the invasion of the Vadishiku, in 1914, that no naturally aggressive alien life form would visit the planet. Friendly types only you said.”
“They are lovely creatures, very pretty don’t you think? The way they change colours is so beautiful don’t you think?” Ali’s dad sarcastically replied.
“But, they murdered two humans!” Ali cried
“It is not a laughing matter; I have evidence here, look.”
He reached into the long, deep inside pocket of his long white coat. He pulled out the canister, the video tape and the Dictaphone, along with the transcript of the findings of the government department Ali works for back on planet earth.
“Just like your mother, that is the human side of you showing through again, feelings, emotions, I can never understand. The Palgian side of you I like, and the human side of you is weak. Are you still taking the Babel pill? Or have you decided to learn the language of Palgia.”
“You are changing the subject. No I have not learned the language and yes I do still take the Babel pill. Why did you allow this to happen? The two men had families too you know” Ali remonstrated.
“They are not dead, you silly half-breed, they are alive and well.” Ali’s dad laughed.
“Really?” Ali enquired.
“Of course!” replied Ali’s dad.
“Can I see them?” asked Ali.
“Yeah I will take you to the cells now.” replied his dad.
“Cells!” Ali exclaimed.
“We don’t want them to find out about the station and the Intergalactic secret service now. Do we? Nor do you want you cover blowing either.” explained Ali’s dad.
“Well, I suppose not.” Conceded Ali.
The large framed creature that was Ali’s dad elevated himself from his chair and slinked steadily towards Ali he place a tentacle upon Ali’s shoulder affectionately.
“Come on then, let’s take a walk to the cells, as father and son and you can check out the two humans.”
The two left the room and Ali’s father locked the door by using only his mind and the power of thought.
“You can do that too son if you try hard enough.” he said.
“Yeah I know.” replied Ali.
The two made their way down the corridor their voices echoing as they edged further away from the office.
“By-the-way, son. What name do you call yourself on planet earth these days?”
“Ali… Ali Enman.”
“Oh very original, I must say” Ali’s dad laughed.
The laugh could be heard reverberating all around the station.
The Cells were in total contrast to the rest of the station they were dark they smelled really badly. They were absolute replicas of cells back on earth.
“You know they won’t remember a thing about the Bell Monsters or their time on the station.” stated Ali’s father.
“Yeah I know, it’s a good job too, other wise they would end up in Brindley Asylum, with the real lunatics.” replied Ali.
“They can’t see me through this glass, can they?”
“No,” said Ali’s father,
“They only see three walls three of them are bricked and one of them is a hologram of a human cell door. Are you going to take them back to earth with you?”
“Yes I will do, just have them put in the cargo hold of my transportation device. Oh can I have a Renault megane 7 seater this time, the BMW attracts too much attention.”
“Yeah sure you can, good invention of the shape shifters, don’t you think?” His father says proudly.
“Yes, quite definitely.” Ali answers.
“Guards take the Humans to my son’s intergalactic craft and make sure that it is a Renault Megane 7 seater.” He orders.
“Yes sir.” The two face-less beings respond.
They immediately change shape into a British Prison Officers and enter the cell where the two captives were busy playing cards. They were handcuffed together and were led out of their cell to the transport that was awaiting them.
“Ok dad I had better be off I have lots of work to do.” said Ali.
“Ok, son it was nice seeing you again. Don’t take as long next time before your next visit”
The two gave each other a hug. Ali made his way to the craft escorted by one of the shapeshifter guards.
“Are the two humans on board, now” Ali enquired.
“Yes, Sir, everything is ready for your voyage back to earth.”
Ali pressed a button by the side of a door which slid open he entered a large cavernous room he stopped by a pair of yellow parallel lines on the floor. He looked up to the very high roof. He could see, what seemed to be a very small hole in the distance through the hole he could see the green and blue planet called earth. A female voice could be heard over the Public Address system.
“Please stand back, the space craft for planet earth is about to materialise as a Renault megane.”
The Megane appeared in front of Ali. A robot trundled up to him also,
“Your keys sir,” it said as it passed him the keys to the craft.
“Oh yes, thank you,” Ali replied
“You can take these,” he handed the keys for the BMW to the robot,
“I won’t need them”
He clicked the button on the remote and the doors opened, carefully he stepped into the megane, closed the doors after he had made sure that he was comfortable and he did not get his long coat trapped. A light flashed on the dashboard, Ali pushed in the cigarette lighter, and steadily a screen appeared in front of him. His father appeared on the screen,
“I just wanted to wish you the best of luck son.” He said.
“Oh yeah, thanks dad, bye”
The screen retracted into the dashboard and Ali put the key into the ignition pressed the ignition button and the vehicle just faded away.
Chapter 4
Home
Meanwhile back on planet Earth it was three O’clock in the morning Mike, the swimmer, woke up on the beach from where he went missing. He looked at his watch.
“My God, its 3’O’clock in the morning, wait until I get hold of Steve. He must think its funny leaving me here all night and not waking me up.” He said to himself.
“I had better hurry home; my wife will be worried about me.”
He got up, brushed all the sand off himself and made his way home. Home wasn’t really that far, just a couple of miles away. He checked his pockets for money, but had not one penny.
“Oh well I will just have to walk he said.”
Eventually, Mike arrived home, he walked up the garden path and rung the door bell, there was no reply so he rung it again, he stepped back and looked up to see if he could see anybody upstairs. The light went on in the hallway a figure came to the door.
“Who is it?” a female voice asks,
“It’s me, Mike, who do you think it is?”
Mike hears the key in the door turn the door is opened.
“Mike?” said his wife very startled;
“You seem surprised to see me, like you have seen a ghost.” laughed Mike.
“I. we thought you were dead.” His wife stammered.
“Dead?” exclaimed Mike,
“I have only been gone a few hours. Let me in I’m getting cold stood here.” He said.
He walked into the living room and switched on the television. There was a special news broadcast.
“Hey Sally come and watch this it’s really weird.”
Sally was making a cup of coffee for Mike; she came rushing into the lounge.
“What is it Mike?” she asks
“There’s this bloke on television; he has just turned up out of the blue. A Marine Biologist called Patrick Cedar. They reckon he has been missing for like three months and has only just turned up today. They are calling it the real life Kasper Hauser effect. He said he had only been gone away for the weekend studying marine life from his boat. He looks familiar to me though it’s as if I know him.”
Mike’s wife just looked and stared at him her mouth wide open, totally shocked at Mikes return, and the comments he is making.
“What’s up, love, cat got your tongue?” Mike asked.
Back at his top floor flat Ali is also half watching the latest news on the television, while he is preparing himself for bed. He pull out a large mirror from underneath his couch, stands it against a chair and proceeds to use a soft cloth on his face. As he wipes away the dirt from his face he also reveals the true image of himself by removing his human mask. A much wrinkled old man with a green complexion appears in the reflection
“Now that’s me!” Ali says to himself.
He turns back the duvet, climbs into bed; he reaches for the switch to turn off the bedside lamp, which leaves the glow of the television. He watches the end of the news broadcast, remotely turns off the TV the room is in total darkness.
“Another job, well done!” mutters Ali.
Chapter 5
It’s great to be back
6am, the clock’s alarm is activated. Mike turns over and pulls the duvet clean off sally to expose her back to the draft coming from underneath the bedroom door. The alarm carries on relentless. Mike slowly opens his right eye and stares at the clock in a sleepy sort of way. 0603 the clock reads. Mike reaches out very slowly and feels around for the clock.
“Got it” he says and turns off the alarm.
He edges himself to the side of the bed he sits down staring at the drawn curtains at the window. He stretches his arms, wipes his eyes and steps onto the bedroom floor, and gives out one almighty stretch.
“That’s better,” he yawns.
Mike walks to the curtains and draws them back revealing a window covered by a net curtain.
“Yuk!” He exclaims, “Looks horrible out there.”
It was a grey overcast day it had obviously bee raining in the early hours of the morning; the streets were glistening with droplets that could have been no more than 30 minutes old. Mike tiptoed into the bathroom he turned on and jumped into the shower.
Meanwhile Sally was beginning to wake up; she eased her self out of bed and reached for her dressing gown which was hung on the coat peg at the back of the bedroom door. The dressing gown already on and tied around her slim mid rift she straightened up the duvet on the bed and proceeded to go downstairs.
Mike came out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waste, feeling much refreshed. He opened the door to the wardrobe and pulled out his shirt, tie and his navy blue suit. He placed then neatly on the bed and began to dress himself.
Downstairs Sally had started to percolate some coffee and had some bread toasting in the electric toaster. The aroma of the percolated coffee wafted upstairs. Mike was starting to make his way down.
“Hmm!” he said, “smells good, can’t beat a cup of percolated coffee in the morning.”
Mike went into the kitchen and sat at the dining table picking up a slice of buttered toast. Sally was busy twiddling with the knobs on the Toaster.
“What’s up?” Mike asked.
“It’s this bloomin’ toaster it’s just stopped working,” she replied.
“What, just now?” Questioned Mike, as he was busy looking at the sports page of the morning paper.
“Yeah,” said Sally, “just now.”
“I’ll get another one,” offered Mike, as he placed the newspaper down, drank the last of the coffee that was in his cup and picked up his briefcase.
“But now I’m off to work” Mike says, as he kisses Sally on the cheek, before he makes his way out of the front door.
The door closes as Mike sets off for the bus to take him to work.
Back in the kitchen,
“That’s really strange!” Sally says in a whispery voice, “The toaster is working now.”
Chapter 6
Back to work
Mike arrives at work to a throng of questions.
“Where have you been?”
“We thought you were dead.”
Mike was becoming very confused; he sat at his desk, turned on his computer, when a voice shouts out
“Mike! My office, now!”
Mike rose from his chair; all the staff on the sales floor were staring in his direction, his colleague whom he sits next to, whispered,
“You are in trouble, three months without telling anybody, that’s absent without leave.”
“What you talking about, I was in work last Friday, remember, we had a pint in the “Green Shovel. Surely you remember? There was a girl in a really tight skirt trying to chat you up, right?”
The man just stared blankly at Mike and shook his head. Mike walked over to the Bosses office.
“You can all get back to work there is nothing to see here. Now!” Hollered the Boss.
All the staff scurried back to their positions and returned back to work.
The Boss, a very large framed man, dressed in a black pin striped suit, walked over to his chair, which was situated behind a walnut desk. He sat down.
“Close the door and sit down.”
He gestured towards a red plastic chair, in front of his desk. Mike closed the door and sat down facing the boss.
“So what’s the explanation then? Why have you been off work for three months, without telling anybody, we all thought you were dead. We even had a whip round for your wife. We made a fiver, well you weren’t that popular, admit it. Well, come on, I’m waiting for an answer.”
“Err I erm,” Stammered Mike.
“I was never away. Why doesn’t anyone believe me?” asked a frustrated Mike
“I fall asleep on the beach and the next thing I know everybody is three months in the future.”
“Have you seen the newspapers this morning?” enquired the boss.
“No, well I mean yes. Why?”
“Did you notice the date on the paper?” asked the boss.
“I read the news not the date.” replied Mike.
“Here,” Mike’s boss passes him the newspaper.
“Look at the date.”
Mike looks at the date on the newspaper; he narrows is eyes and looks at his boss.
“You are all having a joke at my expense.”
Mike stands up and throws the paper in the waste paper bin situated at the side of the desk.
“No, we are not and what I am going to say next is no joke either. You are fired!” shouted the boss.
Mike stared at him with such intensity, the large framed seated man began to convulse and his complexion became a really deep shade of red, when, splat the large man’s head just imploded, leaving a corpse sat in the leather chair. Mike calmly opened the office door, walked out of it closed it behind him and then calmly walked out of the building.
Twelve miles away at Brindley University, Patrick Cedar was busy with his research in the Marine Biology lab. He was surrounded by aquariums with every sort of marine life form known on this planet in them. Professor Gaundell, the senior lecturer and head of the Brindley Institute of Marine Biology, enters the lab.
“Good Morning Patrick, very nice of you to grace us with your presence today” he says sarcastically.
“What? Sorry, I don’t know what you are talking about; I have been working on board the Institute’s boat all weekend, you sanctioned it remember, look.”
Patrick passes a slip of paper to the professor.
“Here is the pass you signed for me.”
“But that was three months ago”
“No it wasn’t!” argued Patrick.
“My wife tried to catch me out on that joke too.”
“It’s no joke, Patrick, I have come to relieve you of your duties, and the University, really, has no place here anymore for you. You have become a liability.”
“But you can’t do that, I am so close to finishing my PhD.” Pleads Patrick
“I am sorry Patrick it must be the pressure of the work. It must be getting to you, it is affecting your mental health.” Explains the professor.
“Are you saying that I am a candidate for Brindley Asylum?” Patrick stared incessantly at the professor, who began to convulse
. “No Patrick, help me, help me please.” The professor cried.
Patrick continued to stare at his victim, when, splat! The professor’s head imploded and the body fell with a thud to the floor. Patrick calmly cleared away his desk. He left the laboratory, closing the door behind him. Calmly he walks out of the University.
Chapter 7
In the news
In his apartment, Ali Enman was busy cooking a full English breakfast, the bacon sizzling in the pan. The phone rang. Ali turned off the heat at the cooker, wiped his hands on a small towel and picked up the telephone handset off the base station.
“Hello, Enman here, who is speaking please.” He asked politely.
“It’s Dave from the department.”
“Hello Dave, I don’t want to seem rude, but, I will be at the office in two hours, can it wait?” replied Ali.
“No, it can’t switch you television on.” Dave demanded.
“Ok doing it now, but why?”
“Just watch the news.”
Ali uses his remote to switch on the television; he sits on the edge of his bed and watches, still keeping the telephone to his left ear.
“….today at approximately 9 am two men were murdered in a most gruesome way.”
The reporter for the news stated..
“Two murders 12 miles apart both men were killed in the same way. The first victim, is named as 59 year old Mr Elliott Stead, Managing Director of, Stead, Williams and Harvey Insurance brokers, the second victim was 62 year old, Professor Roland Gaundell. Both of the victims were found to be without a head it appears, as strange as it sounds, like the heads of the victims imploded, said the medical teams that were on the scene. This was Ronnie Wallasey for Brindley Network News, Back to Dusty Chapeaux in the Studio.”
The camera cuts away and the next thing Ali sees is a newscaster, anchorman sat behind a desk.
“Hello again, from Dusty Chapeaux and this breaking news item, brought to you exclusively from Brindley Network News; just in we have photos of the main suspects in each of these murders. The first picture..”
A picture appears upon the TV screen of a man who Ali instantly recognises as one of the men he fetched back from the Space station. The Anchor man goes on to say,
“This man is 25 year old Insurance underwriter, Mike Penn from Gridley by the sea, eye witnesses who were on the scene said this about Mike Penn.”
The news broadcast goes back live to the scene of the Crime with Ronnie Wallasey interviewing a middle aged man. Ronnie says to the Man.
“So you worked with him didn’t you?”
“Yeah.” replied the man.
“Tell us a little about him.”
“Well there is not much to say really, he was a bit of a joker, loves sport, always at work on time, except for the past three months. He just did not turn in for work; we all thought he was dead. Then this morning, out of the blue he just turns up as if nothing had ever happened, in fact he thought we were all having a joke with him. He claimed he was in work on Friday, and also claimed he went for a drink with me. It just never happened. Anyhow he was called into the office by the boss, and after the meeting he just left, we just presumed he had got the sack. But then Betty, the tea lady went to take him his morning tea, we heard a scream and there he was just sat there without a head, horrible it was, truly horrible.”
“Thank you for that, sir.” Replied Ronnie now back to the studio, Dusty has some real groundbreaking news for us, haven’t you Dusty?”
“Yeah that’s right.” Dusty concurs.
“Just in, hot off the press we have news of the second suspect. You know we brought you news of the return from the dead in true Kasper Hauser fashion, of the Research Scientist, Patrick Cedar, well, this very same man is the number one suspect for the Brindley University murder.”
A photograph is shown of him too. Ali speaks into the telephone,
“So why are you asking me to look at the television?”
“Aren’t these the two men who went missing three months ago, you know, the ones in the unsolved disappearance in the summer, I am absolutely sure they are, I researched it quite thoroughly?” Asked Dave.
“Yeah I think they maybe the ones I’m not sure, would have to take a closer look to be totally sure, but you could be right.”
Ali knew exactly who they were and he was convinced he knew why they were behaving like this, but had to find this out for sure.
“Ok, I will be in the office within the hour, I will speak to you then” Ali hurriedly states.
“Oh, one more thing.” Dave interjects.
“What’s that?” Ali asks.
“The evidence we picked up from the beach, it’s all gone” Dave replies.
“Yeah I know, I had a forensic expert look at it to give us a second opinion, and he said it looked like it was a massive hoax, staged so the two men could have a long holiday.” Lied Ali,
“Oh right” Dave said,
“So they knew each other then?” Dave asked,
“Yeah of course they did.” Ali lied once more.
“Ok, I will catch you at the office then, bye.” said Dave.
“Yeah, bye.” replied Ali. He replaced the telephone handset.
“Phew! that was close I had to think on my feet there. I hate having to lie but, sometimes well you just have to,” he says to the mirror as he fixes his human mask to his face.
“My breakfast is spoilt again, oh dear.” he scrapes the half cooked bacon into the bin.
Outside is parked the Megane. Ali gets into it and immediately makes a video call to his father on the station. The image of his father appears on the screen
“Twice in two days, wow, we are really honoured.” His father laughs.
“Very funny, I’m sure,” Ali retorts.
“What’s the problem Alistair?” his father asks.
“Ok, do you remember the two humans in the cells yesterday?” enquires Ali.
“Yes I do, I am not a senile old fool yet you know I am only 560 years old, why do you ask?”
“Who has used the cells either near them or the same cell recently?”
“Oh yes now you mention it there were two Transgons in the cells earlier, but I thought they had been taken away on the prison ship, oh no, you are not thinking what I am thinking are you son?”
“Yeah I’m afraid I am,” replied Ali.
“The Transgons are the trickiest little blighters in the universe, being able to make themselves invisible is bad enough but they are just pure evil. So we know that they love to reside in the human form now too, ah I get it” Ali excitedly says,
“The Transgons need the human form to survive, without them the Earths atmosphere and the microbiology that is in the atmosphere would also kill them off. They would do anything than go on the prison ship; on there they have Transgon detectors”
Ali punches the air with delight,
“I have almost solved the problem, now I have to find out how and when they will next strike so I can head them off. Father, can you send me a Transgon detector please?”
“Yeah for sure, look in your glove compartment.”
Ali reaches over to the glove compartment opens it and pulls out a small device, no bigger than a mobile phone.
“A Transgon detector, yes! Thanks a lot Dad. I have to go now. I’ve got to save the world.” Ali laughs.
The video communicator retracts into the dashboard and Ali starts up the Megane’s engine and drives off.
“Where will they be?” Ali asks himself, the Transgon detector constantly bleeping at a steady rate.
“Yes, I know, the beach, they need water, they need sea water. So it’s off to the beach I go.”
Chapter 8
On the beach
The Beach was fairly empty; it usually is at this time of year. Ali trundled along the beach with his Transgon detector in his hand, the beeps becoming a little more frequent, as Ali progressed further the beats were rapidly getting faster and faster, which meant he was close to contact with the Transgons. Ali pulled out his mobile phone and telephoned the office.
At the office Dave picks up the telephone
“Hello Dave,” says Ali.
“meet me at the Beach as quickly as you can,”
“Ok I am on my way now” Dave quickly replaces the phone and makes his way out of the office, into the basement car park, gets into his car and drives as fast as he can to the beach.
Ali waits for Dave, he has the two men in his sights, and he is planning his attack.
“I don’t want to give anything away so I need to be careful when I entrap the Transgon within this detector.” He says to himself.
Dave arrives and meets up with Ali on the beach.
“Ok they are over there.” Ali points to where the legs of Brindley Pier were.
As he points he activates the entrapment button on the Transgon detector, in such a way that Dave did not notice anything at all. Ali looked at the indicator on the detector it was showing green which meant that the two Transgons had been caught. Ali places the detector in his pocket and called for the Police on his mobile phone. “Ok we are going to approach them now.” Ali said to Dave,
“Be very careful,” Ali said “they are really dangerous.”
Ali knew that this was not the truth now they were not infected by the Transgon, but he had to carry on with the charade otherwise Dave would start to wonder. The two of them approached the suspect men very carefully. Ali took off his long white coat and folded it up very neatly and placed it on a dry part of the beach.
“When I say now, we pounce on them.” Said Ali to Dave, Dave nodded a bit tentatively.
The police sirens could be heard approaching. Ali and Dave stopped for a moment.
Ali said to Dave. “Lets wait until the Police are a little closer, at least if they are at arms length, I will feel a little more protected.”
They waited until the Police were closer. Ali shouted to Dave,
“Now!”
As he did, Patrick turned around and noticed Dave and Ali charging towards him and Mike,
“Quick run!” he said,
But it was too late the heroic pair had managed to rugby tackle the two men. Ali placed a small notebook in the pocket of Patrick as he was wrestling him to the floor. The Police hurried over.
“We will take over from here.” said the detective inspector.
Dave and Ali released the two men over to the police. Ali picked up his folded up coat and put it back on. Dave turned away to talk to a Policeman, but when he turned back to face Ali, he had gone. Dave’s attention was re diverted when one of the officers found a small notebook in Patrick’s pocket.
“Sir,” the officer said, “this is an instructional booklet on how to make formulas for the implosion of body mass. We have ourselves a solid case on these two. Case closed I thinks sir”
The Inspector nodded in agreement.
The Megane was speeding off somewhere. Dave told the Police that he was a Private Investigator, who had been hired to follow these two men, he told the story that Ali had told him. The Police arrested the two men, who were frantically denying everything.
Although the men had technically done nothing wrong, Ali had to make it all look like it was a human crime; otherwise his cover would be blown wide open.
Meanwhile back in the megane Ali placed the Transgon detector back into the glove compartment and sent it back to the space station so the Transgon could be tried for murder by the intergalactic court.
Chapter 9
A Valuable lesson learned (Epilogue)
Ali had chance to reflect on the consequences of his actions over the last couple of days, and had concluded that, maybe, in hindsight, it would have been better for everyone if the two men had been left on the space station. He should have probably left this one well alone. What a mess this ended up being and it actually taught Ali a valuable lesson, not to interfere with time, what has been done, should be accepted. Everyone was managing to cope with the loss of the two men. To re introduce them into a society that was coming to terms with their loss actually confused people and upset the whole equilibrium, two people killed and a whole town in shock. Ali decided that from now on he will stick to what he does best, and that is, investigating the unexplained incidents.
The End
C. Paul Reynoldson 2007
Paul releases Poetry CD for global sales
Paul releases a cd today for global sale it is available only through myself or through lulu.com
Friday, 15 June 2007
Paul's Poem Hypocrites in Slamidol Competition
Paul's video poem, Hypocrites is one of the current Slamidol competition entries to vote for this poem please visit
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Friday, 25 May 2007
Scrap Yard Scrap an Award winning Story
Scrap yard Scrap
The year was 1958; Bill and Dave had been friends since Grammar School, they had recently set up their own business. They had opened a scrap yard, dealing in used car parts and scrap metal. The business was doing extremely well, and the two were becoming really successful businessmen.
One cold winter’s night the two friends were having a bit of a party in the offices of the scrap yard, they were drinking alcohol and playing cards with some of their closest friends. The party ended around 2am .Bill turned to Dave and asked
“Do you want a lift home?”
Both had consumed excessive amounts of alcohol. Dave said to Bill
“Are you going to be ok? You have had a lot to drink, I should really call a taxi,”
“I’m fine,” Bill replied,
“I drive better with a few drinks inside me!”
“Go on then said Dave, as long as you take it steady, we should be fine.”
They were just about to leave the premises, when Dave realised that his youngest son was in the back office fast asleep, he had forgotten about him.
“Hang on,” said Dave,
“Alan is asleep in the back, I will just go and get him then we can go”
“Ok, I will just go outside and warm the car engine up.” replied Bill.
Dave went into the back and picked up his 5 year old son covered in an old army blanket, went outside to the car and placed him gently on the back seat. Dave went back to the office switched off all the lights and locked the door.
“Right,” Dave said to Bill, as he climbed into the passenger seat.
“I think we are ready to go.”
Bill released the hand brake and proceeded to drive.
Half mile down the road Bill reached down to change the channel of the car radio, when Dave shouted,
“Bill! Bill! Look out there is someone in the road!”
There was, what appeared to be a man stood in the middle of the road, he seemed to be hypnotised by the headlights. Bill looked up,
“Oh my God;” he cried.
He pulled hard to the left on the steering wheel and swerved to avoid hitting the person that was crossing in front of them. The cold night air had started to freeze up the road; the car skidded on some black ice, forcing it to veer out of control into a tree on the grass verge.
“No!” screamed the two men as they were inevitably going to collide.
Crunch, smash as the car collided with the local fauna. The horn could be heard beeping continuously as Bill’s head was lying on the steering wheel, unconscious, blood oozing down his face. Dave was left prostrate on the ground by the vehicle, the door must have flung open with the impact of the collision and Dave had fallen out of the car his head was covered in blood his right leg seemed to be in a very awkward position too. On the back seat lay an army blanket.
“Oh my God,” said the man in the road, he then shouted,
“Can somebody call for an ambulance now? There’s been an awful accident.”
A man came running out from a nearby house and said to the man
“Its ok mate, my wife has phoned them, they are on their way.”
In the distance the ambulance siren could be heard and the blue flashing light could be seen.
“They are here, look down the road the ambulance is coming now!” said a lady who was now one of many onlookers.
The ambulance arrived on the scene and the ambulance men placed the casualties on stretchers and placed them inside their vehicle, they sped off down the street at an urgent pace so that the casualties, could receive hospital attention.
Two months went by and Bill, who had recovered almost completely from the horrific crash, was looking after the business while Dave was still in hospital receiving treatment for his extensive injuries, the worst of which was the multiple fracture and dislocation of his right leg. Dave was due to be discharged imminently. Bill was getting the office ready for Dave’s return. The door office door flung open Bill looked around to see his best friend Dave standing there, Bill smiled, “Welcome back mate, we have all missed you.”
“Yeah cheers, It’s great to be back, Bill, it’s really great to be back, believe me.”
The little boy stood in the corner of the office smiling, but saying nothing.
“Fancy a walk Bill?” asked Dave,
“Where to?” Bill enquired,
“Oh just around the old scrap yard I have missed it while I have been in hospital, I just fancy a walk around. You coming with me mate? Come on.”
“Yeah, ok then, I’m up for that,” replied Bill.
The two of them left the office with the little boy following their every step, trying his hardest to keep up with them.
The day was cloudy, but yet very cold, every breathe taken could be seen as it vaporised in the cold air. Bill was wearing a brown pin striped three piece suit and a brown trilby hat with a white broad band. He kept his hands in his pockets as he walked around. Dave was also wearing a suit but also over that suit he was wearing he had a black Crombie coat, the collar pulled up to keep his ears warm. He wore a black trilby that was slightly cocked to the right hand side.
“Let’s stop here. Fancy a coffee Bill?” Dave said.
“Yeah, why not?”
Dave stopped by a 1949 Morris Oxford saloon, the doors were missing from this car Dave put his left leg onto the running board of the driver’s side of the car reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a thermos flask.
“They don’t make cars like this anymore,” Dave said to Bill, who was standing at the exposed hood, where once a proud 1500cc side valve engine would have once sat. Bill looked into the gaping hole and said,
“Nope, they certainly don’t”
Dave took off the cup which was attached to the flask and placed it carefully on the roof of the car and proceeded to twist the stopper out of the thermos to reveal steaming hot coffee
“mmmmm, that smells good,” said Bill.
Dave carefully poured some coffee into the cup he had placed on the roof of the car, and passed the cup to Bill, who was by now shivering,
“Looks like you are in need of it more than me pal, drink up, it will make you feel a bit warmer.” said Dave, as he handed the cup to Bill.
“Cheers Dave,”
Bill swiftly drank the coffee. He placed the coffee cup in his left hand and his right hand went into his suit jacket pocket, he seemed to be fumbling for something. The little boy was now pulling on the trouser leg of Bill
“No, No, don’t do it, don’t do it, please,” he cried.
Bill appeared to ignore the plight of the young boy. Bill approached Dave and put his left hand around the back of his head and said,
“I knew and hoped for this day to come, I have beaten you to it.”
He drew out a flick knife from his pocket, clicked the button so it would release the blade and thrust the knife into Dave’s chest. The little boy was crying and still tugging at the trouser leg screaming,
“No Uncle Bill, Please No, don’t kill Daddy!”
He appeared to be ignored, yet again. Bill stared down at Dave as he was choking and pleading for help.
“You did not expect that did you,” he said to Dave arrogantly.
“I decided to do it to you before you killed me; I knew you would, given half the chance because of what happened a few months ago with the crash.” Dave replied,
“That’s where you are wrong the coffee was spiked with cyanide you have 30 seconds to live, you may die before me. You deserve to die. Isn’t that right Alan?”
Dave looked directly at the child, who was smiling, yet crying at the same time. Bill looked around, and by now was feeling rather faint, he noticed the child looking up at him.
“Uncle Bill, Why?” The boy said.
“You……..”
Bills last words were uttered from his mouth he fell to the floor, poisoned by the coffee spiked with cyanide. Dave spluttered blood from his mouth and cried
“I’m coming son, I’m coming!”
Dave died by the ford consul clasping a piece of paper which was carried by the wind onto the back seat of the car. The little boy went up to his daddy he kissed him on the cheek and disappeared into thin air.
Many years later, the scrap yard was being redeveloped, so all the cars had to be removed and sent
to the crusher. Two workmen were walking around the yard surveying the place when they came across the old Ford Consul.
“Wow Nobby, look at this, A Ford Consul. My Dad drove one of these, built like tanks they were.” Excitedly remarked the other workman,
“Ooh what’s this?”
He pulled out a piece of paper from the backseat of the car which seemed to have got itself wedged at the back of the seat.
“Hey, it’s about those blokes who used to own this place, it says here on this bit of paper that there was a car crash involving three people two adults and one child, it says here that the adults survived but the child died instantly, mangled up body it says.”
He sits down in the car, staring at the piece of paper.
“Hey, Nobby! I heard that they both killed each other, one was poisoned and the other stabbed.” From the right side of the workman came a voice it said,
“Yep that’s right,”
from left side a voice said,
“You know your stuff!”
The workman looked up at the windscreen of the car when a small boy, who appeared to be sat in the passenger seat, turned around to look in the back where the workman sat and smiled, the workman opened his mouth, but words could not come out, he looked to his left and right to see two gentlemen flanking him, both wearing old fashioned clothes and both wearing trilbies, he looked down and around again and they were gone. The workman quickly got out of the car shouting “Nobby, Nobby, you won’t believe this.” He never returned back to the yard, he asked for a transfer elsewhere
The yard is still there, and although the old cars have gone, now replaced by more modern ones, you can often see two men and a young boy walking around, if you are really lucky you may see the re-enactment of their final day before they entered the spirit world. You may even feel someone tugging at your trouser leg, don’t worry it’s only the ghost of the young boy warning you of danger ahead like he tried to warn the adults on that dreadful day.
C. Paul Reynoldson 2007
The year was 1958; Bill and Dave had been friends since Grammar School, they had recently set up their own business. They had opened a scrap yard, dealing in used car parts and scrap metal. The business was doing extremely well, and the two were becoming really successful businessmen.
One cold winter’s night the two friends were having a bit of a party in the offices of the scrap yard, they were drinking alcohol and playing cards with some of their closest friends. The party ended around 2am .Bill turned to Dave and asked
“Do you want a lift home?”
Both had consumed excessive amounts of alcohol. Dave said to Bill
“Are you going to be ok? You have had a lot to drink, I should really call a taxi,”
“I’m fine,” Bill replied,
“I drive better with a few drinks inside me!”
“Go on then said Dave, as long as you take it steady, we should be fine.”
They were just about to leave the premises, when Dave realised that his youngest son was in the back office fast asleep, he had forgotten about him.
“Hang on,” said Dave,
“Alan is asleep in the back, I will just go and get him then we can go”
“Ok, I will just go outside and warm the car engine up.” replied Bill.
Dave went into the back and picked up his 5 year old son covered in an old army blanket, went outside to the car and placed him gently on the back seat. Dave went back to the office switched off all the lights and locked the door.
“Right,” Dave said to Bill, as he climbed into the passenger seat.
“I think we are ready to go.”
Bill released the hand brake and proceeded to drive.
Half mile down the road Bill reached down to change the channel of the car radio, when Dave shouted,
“Bill! Bill! Look out there is someone in the road!”
There was, what appeared to be a man stood in the middle of the road, he seemed to be hypnotised by the headlights. Bill looked up,
“Oh my God;” he cried.
He pulled hard to the left on the steering wheel and swerved to avoid hitting the person that was crossing in front of them. The cold night air had started to freeze up the road; the car skidded on some black ice, forcing it to veer out of control into a tree on the grass verge.
“No!” screamed the two men as they were inevitably going to collide.
Crunch, smash as the car collided with the local fauna. The horn could be heard beeping continuously as Bill’s head was lying on the steering wheel, unconscious, blood oozing down his face. Dave was left prostrate on the ground by the vehicle, the door must have flung open with the impact of the collision and Dave had fallen out of the car his head was covered in blood his right leg seemed to be in a very awkward position too. On the back seat lay an army blanket.
“Oh my God,” said the man in the road, he then shouted,
“Can somebody call for an ambulance now? There’s been an awful accident.”
A man came running out from a nearby house and said to the man
“Its ok mate, my wife has phoned them, they are on their way.”
In the distance the ambulance siren could be heard and the blue flashing light could be seen.
“They are here, look down the road the ambulance is coming now!” said a lady who was now one of many onlookers.
The ambulance arrived on the scene and the ambulance men placed the casualties on stretchers and placed them inside their vehicle, they sped off down the street at an urgent pace so that the casualties, could receive hospital attention.
Two months went by and Bill, who had recovered almost completely from the horrific crash, was looking after the business while Dave was still in hospital receiving treatment for his extensive injuries, the worst of which was the multiple fracture and dislocation of his right leg. Dave was due to be discharged imminently. Bill was getting the office ready for Dave’s return. The door office door flung open Bill looked around to see his best friend Dave standing there, Bill smiled, “Welcome back mate, we have all missed you.”
“Yeah cheers, It’s great to be back, Bill, it’s really great to be back, believe me.”
The little boy stood in the corner of the office smiling, but saying nothing.
“Fancy a walk Bill?” asked Dave,
“Where to?” Bill enquired,
“Oh just around the old scrap yard I have missed it while I have been in hospital, I just fancy a walk around. You coming with me mate? Come on.”
“Yeah, ok then, I’m up for that,” replied Bill.
The two of them left the office with the little boy following their every step, trying his hardest to keep up with them.
The day was cloudy, but yet very cold, every breathe taken could be seen as it vaporised in the cold air. Bill was wearing a brown pin striped three piece suit and a brown trilby hat with a white broad band. He kept his hands in his pockets as he walked around. Dave was also wearing a suit but also over that suit he was wearing he had a black Crombie coat, the collar pulled up to keep his ears warm. He wore a black trilby that was slightly cocked to the right hand side.
“Let’s stop here. Fancy a coffee Bill?” Dave said.
“Yeah, why not?”
Dave stopped by a 1949 Morris Oxford saloon, the doors were missing from this car Dave put his left leg onto the running board of the driver’s side of the car reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a thermos flask.
“They don’t make cars like this anymore,” Dave said to Bill, who was standing at the exposed hood, where once a proud 1500cc side valve engine would have once sat. Bill looked into the gaping hole and said,
“Nope, they certainly don’t”
Dave took off the cup which was attached to the flask and placed it carefully on the roof of the car and proceeded to twist the stopper out of the thermos to reveal steaming hot coffee
“mmmmm, that smells good,” said Bill.
Dave carefully poured some coffee into the cup he had placed on the roof of the car, and passed the cup to Bill, who was by now shivering,
“Looks like you are in need of it more than me pal, drink up, it will make you feel a bit warmer.” said Dave, as he handed the cup to Bill.
“Cheers Dave,”
Bill swiftly drank the coffee. He placed the coffee cup in his left hand and his right hand went into his suit jacket pocket, he seemed to be fumbling for something. The little boy was now pulling on the trouser leg of Bill
“No, No, don’t do it, don’t do it, please,” he cried.
Bill appeared to ignore the plight of the young boy. Bill approached Dave and put his left hand around the back of his head and said,
“I knew and hoped for this day to come, I have beaten you to it.”
He drew out a flick knife from his pocket, clicked the button so it would release the blade and thrust the knife into Dave’s chest. The little boy was crying and still tugging at the trouser leg screaming,
“No Uncle Bill, Please No, don’t kill Daddy!”
He appeared to be ignored, yet again. Bill stared down at Dave as he was choking and pleading for help.
“You did not expect that did you,” he said to Dave arrogantly.
“I decided to do it to you before you killed me; I knew you would, given half the chance because of what happened a few months ago with the crash.” Dave replied,
“That’s where you are wrong the coffee was spiked with cyanide you have 30 seconds to live, you may die before me. You deserve to die. Isn’t that right Alan?”
Dave looked directly at the child, who was smiling, yet crying at the same time. Bill looked around, and by now was feeling rather faint, he noticed the child looking up at him.
“Uncle Bill, Why?” The boy said.
“You……..”
Bills last words were uttered from his mouth he fell to the floor, poisoned by the coffee spiked with cyanide. Dave spluttered blood from his mouth and cried
“I’m coming son, I’m coming!”
Dave died by the ford consul clasping a piece of paper which was carried by the wind onto the back seat of the car. The little boy went up to his daddy he kissed him on the cheek and disappeared into thin air.
Many years later, the scrap yard was being redeveloped, so all the cars had to be removed and sent
to the crusher. Two workmen were walking around the yard surveying the place when they came across the old Ford Consul.
“Wow Nobby, look at this, A Ford Consul. My Dad drove one of these, built like tanks they were.” Excitedly remarked the other workman,
“Ooh what’s this?”
He pulled out a piece of paper from the backseat of the car which seemed to have got itself wedged at the back of the seat.
“Hey, it’s about those blokes who used to own this place, it says here on this bit of paper that there was a car crash involving three people two adults and one child, it says here that the adults survived but the child died instantly, mangled up body it says.”
He sits down in the car, staring at the piece of paper.
“Hey, Nobby! I heard that they both killed each other, one was poisoned and the other stabbed.” From the right side of the workman came a voice it said,
“Yep that’s right,”
from left side a voice said,
“You know your stuff!”
The workman looked up at the windscreen of the car when a small boy, who appeared to be sat in the passenger seat, turned around to look in the back where the workman sat and smiled, the workman opened his mouth, but words could not come out, he looked to his left and right to see two gentlemen flanking him, both wearing old fashioned clothes and both wearing trilbies, he looked down and around again and they were gone. The workman quickly got out of the car shouting “Nobby, Nobby, you won’t believe this.” He never returned back to the yard, he asked for a transfer elsewhere
The yard is still there, and although the old cars have gone, now replaced by more modern ones, you can often see two men and a young boy walking around, if you are really lucky you may see the re-enactment of their final day before they entered the spirit world. You may even feel someone tugging at your trouser leg, don’t worry it’s only the ghost of the young boy warning you of danger ahead like he tried to warn the adults on that dreadful day.
C. Paul Reynoldson 2007
Thursday, 17 May 2007
Fourth book sent for review
Rick n Reyno fourth book and by far the best poetry book published by Lulu.com. This book is available now just ask. There is something for everyone in here.
Wednesday, 16 May 2007
Tuesday, 1 May 2007
Friday, 27 April 2007
Wednesday, 25 April 2007
first comic published
New comic book out today. For all of you who did not buy my other books.
only £4
The Adventures of ReynoMan
only £4
The Adventures of ReynoMan
Tuesday, 17 April 2007
Saturday, 14 April 2007
Lulu.com
new book coming soon
This new book by Reyno and Rick is the book to behold, everyone who likes dark poetry and plenty of blood and gore will like this one it is brimming with great illustrations by this talented duo. This will be the book that will be the feature of their forthcoming tour. Set to music this book is awesome. It will be released as a podcast and as a music/spoken word cd shortly, so the reader can also get the real ambiance of the whole idea. It is also intended for the partially sighted, so they can get involved with the book too. So in sight and in sound this promises to be one "hell of a masterpiece"
Called METAMORPHISM because Rick used to only write about love and mush, but he has changed his style to suit that of Reyno and makes more of a better read and Rick has morphed into a writer to be admired.
Postman Pat supports Reyno and Minchin
Postman Pat was more than happy to lend his support to Reyno and Minchin on the release of thier book.
To buy the book you can visit either of our myspace sites and click on the buy the book icons.
http://www.myspace.com/richardminchinmusic
http://www.myspace.com/paulreyno
New book out now
two Writers from opposite ends of the poetry world, fusing together to write one collection of poems. illustrations by Paulreyno.
Also for download too
for snippets of the poems by Reyno message me.
For the cheaper paperback version £6.50
here is the link
But no ordinary book of poems, they are poems about love life death fears in fact they are real life poems.
There are some lighthearted moments in the book, with some of my nonsense poetry.
However it is the heavy hitting double barelled poems that need reading such as "The Vampire"
see if you can find the hidden reality behind the written poem.
my poems are never what they appear to be on the outside they have a rather interesting centre as well
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