"Not much of a hugger are you?" says Pam. We're on her settee, watching Strictly Come Dancing, her favourite programme. I’ve heard work mates talk about it - it sounded awful. And it is.Often nowadays I hide what I really think. I've become a quieter man. It was easy with Lucy. We didn't have to … Continue reading THE FIRST STEP by Tim Love

“Yeah, I’m just waiting, figure someone’ll turn up at my door, say they’re my kid.” My date, with his loosely-held Brandy Old-Fashioned, gives me a wry smile, one he probably practiced in front of a mirror. “Bet they’re eighteen by now. That’s when they start looking for you, right?”Sheesh. What barrel did Abby scrape for … Continue reading ARRANGED DATE AT THE ATTABOY BAR by Shoshauna Shy

The hairdryer was in the supermarket’s bargain aisle, between chainsaws and solar power lights. It was just what I wanted for Auntie.As her unpaid carer, I tended to her every need. I also had to listen to her incessant nagging which predictably started the moment I got home from the shops. “Where have you been? … Continue reading A PRESENT FOR AUNTIE by Ollie Batchelor

Every Saturday evening at eight o’clock, a child’s pale face appeared at a third floor window. The glass opened and the child would begin to drop crisps, one by one, into the street. The rats who lived in the street were highly religious. Their priest told them that God lived in the sky, behind a … Continue reading CRISPS by Rod Riesco

All you think about is eating brains. For 202 days your bloodshot eyes followed my scalp. You, growling “braaaains!”Disease gave the kiss of death and resuscitated you. We were fizzing with love when the world was overcome, our relationship as fresh and exciting as a present only partway unwrapped.A fleck of spittle landed on your … Continue reading TAKE MY HEART by Alice Lawson

K says we’re like the inverse of a romantic comedy. Sometimes he comes out with shit like this. We go to the cinema to see a rerun of When Harry Met Sally and make out at the back. When Sally fakes her orgasm K fakes an orgasm too but then he tells me he wasn’t … Continue reading KNIGHT AND DAY by Drew Gummerson

The Anaglypta curled at the corner like a dead insect. I chewed a hangnail at the side of my thumb. “Don’t bite your nails,” Mam barked. I started, marvelling at Mam’s ability to see round corners as she scrubbed with the sugar soap. The hangnail persisted, throbbing with tenderness. I wanted to bite out the … Continue reading THE DEAD BIT by Kay Cuthbertson

Priscilla is old. Priscilla was the best layer, reliable. Now she sits, looking across the fields. Once, Priscilla was in charge. She taught the youngsters all she knew, how to roost in the indulgent nesting boxes, not the practical perches, how to mess up their own beds. Now she sits, looking across the winter fields. … Continue reading TOP OF THE PECKING ORDER by Maggie Sinclair