A Duet For Father’s Day

Tags

Brighton Fringe, Dads, Ella Fitzgerald, Father's Day, flash fiction, Rattle Tales, The Brunswick

Hello again. It’s been a while I know but I’ve been busy with family things. Anyway, I read this piece of flash fiction at the Rattle Tales show at Brighton Fringe. It was original written for Paragraph Planet  (a brilliant website that publishes 75 word stories daily) but the story felt longer so I decided to expand it. It seems a fitting post for Father’s Day especially as my Dad isn’t here anymore. I’m sure many of you are missing your fathers today but eventually painful memories can become sweet and that was the idea behind Duet. This one is for you Dad.

DUET

I walk into town despite the deep snow. It’s a necessary trip; I’ve left it late to buy my son’s birthday present and stuff for his party tomorrow.  Besides I like the crunch of snow under my boots, the tickle of fresh flakes on my face. Snow makes me feel alive; its cold brief beauty.

I finish what I have to do by eleven and I’m starting to feel the chill so I decide to thaw out in the M&S cafe.

The warm café is buzzing with shelter-seekers. Easy listening pipes loudly through the speakers – Wham, Chicago, Enrique – teaspoons chink on china and the coffee machines whirr.

I settle at a table, bags at my feet, sip my coffee and relax.

Ella Fitzgerald comes on, Every time We Say Goodbye. Ella Fitzgerald was my Dad’s favourite. ‘No one sings like Ella,’ he used to say. ‘She could shatter glass!’ And I’d always roll my eyes and say, ’must have been very inconvenient at parties.’ And then Dad would roll his eyes and we’d chuckle at our incompatibility.

A few lines in a man’s voice joins Ella’s from the corner table, softly at first, barely a murmur. I look over. It’s an old man. He’s wearing a stained jumper, brown shirt and tie, a bedraggled hunting hat is pulled low over his ears. His eyes are shut. His face deeply lined, rosy nose bulbous and pitted. A small tea sits untouched in front of him. His voice grows with the song, becoming  deeper and more resonant. By the second chorus it booms clearly across the café, word-matched to Ella’s, rising and falling in time, the perfect duet. Everybody stops, even the baristas, and turns to watch him.

‘There’s no love song finer, but how strange the change from major to minor…’

The song ends too quickly and the man looks down at his tea-cup, failing to acknowledge the smattering of applause.

The Spice Girls are on next.

Rattle Tales Gets A New Home

Tags

Brighton & Hove Camera Club, photographs, Rattle Tales, short stories, Stephen Hawking, submissions, The Brunswick, writing

Next Thursday Rattle Tales put on our first show at The Brunswick. Everyone is really looking forward to it because we’ve been looking for a permanent residence since we grew too big for The Marlborough Theatre. The Brunswick is roomy but intimate in a cabaret stylee so we really hope it’s going to work out.

We had the selection meeting for the event last week and I was struck by how good the submissions were this time. There wasn’t a single story without merit. As we saw last week democracy takes time, and each member of Rattle Tales (10 in all) has to be happy with the programme before it is finalised. As is often the case I would have been equally happy to include stories that didn’t make the final programme. Balancing the show is key to the event, you can’t have too many stories about the same things. I have noticed with each call for submissions that people tend to submit similar themes, this time there were a few Alzheimer’s stories and several coming of age tales, when this happens we tend to pick the story the majority think is the most original. Originality is key – if you are thinking of submitting to Rattle Tales (or anywhere!) try to be as original as possible.  We also need to have confidence that our audience will be able to follow the story, simple structures work best and first person does too because you can really hear how it will sound when it’s read onstage.

Rattle Tales likes a good story and on Thursday we have stories about storytellers, epitaphs, punks, invisibilty,Stephen Hawking, avatars and a real tearjerker about a warrior dog. There is literally something for everyone.

Normally the authors choose images to illustrate their writing but this time the stories are being illustrated by photographers from Brighton & Hove Camera Club. We have had some interesting comments already about the stories allocated and I can’t wait to see the interpretations and hear the explanations on the night. Living with a photographer means I have had my stories interpreted in this way before. My husband produced this image to illustrate my story Tea & Frankenstein, set in this Whitstable tea room.

This time I don’t know the photographer so I am wondering what sort of picture my words will inspire. If you want to see this fantastic collaboration come along on Thursday, tickets available on the door or via The Brunswick box office here.