Lance sat at the table with a dozen or so of his closest friends. He didn’t actually like any of them, but it was called “networking”. Everyone would get together and pretend they did not detest each other, because each of these people could be of use at some time.
Tag: short story
Not on the Menu
This little story takes place in the 1960s, around the beginning of the second wave of feminism in Australia. Not on the Menu Short story by Iris Carden Elsie saw them through the café window. “Oh not them again,” she groaned. “Not who?” asked Margaret. “Those three, with the excess Brylcreem and the loud ties.”…… Continue reading Not on the Menu
Climate Control
It looks like an ordinary leather jacket, but inside is the climate control – you can use the controls hidden away here inside, or you can download the app for your mobile phone. It’s like a personal air conditioning system.
Can’t it Wait until Morning?
Humans are the strangest creatures, don’t you think? Take my Mum for example. During the day, when I mostly just sleep and eat, Mum’s up. She’s writing things. She’s watching TV. She’s taking my doggy sister Fanta for a walk. She’s just constantly doing stuff when it’s sleeping time! Then at night, when it’s time to play, she and Fanta just both go to bed.
Tangled Web
I’ve seen huntsman spiders bigger than my hand. I’ve seen bird spiders big enough to hunt and kill birds. I’ve seen huge redbacks with their dangerous red flash across their huge round abdomens. I’ve never seen anything like this. It was at least four metres long.
Talisman
A small wrapped parcel, covered in soot, bounced out of the fireplace. “I’ll put that back for you if you want.: Ali looked from her phone to the package on the floor. “What is it?” she asked.
Scandal
Archibald Clark spat his coffee over the computer screen.His long-suffering wife Marigold went to the kitchen for a dishcloth to clean up the mess. “It was never a good idea for you to read the newspaper at the breakfast table when it was a paper. It’s an even worse idea now that it’s on the net,” she said.
A Wish Come True
The little “well” was beautiful, carefully constructed from brightly-painted balsa wood, with ribbons and bows and flowers over it, in a manner only someone as artistic as Martha could have made look so elegant and beautiful. On the side was written, “To Ariana and Jack. May all your wishes come true.”
Lost and Found
People might have called Orsinius Wishlet a keptomaniac, if they had known about him. But nobody did so nobody could call him anything. Orsinius was a wisp, living on the cusp of reality and unreality, not etirely here, but certainly not completely there.
The Stopover
I got off my flight, along with 215 other passengers. The signs to the baggage pick-up area were actually easy to follow. I was impressed. I’ve been all over the world and seen all kinds of airports, with greater or lesser degrees of accessibility. This was logical, sensible and easy to access. It was the best I’d ever seen. To find it, I only had to leave the world and go to the Moon.
Iris Carden, Author 