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    Gifts: Four Poignant Stories
    Gifts: Four Poignant Stories
    Gifts: Four Poignant Stories
    Ebook42 pages34 minutes

    Gifts: Four Poignant Stories

    By Jonathan Broughton

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    About this ebook

    Four short stories set on the south coast of England. An old man knits and wonders; a teenage boy overcomes his fear of fireworks; a young girl finds a very special purse and a homeless man receives an unexpected gift.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJonathan Broughton
    Release dateJan 16, 2012
    ISBN9781465765697
    Gifts: Four Poignant Stories
    Author

    Jonathan Broughton

    Jonathan writes fantasy, horror, paranormal and urban stories. Any story in any genre in fact, depending on the idea or the plot that pops into his head.For many years he lived in Hastings on the south coast of England and all of the stories in these books were written when he was by the sea.Many of Jonathan’s short stories have been published in Rayne Hall’s ‘Ten Tales’ books and April Grey’s ‘Hells...’ series.He has worked as a Poll Clerk and a Presiding Officer for various local and general elections, an examinations invigilator and as a puppeteer in theatre, films and television. He now lives in the University City of Cambridge, UKHis Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/jonathan.broughton.5And his Twitter handle: @jb121jonathan

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      Book preview

      Gifts - Jonathan Broughton

      Gifts: Four Poignant Stories

      by

      Jonathan Broughton

      Published by Jonathan Broughton at Smashwords

      Copyright © 2012 by Jonathan Broughton

      (This edition Copyright © February 2016)

      Cover design: Rayne Hall

      Photo: Mindfreak-KiD

      Smashwords Edition License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Table of Contents

      Three-Ply Fantasy Special

      Stars and Stripes

      The Mermaid’s Purse

      The Gift

      About the Author

      Three-Ply Fantasy Special

      I wish I could knit starlight into wool. Sitting at my window I see, high above the burnt out remains of Hastings Pier, a sky full of stars and I knit and I watch and I wonder.

      Stars, Three-Ply Fantasy Special, two, with six points at random, one on each shoulder and the cuffs to finish in single rib.

      Oh no, Dad, not another one.

      I didn’t hear Melissa come in. I jump at the sound of her voice like a naughty boy.

      You’ve knitted Alice five already. And why are you sitting in the dark? She hits the light switch and the stars vanish.

      There I am in the window’s reflection, in my cream coloured high-backed chair, a ball of Three-Ply Fantasy Special in my lap, size three needles, white ones and an almost completed knitted child’s cardigan in my hands.

      Behind me is my lounge, painted in primrose yellow, in this modern block of flats called Waverley Court. Lounge, a grand word for a room the size of a large bathroom.

      Three plastic boxes, piled one on top of the other, fill the right-hand corner. I’m moving tomorrow. Why does my face, sagged and wrinkled, look so unfamiliar? I don’t feel withered, so why do I look it?

      This is crazy, Dad. Alice is never going to wear them.

      They weren’t right, that’s why. This one is going to be the right one.

      She’s growing fast. You know? The way children do.

      She’s beside me, shouting in my ear. I’m not deaf. I don’t talk, but my hearing’s fine. Mum was deaf. She shouted at her. She thinks deafness and muteness are the same thing and daftness.

      This is daft.

      Her long hair brushes my face. Sickly smell, coconut I think. It’s loose today, strange colour too. Dark red flecked with copper. It used to be black, like mums’ and so thick that it shone in the sunlight. She’s wearing her white plastic mac, the one with the silver

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