disappearance

Flash fiction: Parked

/ Claire Fuller / 30 Comments

parked

It was a Tuesday when Nanette decided to tackle the garden; two days after she had buried her father. She found a box of tools under the sink, the cardboard falling apart and everything inside rusted. How many years had it sat there she wondered. She drove into town and hired a petrol strimmer, gloves and hat with a visor.

She cut a swathe through from the house to the bank, where it dropped away to the sea. And there, incongruously at the end of the garden, she uncovered her mother’s car. How many years had it sat there she wondered?

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For those who don’t know how Friday Fictioneers works, this picture, this time from Roger Bultot, is our inspiration for our weekly online writing group hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. Each story is only about 100 words long, so why not read a few others: click here to read some more or to join in.

And please comment below with any suggestions on mine, or just to show you’ve visited.

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For any US readers who are interested, I’ve recently been able to reveal the North American jacket for my novel, Our Endless Numbered Days, which will be released on 17th March 2015. You can see it here. 

Short story: Cafe Disparaît

/ Claire Fuller / 48 Comments

anelephantcant

For two weeks the bicycle leaned against the tree outside Cafe Disparaît. Then one day its front wheel was gone, and the next, its saddle. Tipped forward onto its front forks, the bike stared at the ground, waiting. Above it was a sun-bleached poster of a cyclist. Eventually a waiter, irritated from catching his apron on the bike’s handlebars, mentioned it to a Gendarme eating croque monsieur in the shade of the restaurant’s awning. A week later he came by with pair of bolt cutters and threw the bicycle into the back of his van. The poster had torn and flopped forward, only the word PERDUE* could still be seen.

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*Missing in French
This is part of the Friday Fictioneers writing group – where writers from all over write about 100 words using a photo as inspiration. This week the photo has been provided by anelephantcant. Click here to read other people’s and to join in.

For those of you who’ve read my pieces before and know I’ve been writing a novel, you might be interested to hear that Our Endless Numbered Days just been bought by Fig Tree / Penguin in the UK and has also been bought by publishers in several other countries. Naturally I’m absolutely delighted. It will be published in early 2015. If you’re interested there is a bit more information here from The Bookseller.