Mid-Life Moments
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About this ebook
Stories of a group of characters who are all facing changes in their lifestyles in mid-life and how they deal with the situations in which they find themselves.
Wendy Bell Scott
Wendy Bell Scott was born in Ripon, Yorkshire and moved to North-Northumberland with her family while in her teens. At various times she has been a private music teacher, run her own craft business and taught history and creative writing to adults. She has been writing since the late 1970s, ranging through songs, non-fiction articles, a film script, plays, sketches, short stories, and two part-written novels. Wendy has been researching local and family history for many years and gained an Open University degree in Humanities with History in 2003. She has one son and also brought up her niece and nephew, all of whom are now adults.
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Mid-Life Moments - Wendy Bell Scott
Mid-Life Moments
Contemporary Short Stories
by
Wendy Bell Scott
A Blue Button Publication
Smashwords Edition
© Copyright Wendy Bell Scott and Blue Button Publications 2012.
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.
The characters in this book are entirely imaginary and bear no relation to any living person.
Print Version ISBN 978-1-907131-40-0
Photography by Wendy Bell Scott
Cover design by Bluebell.
Editing and Layout by Bluebell.
Contents
Author’s Note
Alice
Terry
June and Brian
Shirley
About the Author
More Blue Button Books
Author’s Note
I have never really thought of myself as a writer of short stories – just the odd effort for the annual anthology of my local writers’ group, to help raise funds. Also, I’ve rarely felt comfortable writing contemporary fiction, somehow the ideas have flowed better when I’ve written about a historical situation.
However, in the last eighteen months, several contemporary characters have begun to present themselves to me and ask for their stories to be told. The first of these, the story of two younger characters, Donna and Helen, was released as an ebook earlier in the year, as The Party.
The characters in this volume all seemed to be of a similar age group and dealing with the changing circumstances of middle-age, and so it was logical to put them all together. Another story, which turned into a novella, will be published later in the year as Sorting Ted.
While research continues on several historical projects for future non-fiction books, perhaps these stories may help to fill a gap – or even attract new readers.
I hope you enjoy reading about these characters and I will wait with interest to see who turns up next!
Wendy Bell Scott
August 2012
Return to Contents
Alice
Ah, well, tomorrow’s another day,
Alice sighed as she turned to wend her way homeward.
Last few bags of the day, come and take home a bargain...
the fruit-seller called as the skeletons of stalls appeared all around him and the breeze stirred up the rubbish left behind on the market place.
Alice picked her way between two rows of stalls, hoping the waste paper wasn’t hiding anything slippery to knock her off-balance. She looked carefully at the stalls on either side – some of which were still piled with half-packed boxes.
Should be alright,
she muttered to herself, looks like handbags and clothes on these rows.
Goodnight
called a cheery Asian man as she passed his stall.
Alice looked at him, slightly puzzled, then gave him what passed for a slight smile and went on. Not many of them to the pound, she thought, most Asians I know are solemn and the market-men so earnest it makes you feel they’re trying to con you. Maybe he just charms his customers instead, she reasoned, and then forgot about him.
The light seemed to have faded considerably by the time she reached the other side of the market place and a few spots of rain were beginning to fall, leaving dark marks on her beige coat. That’s all I need, she thought, although when she crossed the road, the overhang from the arcade of shops gave her some shelter as the rain began to fall more steadily.
The glow of light from the windows was almost dazzling after the increasing gloom of the market place. She squinted at the clock that hung half-way along the arcade. Ten past, should be OK. Must remember to make that opticians appointment. Tomorrow.
The arcade had suddenly become more crowded as the last-minute shoppers and homebound office workers all tried to take some shelter from the rain, Alice found her path blocked by a posse of children and pushchairs pushed by mothers who looked no more than children themselves… at least to Alice’s view of the world. She pushed herself against a roof-supporting outer pillar, until they passed – oblivious to her presence. Too busy talking among themselves. Does nobody have any consideration for others anymore? She wondered.
She grimaced as she left the shelter of the end of the arcade and felt the full force of the rain on her unprotected head. Automatically she bent her neck to stop it hitting her in the eyes, but that only made it run down inside the back of her coat collar instead. She tried to keep it back from the edge of the pavement as the cars swished past on the wet road, the beginning of rush hour.
There were already a crowd of people waiting by the time she reached the crossing. She tagged on to the back of them, worrying that the lights would probably change when she was half-way across, if this lot didn’t get a move on.
A large lorry passed as the lights turned amber, and there was a sudden movement backwards from the crowd. It had driven too close to the kerb, where the road was a little flooded, causing all the people at the front of the queue to be soaked. The ripple effect when