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    Selected Short Stories
    Selected Short Stories
    Selected Short Stories
    Ebook77 pages1 hour

    Selected Short Stories

    By Aaron J Clarke

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    About this ebook

    The seven stories in this selection span Clarke’s early career, ranging from 'The Woman in Question', a drug affected man who is unable to let go of the woman he loves that ultimately leads him to the person responsible for her death. In 'The Wager', an unscrupulous man bets that a black servant won’t be accepted into English high society; in 'The Unyielding Wind', Clarke reimagines the myth of Pan and Syrinx; and in 'Stabat Mater', an unhappy wife discovers her husband is having an affair with her sister that leads to a chain reaction resulting in murder and moral depravity. The haunting, 'The Unobtainable Agnes' depicts a young man’s love for an older woman, who happens to be a nun and the resulting emotional tension that follows. Beautifully drawn, Clarke’s stories are as rich and resonant as his novels.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAaron J Clarke
    Release dateJul 31, 2015
    ISBN9781310428289
    Selected Short Stories
    Author

    Aaron J Clarke

    Aaron Clarke was born in Queensland on 24th January 1973, the middle child of two sisters. Like many other children, he watch a lot of television. Then one day he changed the channel to the ABC and saw "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Immediately taken aback by the lyrical beauty, he wanted to emulate Shakespeare.Aaron enrolled at James Cook University to study chemistry and biochemistry. In his second year he experienced his first psychotic episode and was hospitalised for several months. A year later he returned to JCU as an English student and started writing short stories and poems, which have been published in student publications and on the Internet.Please contact me at < aaron.clarke@my.jcu.edu.au > to discuss your opinions regarding my work, as I would greatly appreciate your point of view. Please address your questions as 'Reader Feedback' in the subject line of your email. Thanks, Aaron.

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      Book preview

      Selected Short Stories - Aaron J Clarke

      Selected

      Short Stories

      Aaron J Clarke

      © 2015 Aaron J Clarke

      All rights reserved.

      Smashword Edition

      Works by the same author

      Novels

      Epiphany of Life

      The Sinner’s Kiss

      Upon the Rock

      The Cat

      The Flowers of Spring

      Before the Fall

      The Road to Ignominy

      Poetry

      Selected Poems

      For Tanita whose help is greatly appreciated.

      Table of Contents

      The Woman in Question

      The Wager

      Stabat Mater

      The Unyielding Wind

      The Unobtainable Agnes

      The Courtesan

      In His Father’s Image

      Author Bio

      The Woman In Question

      The days grow shorter and the seasons blossom and wither like Sean’s weathered face, eroded by deep sorrow, which alcohol can only briefly relieve. Hammered, he lies down for the count outside the nightclub called the Play Pen along Flinders street. As the sun lightens up the skies, the early-morning joggers pass him by with effortless motion. Their sweat and the colour of their cheeks surface in Sean’s dream some kind of appeal for mercy from his self-destruction. He awoke to the sounds of crowing magpies, and in the distance, he could see the joggers as a mirage. He staggers like a wounded joey. Suddenly, out of the recesses of his mind, he has a flashback to the last time he looked into Anne’s eyes. He is standing and cars beep at him to move. He, however, is paralysed with sickness. The cars swerve to miss him, but his nerves are shot from whisky - unaware of the turmoil. As the fat, rich cats pass him by in their Jaguars and BMWs, they yell out swear words - pelting empty beer bottles at him. When he finally crosses the road, his rage overpowers him and from then on - things remain a mystery...

      ...Antiseptic smell. Echoing cries in distant hallways. Clinical, artificial lighting of overhead neon wake Sean from his surreal dream. Although, he can see and hear, Sean thinks this is a bad trip, yet this is not the case.

      That’s a good boy, down the hatch, Susan says in a grimacing manner. As Sean swallows the sickly, white liquid, he sees her ring and realises who she is. He could see right through her - he could see that she knew something about the death of his beloved Anne.

      She went on, If you’re a good boy, you’ll be allowed to watch the telly. She wears too much make-up – the slightest hint of stress will result in a fine dispersion of sweat. Sean begins with a sarcastic tone and addresses her as sweetie. In order to inflame the situation, he would gaze into her soul, see how she ticked, and find her weakness. How about it, sweet thing, just you and me!

      Susan swiftly refrains from any public spectacle as one of her underlings’ approaches from the corner of the room. The room with its many horrific lines and shadows of despair. As for Sean, he is glad as he can see fine diamonds of sweat appearing at the temples of her face. Susan has her back towards him. Although, he cannot see her lips - the expression on her companion’s face is of misgivings. After finishing their chat, Susan’s face is red, hot spite that for a minute scares him shitless. He is carefully studying her, as she moves towards the medicine trolley, a sneering smile comes across her face, and then he sees her as laughing at him.

      What are you fucken’ laughing at? he said in a touchy tone as he runs over to where she is standing. Violence explodes within him, as he wraps his large hands around her throat. Wham! He collapses into unconsciousness…

      Awaking with a throbbing headache, Sean is chemically restrained, and as he listens to Dr Smithson prattling on, he thinks about his beloved Anne. Briefly, this brings him joy for nostalgia dulls his pain with the false hope it brings. Still, this deluded fantasy collapses under the weight of what the doctor accuses him of – attempted murder.

      You nearly strangled our head nurse - you’re hiding something about your relations with her, asks the doctor as his questioning eyes search for an answer in Sean’s.

      I deny any connection. I – I barely know the woman in question - he said as his eyes quickly gaze out of the window to see a small parrot climbing the palm, next his eyes jerk back.

      There is a long pause. Then the doctor abruptly adds in a demure voice - almost childlike, "Yet in your crazed imagination you tried to kill her-"

      That’s a strong word.

      Any other would still convey the same meaning, retorts the doctor as he takes off his glasses.

      Sean agrees. Quite so!

      The neon light starts to flicker – this only increases the slightest tension between them. The shadows play out a drama on the walls of the white, antiseptic room and the two of them just stare at one another. Their pupils dilate and contract similar to those strobe lights found in the nightclubs. Sean’s lips pinch and pout as if he were speaking silently to him.

      Do you think they’ll fix the lights?

      Like a bomb waiting, just waiting, to explode Sean replies, How the fuck do I know!

      What is troubling you? The doctor pauses before continuing caringly, I only want to help.

      O.K. Then just listen to what I’m gonna say.

      He clears his throat, begins to speak, and from his gob comes the following story:

      In a small town, not too long ago in the length of time, there lived a most unhappy man, named Sean Townsend. His problem was that he lost his innocence, and had been ruined by drugs and the affections of tarts. There were so many offences against his name that the police would pick him up and quiz him regularly.

      The town that he resided, for many years, grew sick and tired of his shenanigans. Therefore, they drove him out like exorcising a spook. That is why our rebellious hero of the 1990s would fight for his right to party

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