Room 2D

Story from Blushes 23 with a lovely drawing by Alan Bell ‘Two teas and a ham roll.’ The girl at the counter slides two saucers off a pile and clunks two cups onto them. She pours in milk, then tea, then passes them to the customer. ‘Sugar’s on the table, sir,’ she says. ‘Ham roll.’ ‘Yes sir.’ She takes the roll from a display cabinet with chromium tongs. ‘Anything else sir?’ ‘No.’ Coins ring on the plate-glass counter. The man takes his teas and comes back for the roll. As he turns his back the girl pokes out her tongue, a small gesture, then she darts a glance sideways at a white-coated figure in the kitchen who has been watching the interchange between customer and employee. The girl’s cheeks are pink, probably from the heat of the hot water running behind the counter, which enhances the look of guilt that comes over her pretty face as she realises that her little demonstration has not passed unnoticed.  She looks away, eyes downcast, and neatens a pile of plat...

Tradition meets AI in this latest collection of Culver’s collage creations.

From Roué 23 Cheryl sat at her bedroom window and stared gloomily out at the garden below. How could she be so inconsiderate?, she thought; what makes her think she’s got the right to treat me in this way? Downstairs her mother poured herself a generous helping of brandy and sank back into an armchair. At last she had done it — at last she had refused to give into her daughter’s demands. She took a sip of the beverage and purred as it warmed her insides. She was a contented woman. It had been almost a year since Brenda Willis lost her husband to a slip of a thing from the typing pool and the most problematical aspect of life without hubby had proved to be her daughter’s behaviour. Slowly but surely Cheryl had wound her mother round her little finger; she had her exactly where she wanted her. If one of Cheryl’s requests didn’t meet with her mother’s approval — as was often the case — the point would be argued over but, without ...

Story from Janus 53 by Christopher James It all started for me half a century ago. This is a tale of two girls; Nina, aged 18, and Rose, 16. They were my cousins. Nina, who worked in an office, was quite attractive but not a beauty, and rather broad around the hips. Rose, on the other hand, was a very pretty girl, possessing lovely chestnut hair with auburn tints, and a good well-rounded figure. As a young man back in the thirties, I used to spend two weeks summer holiday with my widowed aunt and the two daughters, in a north-east seaside town. I became moderately intimate with Nina and we indulged in some petting, but it was frustrating for me because, despite some passionate sessions, she always kept her head and her modesty, and would never permit so much as a touch below the waist. She was certainly no prude, but in those days a girl could be ‘ruined’ by an unwed pregnancy without an urgent marriage — and such a contingency fo...