Quicklinks:
|
Great Writing - Home > Short S. > Sharp about turn.
| READING ROOM | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| COMMUNITY | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
| ABOUT GREAT WRITING | ||
|---|---|---|
|
| WORK AWAITING REVIEW |
|---|
|
| GW IS... |
|---|
|
Great Writing creative writing community is designed to prompt ideas
and provide inspiration and motivation within aspiring and amateur
authors. Whatever your topic; from love poetry to Doctor Who or Harry
Potter fan fiction, Great Writing's online writing group is where you
can make new friends and improve your creative writing. |
| WHO'S ONLINE |
|---|
| We have 1496 guests online and 2 members online |
Shorts
| print friendly version | |
| Sharp about turn. | |
| By BrianRobertNeal | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 15 June 2006 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
This is a continuation of "Doin a Sharpie" For new readers "Sharpie" is an ex-full time soldier. Despite a career that lasted into the 70's he lived in a World war two past. Otherwise he was a "local character" well liked by those who were aquainted with him. However few really "knew" him. The Pub was the hub of his existence. His wife by carrying out the "menial" tasks made it a comfortable one. When the new law banning smoking came in, the Pub shut down almost over night: the Brewery had pulled the plug on it. Notices were placed on its boarded up windows saying that planning permission had been granted for the construction of Social Housing. In a wink of an eye the demolition men were in and the site was razed to the ground. Then the hoardings went up and four months later came down to reveal a mini block of maisonettes, built in the popular Neo-Stalingrad Style. A month later the new villagers moved in. Two weeks after that following the stabbing of the local Post Mistress, her husband said, “This is the final straw, we’re retiring.” So the village shop shut down. “For sale” signs were to be seen all round the village. A speculative builder bought a small number of properties at knock down prices, and then leased them to a Government Agency; who were only too delighted to find they had a home for their share of the asylum seekers put on the streets by the recent fire at the custom built reception centre. The level of local crime rose, this included car thefts, burglaries, and personal assault/muggings. The Local Council warned the persons who complained that they should be careful as there were laws to combat racism. To blame the problems on the East Europeans and one parent families revealed nothing but blind prejudice. The complainants were told not to take the law into their own hands. To emphasise this point, a seventy year old who struck an armed intruder with a cricket bat was fined £300, ordered to pay his victim £100 compensation and was given a three month sentence suspended for six months. On his return from court he found that his home had been broken into and vandalised. About ten days after he had notified the Police, they called round to make enquiries and found him dead by his own hand. Squatters were in by the end of the next week. About six months later, Sharpie went off on a nostalgic trip to the continent with one of his associations. When he returned he found that his wife had gone to live with her sister. All her things were missing and her note said that she was not coming back because she was too frightened to be in the house on her own. When an ex SAS man snaps, the outcome can be horrendous. Sharpie would entice intruders into his house by leaving a window open. It took seconds for a trained killer to ply his trade. Bodies were easily disposed. For they were put in the Andersen Shelter at the bottom of his now very overgrown garden and then covered in lime to keep the smell down. Sharpie had kept himself exceptionally fit for a man of his age. He would sneak out at night dressed like a tramp. His silenced service hand gun took out a number of the drug dealers that now plagued the area. The Police were convinced that the dealers were victims of a turf war and were secretly delighted, as not only had the trade moved out of the adjacent new town but its tradesmen seemed intent on wiping each other out! Each time Sharpie had claimed victims, he would pick up their armaments and in time he had a small arsenal of semi-automatic hand guns. Sharpie became less involved with his associations, claiming that he was now semi-house bound. However for the first time in 60 years he felt really alive, once again he was taking on the forces of evil and as then, was on the winning side. Using easily available chemicals such as weed-killer he made a number of explosive devices. He fused the street lighting and then under the cover of darkness he booby trapped the loathsome maisonettes. He went back to a lock-up garage where he now kept his car, inside of which was a suitcase packed for a few nights away. Then drove off and went up north. At about six am the next day he quietly drew his car onto the drive of a comfortable detached house. He reclined his seat and went to sleep. At about eight am he was woken up by the sound of somebody tapping on his side window. It was his old mate Chalky White. “What are you doing here? Why didn't you ring the doorbell?” Sharpie replied, “I had a puncture and had to wait for the AA. When I got here all your lights were out. So I thought I’d have a kip in the car. I knew I was all right cos where I parked you can’t be seen from the road.” “Come in Sharpie, so what time did you get here?” “Two-two thirty, I didn’t look, just zonked right out.” The men went into the house, had breakfast, and then left for the Local Crematorium. “Chalky, I know old Harry was in his nineties, but I just couldn’t believe it when I saw the notice in the “Old Comrades Mag.””. “Do you know Sharpie, he was the best CO we ever had, I’d ‘a risked my life for him.” Sharpie laughed, “You bloody old fool that‘s exactly what we did, that’s why were decorated.” Chalky looked a little confused; “Do you know Sharpie, I keep forgetting things. The family want to put me in a home”. They arrived in good time for the Funeral and Sharpie “appropriated” a couple of wreaths. He thoughtfully removed the original labels and replaced them with one’s he had prepared the night before. They were soon joined by Harry’s son and the other mourners. Sharpie and Chalky were the only comrades at the service. The others were either too ill or too dead. The pair of them went back to the wake and the dead man’s son invited them to stay to dinner and then for the night, seeing that they had both drunk very heavily. After dinner the son put on the news on the telly. The maisonettes were shown and the attack had had appalling consequences, 13 dead, and seven severely injured. The damage caused was so substantial that the block would have to be demolished. The police said that they were looking for a man to help them with their enquiries. This man would appear to have gone missing at about the time of the outrage. A phone number was given. To be continued.
Only registered users can rate and write comments. Powered by AkoComment 2.0! |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
........ as if! Wouldn't I just love to be "Sharpie" - and I suspect you'd fancy the role too, if truth were to be told! 
 Previous item
|
Next item
|
|---|