Month: June 2025

On the drive from the airport, Robin changed her mind about heading directly to the studio apartment. Imagining slices of mango drenched in lime, she asked the taxi driver to stop at the Mercado and wait while she shopped. Chatting in her rusty Spanish, they had developed a rapport on the long drive. But she heard Frank’s warning in her mind: You’re not leaving your luggage with this guy, are you?

If Frank was an animal, he’d be a sheep.

I heard about the secret of Glasgow’s Gold after starting an office junior job in the City Chambers back in ninety-seven. They called me a GS3, which they thought officious, but to me sounded like a grubby Vauxhall. My old da’ had seen an advert in the paper. He had retired from the council having worked in the museums, and retained a few connections.

“If you get in the cooncil, you could have a job for life son, and a decent pension.”

Quality da’ advice. Always dispensed from a sedentary position, sitting in his chair in our living room, smoking his pipe whilst listening to the radio or reading a book or newspaper.

I’d only been working for Mrs. Kingsley a few months when Teddy announced he was bringing his girlfriend home for Thanksgiving. I can still picture her face when she hung up the phone that afternoon. Like she’d sucked on a lemon and then got some juice in a papercut.