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Austin Macauley Publishers - Jack Newman

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144 pages

English

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What happens when Merlin goofs up a spell? How does a young pilot of a single-engine aircraft cope when his plane is struck by lightning mid-flight during bad weather and all his instruments fail? How about a woman who appears to be the perfect wife for the captain of a ship? Just how ideal is she when something unexpected happens to her husband? What to do with a much-loved cat when the family that owns him moves to the other side of the world to live? In this entertaining collection of a variety of individual stories divided into four parts, Jack tells it all as The Long and the Short of it covers a range of genres and attitudes. Firstly, the 'not quite normal' or 'odd ones'. Next, tales of the sea and air and then stories derived from his observations of people. Finally, he focuses on creatures from the world of animals. For a brief break from reality, these stories are an excellent source of quick fun.

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Short story

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Publié par	Austin Macauley Publishers
Date de parution	29 mai 2020
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781398404298
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0175€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

The Long and the Short of It
Jack Newman
Austin Macauley Publishers
2020-05-29
The Long and the Short of It About the Author Copyright Information © Introduction Not Quite Normal Stories Serendipity A Problem For Santa Santa’s Holiday In Response One Way of Doing It Aliens Aunty The Guide Up Spirits The Appearance A Bad Mistake Who’s There? Ahead of His Time Gardening Report Entry 5032 - 20.12.20 If Only Lesson Learnt Full Circle Tales With A Nautical Or An Aeronautical Theme A Sailor’s Life First Flight A Bit Of A Blow On Watch Help Wanted Mistresses Who Ami Lost Overboard The Christmas Tree Sorry Last One to Leave A Matter of Timing Stuck People A Mere Bagatelle Ben’s Story Chance Norm’s Problem Going Under The Loner The Blue Door The Meeting Irish Logic The Bargain The Path Through Life The Opportunist A Good Choice A Bit Late A Good Idea? Another Day Another Dollar Mrs Davis Some Days a Diamond, Some Days a Stone More Haste, Less Speed There’s Many a Slip The Prospector Ambition A Strange Encounter Peace Keeping The Best Solution? Animals A Free Meal Mr Raffety’s Horse Revenge Competition Leaving Be Content with What You Have A Conversation That Time of The Year The Mad Dog A Perfect Match
About the Author
Jack Newman was born in a little village in Kent. After leaving school at the age of fifteen, he joined the Royal Navy as an Aircraft Artificer apprentice and remained in the service for twenty-four years before retiring in 1970 as a senior Chief Petty Officer. Still having the urge to travel, he took his family to Australia and started a new life there as a teacher. Twenty years on, he retired to live in Country Victoria to write. He has co-authored two books with established English writer Pamela Griffiths, Ocean’s Apart, a book of poetry and Tandem Tales, a collection of short stories. In 2015, he wrote the novel Thommo’s Last Ship. This is a story about the adventures of some crew members of an aircraft carrier as the ship was first refitted in an English dockyard and then travelled halfway round the world to be stationed at Singapore. Although fictional, it draws on the author’s own experiences gained during the many years that he spent in the Royal Navy.
Now a widower, Jack enjoys his retirement pottering about in his workshop, a large garden, playing bridge at his local club and enjoying the company of a growing family.
Copyright Information ©
Jack Newman (2020)
The right of Jack Newman to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781787102538 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781398404298 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2020)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd.
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ
Introduction
These stories, some long and some short, have been written during my retirement years purely for my own pleasure and I hope that you will derive as much enjoyment reading them as I did in creating them.
The book is divided into four parts: -
1. Things not quite normal. There is an unexpected result for Merlin when he casts a spell. Problems for Santa. A strange appearance one wet winter’s day. A talking house. A surprise for a new gardener and a lesson in life learnt the hard way amongst the eighteen stories in this section.
2. Nautical and aeronautical stories. Of course, these stories must contain at least one tale of bad weather at sea. Another tells the reader what it was like years ago to be a young sailor starting out in the navy and how he and some other young boy seamen took part in a historical event just before the First World War. His modern-day equivalent is a bit disappointed with his experiences at sea until one day his world turns upside down. There is a major problem for the captain of a large container ship and a sailor’s visit to Hong Kong one Christmas time. Both aircraft mechanics and pilots have their share of ups and downs, literally, and a young American naval aviator misses an event of world significance. There is a fat lady’s problem on a flight to Sydney in the aircraft’s toilet for the flight engineer to overcome.
3. People. It has been said that ‘there’s nowt so queer as folk’. Too true! Human beings come in all shapes, colours and sizes, and I have endeavoured to capture their odd behaviour in these stories.
An old soldier with a guilty past gets a surprise. There is an unusual event at a funeral. A little bit of Irish logic is applied when a man entertains his brother during a visit from overseas. A late-night meeting between an elderly man and a young boy has a surprise ending. A bored, middle-aged, housewife longs for some excitement in her life and gets more than she bargained for. An inquisitive man discovers a locked door in the building that he works in that is not in the original plans and wonders what is behind it. A woman chides her husband for hoarding junk, but is it worthless? Two old friends set off for a motoring trip in dense bushland and have a close brush with death. Another motorist on a trip to Adelaide has a strange encounter. Is it all right to tell a lie in order to make someone happy?
4. Animals. I have tried to include several different animals in these stories. There is a dingo that gets an unexpected meal. A problem with a milkman’s horse. Another cruelly treated horse finally gets his revenge on his owner. There is some competition between two owls for accommodation. What to do with a loved cat when it is not possible to take it with you when you move house? A frog that learns a lesson from life. A conversation between two birds early one morning in a suburban garden. A cat that has a very strange mistress and the true story of the life of a mad dog.

Not Quite Normal Stories

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Serendipity
There was a blinding flash, followed by what sounded like rolling thunder. The small room with its low ceiling quickly filled with dense acrid smoke. Merlin found himself lifted up and thrown against the wooden dresser before being deposited in a heap onto the stone flagged floor.
Harold, his aged assistant, threw open the door and rushed in to help his master.
‘Merlin, Merlin, are you all right?’ He coughed.
Merlin struggled to his feet and clung onto the wooden table for a few seconds as his senses cleared.
‘Yes, yes, open the window, don’t worry about me. No bones broken.’
Harold limped away to do his master’s bidding.
‘What happened this time?’ he queried. ‘What were you doing?’
Merlin shook his head to clear it and coughed violently.
‘I, I, I’m not sure,’ he muttered. ‘Let me see, I was experimenting, using a variation on an old spell just to see what would happen. I was trying to make a container that the king could use for his special needs when he was travelling abroad during his next trip to Italy. You know, to carry things like treaties and other royal papers. It had to be small enough to fit into a deep pocket in his cloak and of lightweight construction and secure. I wanted it made so that only he knew how to open it.’
‘You remember that spell I used to make him a chest to put his swords and other weapons in? Well, I added some saltpetre to the list of ingredients, some powdered cow’s horn, three bat wings, some frog’s legs, some of that green stuff you found in that old bottle and something else. Now what was it? Something that old witch gave me for Christmas last year? She said it reduces the size of things. It worked wonders with that lump on her nose!’
Merlin shook his head. ‘Damned if I can remember now. She collects some weird things up in that cave.’
‘You’d better come and have a look at this, master.’ Harold called, his voice urgent.
‘What, what is it?’ Merlin asked somewhat petulantly.
‘It’s, it’s’, Harold’s explanation was interrupted by the sound of a small bell ringing stridently.
‘What the devil!’ Merlin shot to his feet.
Harold stood white faced, pointing down at the small container that had appeared on the bench where Merlin kept his book of spells.
Merlin put out a hand and gently picked it up. ‘It looks a bit too small for what I had in mind’, he said thoughtfully, ‘but it is nicely made and light.’
‘Careful, careful, master’, Harold warned, backing warily away.
Merlin turned the small box over in his hands.
‘It is not made of metal and it doesn’t seem big enough to contain a bell, yet it keeps on ringing.’ He massaged one ear. ‘Unless the sound is just in my head caused by the explosion’.
‘No, no, master, I can hear it too.’ Harold had reached the doorway.
Merlin finished his examination of the box. ‘I can’t see any way of opening it either.’
‘Oh don’t, don’t open it, master, Harold pleaded. ’Whatever is ringing that bell inside just wants to get out. Who knows what little devil is locked away in there and why it has been imprisoned thus.’
Merlin shook his head. ’I’ve no intention of trying to open it, Harold, but just look here at these small coloured pads on its side. They are smooth and rounded with numbers and letters on them. I’ll touch one with my finger tip and…
The bell abruptly stopped ringing.
‘Hello?’
‘Is that the Pizza shop in High St?’ A young boy’s voice came out of the little box. ‘Is it too late today for you to make a delivery?’
A Problem For Santa
Christmas Eve was over at last and a new dawn was rising in all its golden splendour in the east. Santa put his aching fe