He examined the ash trees, inspecting for withered and sickly leaves, and came away satisfied to find none. He checked for broken sticks and impressions of boot prints in the mud but only the usual residents presided there, the snails and ants navigating through their miniature dwellings.
Read MoreThe compact mirror was my birthright, passed down by my mum and given to her by her own mother, a binding thread between my ancestors like a daisy chain. Every woman in my family has had this object, but like laughter or a dance, it’s never the same twice. It’s malleable and morphs, transforming into something specific for each person.
Read More“Arthur wanted to say he’d miss sunrise runs and playing her favourite songs on the piano. The way her nose crinkled when he offered her peanut butter, and the sound she made when he beat her at tennis for the first time. The crack on her front tooth.”
Read MoreThe lights switched on with a dull buzzing noise, the meeting room awake with their fluorescent glow. Six employees filed in, walking towards the central table. They sat upright in their chairs like a set of matching graphite pencils, ready to underline the importance of finance in a dying world.
The director walked in last, the door clicking shut as he sat at the head of the table. He shuffled his papers as he looked around the room like he wanted to organise his employees into a neat stack as well.
“All right, let’s make a start,” he cleared his throat, “it has come to our attention that DMB, the firm’s biggest competitor, are being praised for their sustainability in becoming a paperless office.”
Shock rippled across the employees in a wave of grey. “So as director of marketing, I wanted to take a deep dive into how we too can be a ‘sustainable’ company. Does anyone have anything they’d like to contribute?”
Read More
