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An Angel's Wings

An Angel’s Wings Christmas always seems so full of angels. Christmas decorations, Christmas cards, Carols and much, much more. For some that’s where...
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- 674 reads
Street Justice - Part 4 (Final Part)
Brodies swansong arrives in nae time. A setup like this yin takes time, preparation. That’s what separates the professionals fae the cowboays. Furget...
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- 1280 reads
The Lawsuit
They were ignorant and it was a very dumb thing for them to do. They kicked a man out of their restaurant and he decided to sue. They became very...
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- 204 reads
Distractions
Dark toast, marmalade and strong black tea make the day take shape.
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Foggie Festive Fayre
Saturday was the Foggie Farmer’s Market. Not just a market this time, a Festive Village, behind the square in McRobert Park. Being inland,...
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- 333 reads
Second Chances
These stories are inspired by a teaching experience of mine in a Further Education College in England. The experiences are fictionalised. Letting the writing flow, names and identifying details were anonymised. With the characters composed of multiple selves, these are the stories of lecturers and students everywhere, of teachers expected to teach in neurotypical ways, and of neurodiverse students expected to learn in conventional ways. These stories recognise that teaching and learning is not only about the humans in the classroom: all bodies (human, nonhuman and more-than-human) act in relationality. For ‘Jake’, like so many others, the noises of other students, of anxiety, of a beeping fire door, the heat, all combine to drive him from the classroom, potentially from the college. Simultaneously, these forces provoke the courage to ask for help. ‘Jake’s’ class is typical of those I have encountered in Further Education Colleges in England: Jake could be a student at any or all of them. These stories question and resist conventional teaching and learning practices, which so often fail students, in the hope of opening up possibilities for genuine second chances for all.
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- 1273 reads
Velvet Goldmine

I find this ABC Tales website a warm and welcoming community where writers of all abilities can share their work in the knowledge that it will be appreciated and encouraged. But what makes the site particularly special for me is that a close friend from long ago was a popular member here, regularly posting poetry and prose years before I joined. Julia Macpherson (ABC username Overthetop1 ) left this world far too soon, and at a point where too few had recognised the high standard of her writing talent. Following her death in 2016, her mother Coral (ABC’s seashore ) and her sister Sarah worked with Cerasus Poetry, and with the support of ABC members and the MIND mental health charity, to publish a compilation of her work. I lost touch with Julia in the mid-1980s, but found her again through ABC Tales and the pages of her book, Waiting For Another Velvet Morning .
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- 3633 reads
Yard Sale Chapter 6

what did he mean by definetely dead? the plot thickens!
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- 737 reads
Street Justice - Part 3
The follaein efternin makes fur a sunny and bright Wednesday. Ah’m back behind ma desk in the boozer. Quietly shiftin through some neglected...
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- 857 reads
Street Justice - Part 2
Finally, we arrive oan the scene. He parks ootside the boozer, cautiously. Yince the pair ae us hop intae the fresh air oor nostrils are immediately...
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- 301 reads
Street Justice - Part 1
This is a chapter from my third novel that I'm currently writing. I have to post this story in seperate parts (all are now available to read on ABC...
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- 1221 reads
Old Nights
Old Nights For David Floyd And a man rotates a table for diners as I twist myself – synching to unghost those years. I can see them now: Alison with...
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- 1519 reads
Kit Handsome and the Santa Claus Chaos 2
Kit studied the mob of angry elves gathered in front of him. “You want me to arrest Santa Claus?” he said. “Yes,” said the spokeself. “Why, what...
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- 684 reads
Consistency in Lists of Numbers
A measure of probability distribution for consistency in large lists of numbers is explained. If there are discrepancies it would be a sign of...
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- 498 reads
Caring For All The Animals (Including Humans!) and Avoiding World War 3! By Alfred N.Muggins
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24/11/24 Alfred Muggins was feeling rather sad this morning. He was on his own at the moment. His wife hadn’t actually left him, but she almost might...
The Bower Flame Bird

Yearnings fill this colourful male with pleasure, nothing more beautiful than plumage so rare; not a silent birthright when caught in a dance of...
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Gift: A Son's Story (extract) - Christmas (ii)
In spite of her cold, mum had rallied over Christmas and had been much more her old self. The warnings were never far away, though... The rest of...
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Gift: A Son's Story (extract) - Christmas (i)
Another excerpt from my book about my time as mum's full-time carer during her last months of life. She confounded medical expectations by not only...
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- 2733 reads
Kit Handsome and the Santa Claus Chaos 1
It was Christmas Eve and Inspector Kit Handsome arrived at work to find desk sergeant Megson hanging tinsel around Boonhill Police Station. “Morning...
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- 1295 reads
A Pink and Lilac Day
Thursday’s walk wasn’t a pleasant one at first. The windfarm path, which is walled by giant gorse, has very few gaps revealing the surrounding...
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- 475 reads