FLASH FEAR

Author's note:  This is the opening chapter of a longer piece which I have published here as a standalone short-story.  Lucy had one of those kaleidoscopic viewfinders that put the world in a mass of cubic and triangular shaped colours spiralling atop one another.  She stood at the foot of the lake looking out upon the deep blue of Berners Hall Lake and I’d imagined she was seeing it turn into purple and amber and green and whatever other colours splashed out into her eye line.  I felt a stab of envy at that time because she could see the world in colours beyond the drab sepia with which I’d always been cursed to see the world.  I envied Lucy for having the Kaleidoscope because, especially at the torment of that time and age, I would have loved to have coloured the world.   But I envied the Kaleidoscope more than I envied Lucy.  What I wouldn’t have given to have had Lucy looking deep into me the way she looked into that Kaleidoscope.  She’d smudged her eyeliner against the viewer

Husbandry Originally posted on Reddit  Farmer Del looked out on his livestock with a profound sadness. Yes, being a farmer meant that you accepted what life was for the livestock and life was death. Life was about being alive to feed others. Rarely did he even consider the sombreness of his trade. But today was different. He wondered the fields with his staff and threw down the slop that they would eat. Fattening them up for the slaughter. Did they know their fate?             A couple of them looked up upon him with a wistful sadness in their own eyes. Of course, they knew – Del thought. But Del treated his stock with a kindness and consideration that was rare these days amongst others. He knew other land keepers that simply herded them into cramped cages and force fed them to the point of explosion and then slit their throats and drained the blood out while they were still alive. Farmer Del had a different approach to husbandry. He let them roam free amongst the fields. He