The Artist (4/7) By The Silver Fox

(1/7), (2/7), (3/7), (4/7), (5/7), (6/7), (7/7).

By unspoken agreement - and possibly because he had the least distance to travel - the little group arranged themselves so that Kelp could stoop to the letterbox in order to keep watch on the street. "What the fuck are they doing out at this time of night, anyway?" he asked nobody in particular in a tone that suggested that they'd better know what they were talking about. "Maybe they've been locked in a late night game of dominos - perhaps even a tournament final?" the besmirched giant suggested.

"They don't look too pally, do they? Perhaps it's a life-long feud recently exacerbated by the judicious and unexpected placing of a double-five at a crucial juncture?" "Mebbe," the hunched Kelp replied. "But do people - even old cunts - still get that worked up about dominos?" "It's possible, you know," ventured the artist. "I had an uncle once who nearly bit some blokes ear off because he beat him at cribbage." "That's the business with the pegs in the board, isn't it?" asked the taller man. "It might be - I never dared play with him." "Of course," Kelp said, his eyes still locked with slow-burning rage onto the plodding figures, "They could be a pair of late-life homosexuals who have had an awful evening following a meeting arranged on the internet - the bloke in front might have been pissed off to find out that his dream date had a false leg. There's something pretty anaphrodisiac about a prosthetic, I'd imagine..." "I wouldn't be so sure about that. My auntie had a plastic hand and one day, she caught the bloke next door ..." "I must say you seem to have a particularly colourful family," the smooth voice cut through the artist's nervous autoreminiscing without rancour. "What do you think of Magritte?"

The artist pondered the question as thoroughly as he could, given the circumstances and his preoccupation with his aunt's stomach-turning disclosures. Eventually, he settled for: "He's not really my bag, to be honest." "Oh." Abruptly, the behemoth turned to his associate. "Have they gone, yet?" "Just about - I thought the gimpy one was going over for a minute, but he seems to be managing...and there he goes." Kelp straightened up and looked up at the artist with cold dislike. "We'll pop to the motor then, eh?"

"I'll leave the front door open," the artist said, conscious that something was even more amiss than he'd expected. Kelp once again achieved the feat of becoming virtually two-dimensional and the big man opened the door and walked past him onto the street. Before following him, Kelp jerked a much-gnawed thumb at him and told the artist: "He's always banging on about Magritte, is Tasker." The door banged to and the artist stumbled for the sanctuary of his easel. It was to be short-lived. He'd hardly had time to twiddle his pencil before the sound of the front door clattering against the hall wall made him drop it in alarm. This was quickly followed by the sound of footsteps and of muted cursing.

Continued...Next Page (5/7)

Fiction - Red Carpet Blues By Steve Rudd
	'One more word out of you, and it'll be your last - I promise.' The ice-cold gun nudging Ellie's temple was motivation enough for her to keep her mouth shut, as she trembled with fear. She daren't even sob in case her captor construed that any form of noise was reason enough to blow her brains out without further ado. So much for being a superstar in her own right, Read more...

Fiction - Off To See The Wild West Show Part 20 (1886: Hull, Yorkshire) By Frank Beill
	The deck rose and fell beneath my feet. My moccasins were meant for the solid earth of the Dakotas, not a slippery wooden deck in an Atlantic storm. I continued focusing on the infant pony and repeated all the psalms and hymns I could recall. Words that were drilled into me. I never thought they'd ever be of any use, other than to avoid Jolly Rodgers' Read more...

Fiction - 'I Do' By Steve Rudd
	Nobody told me marriage would be like this. I thought it would be bliss, day in and day out, but problems soon surfaced, after our hastily arranged elopement in good old Gretna - that bizarre little settlement that straddles the border between England and Scotland as though it can't quite decide where it stands; where it belongs; which side of the metaphorical fence it is Read more...

Fiction - Two Sides : A Friday Night Out In Hull By Joe Hakim
	I'm just finishing off at work, watching the clock and loading the pot-wash with plates and cups, waiting for Sarah to start her shift so I can go home. It's been a really busy day, so I'll be glad to see the back of the fuckin' place. I've been working at Sparks cafè bar on Newland Ave for over a year, but it's only been in the past couple of months it's got really busy. Fridays are Read more...

Fiction - Off To See The Wild West Show Part 19 (1886: Hull, Yorkshire) By Frank Beill
	Was it my imagination or were dark clouds hanging over the Persian Monarch the next morning? I feared the worst. Heavy feet climbed the wooden steps to my hero's saloon. As before Red Shirt, Dog That Stands and Laughing Waters were there in support of my case. We entered the cabin and my spirits rose. Nate Salsbury wasn't there and Miss Arta was Read more...

Fiction - Complicity Part 6 By Nick Quantrill
	Complicity is the new crime-fiction novella set in Hull featuring Detective Sergeant Coleman and Detective Constable Maynard. The thisisull.com serialisation is accompanied by the stunning black and white photography of Roland Standaert, which illustrates the story and takes a unique look at the city. Complicity and other stories are available for free. Read more...

Fiction - Gloomy Sunday By Joe Hakim
	As we got closer I could see it framed against the horizon. From this distance it just looked like a huge black shape, like a giant lump of coal or something. "Jeezus, it's huge," I said. "Yeah, I'm guessing it's a male," Mike said. "Could be about fifty tonnes of whale washed up down there." Mike was a marine biologist. He'd been given the task of studying Read more...

Fiction - Off To See The Wild West Show Part 18 (1886: Hull, Yorkshire) By Frank Beill
	My sister and I were sitting on my bunk. A funny feeling came over me: it was almost like relief. My hero knew about me and about my circumstances but he'd not decided automatically that I'd have to go back to the orphanage. 'I have always wanted a brother. I do not want to lose you.' Laughing Waters didn't share what she considered to be my unfounded confidence. Read more...

Fiction - Welcome To Hellville - Part 17 By Rich Mills
	29th November 2040 The information is coming thick and fast. The latest version of Arc-iSearch is a truly amazing piece of AI software. It sweeps across the huge net archives, sniffing out the smallest of references, eliminating the irrelevant with an intelligence that grows as it goes. I set it on its way yesterday, now it has started to Read more...

Fiction - The M1 McDonalds Girl and the Most Suitable Bloke By Andy Bilton
	So I'm heading home. Heading north. Eighty, on the M1, just south of Sheffield. Pissing it down. That horizontal stuff that totally obscures your view, your only safe option being to get in to the inside lane and follow the red cat's eyes. Not ideal weather conditions for a must-get-there-quicker sort of situation such as this. I should slow down really but Helen's already been on the mobile Read more...

Fiction - Complicity Part 5 By Nick Quantrill
	Complicity is the new crime-fiction novella set in Hull featuring Detective Sergeant Coleman and Detective Constable Maynard. The thisisull.com serialisation is accompanied by the stunning black and white photography of Roland Standaert, which illustrates the story and takes a unique look at the city. Complicity and other stories are available for free. Read more...

Fiction - The Guy Who Had All The Time In The World By Joe Hakim
	Sometimes it gets to be a bit too fuckin' much, I decide, after another day spent wandering the streets aimlessly. The sky is still bright purple - the colour of a fresh bruise - and the streets are still completely silent; not even the sound of birds chirping or distant traffic in the distance. Aside from that, everything seems to be much the same, at least on the surface. There's no visible Read more...

Fiction - Kat Out of the Bag Chapter Fourteen By Steve Rudd
	Yogesh, my abandoned guide on all things Nepalese, had said that the small yak-herding settlement of Langsisa was worth seeing if seeing meant believing, being as it is so isolated and yet further east of Kyangjin. Yogesh and I had discussed where I might like to trek on my trip before we embarked from Kathmandu, and he'd proposed the Langtang trek as being an ideal one Read more...

Fiction - The Burden - A Short Story By Joe Hakim
	I step out into the sun and close my eyes, letting the light wash over my face. It's cold, and the wind pinches my cheeks but I feel complete, for the first time ever. Today the world is different. Today is the first day of a new beginning. Everything feels real and vivid, and I bathe in it, taking it all in like a child seeing a painting for the first time, judging the angles and Read more...

Fiction - Off To See The Wild West Show Part 17 (1886: Hull, Yorkshire) By Frank Beill
	When we got further out into the Atlantic my companions became wary of going up on deck. When they did they scanned the horizon and talked in low voices if there were dark clouds heading towards us. The ocean swell was stronger but these weren't the rough seas they expected in repetition of the previous crossing. I was pleased we weren't enjoying the great sickness Read more...

Fiction - Kat Out of the Bag Chapter Thirteen By Steve Rudd
	I remembered the ring simply because it wasn't the type of ring that a man would usually choose to include in his pro-macho jewellery box. The rare stone at its heart shone like a bewildering beacon demanding attention in the pits of hell, while its subtly alluring design was elaborately detailed yet delicate. To all intents and purposes it looked like a lady's bridal ring, and thus the plot thickened. Read more...

Fiction - Complicity Part 4 By Nick Quantrill
	Complicity is the new crime-fiction novella set in Hull featuring Detective Sergeant Coleman and Detective Constable Maynard. The thisisull.com serialisation is accompanied by the stunning black and white photography of Roland Standaert, which illustrates the story and takes a unique look at the city. Complicity and other stories are available for free. Read more...

Fiction - Welcome To Hellville - Part 16 By Rich Mills
	"What music are you into, man?" The American exchange student who had earlier introduced himself, without any regard for Alan's need to be alone, suddenly threw a curve-ball of a question like this in his direction. "Well I listen to..." What followed was a definitive list of bands from Alan's wide-ranging rare vinyl and CD collection, he even Read more...

Fiction - Complicity Part 3 By Nick Quantrill
	Complicity is the new crime-fiction novella set in Hull featuring Detective Sergeant Coleman and Detective Constable Maynard. The thisisull.com serialisation is accompanied by the stunning black and white photography of Roland Standaert, which illustrates the story and takes a unique look at the city. Complicity and other stories are available for free. Read more...

Fiction - Off To See The Wild West Show Part 16 (1886: Hull, Yorkshire) By Frank Beill
	It took only three days for timidity to turn into brutality and two little girls were directing it towards the latest addition to their family. Two small bodies were jumping on my bunk and I was still in it. If I hadn't been so exhausted I might have enjoyed the experience. 'Ger off!' I yelled. They didn't know the words but they understood the meaning. Two frightened rabbits leapt off the bunk and Read more...

Fiction - Complicity Part 2 By Nick Quantrill
	Complicity is the new crime-fiction novella set in Hull featuring Detective Sergeant Coleman and Detective Constable Maynard. The thisisull.com serialisation is accompanied by the stunning black and white photography of Roland Standaert, which illustrates the story and takes a unique look at the city. Complicity and other stories are available for free. Read more...