FLASH!
Bloody rain! Today of all days, when he can’t put it off any longer. He’s been planning this for weeks; it’s the last piece of the jigsaw.
He stands in the doorway, glancing furtively at the window across the street. The collar of his huge raincoat is pulled up around his ears and a broad-brimmed hat ensures that only his eyes are exposed. Nevertheless, the biting wind still manages to penetrate his bones and make his teeth chatter.
He knows he has only one shot and he has to make it count. He rubs his hands together to keep his circulation going. It would be too bad if his finger slipped at the crucial moment.
How much longer? He glances at his watch. Seems like he’s been here for hours.
He slides his hand inside his coat and checks his equipment. He never expected it to be this hard; surely it couldn’t be much longer before it was over?
At last, the street is quiet and no-one is in sight. The rain has eased up a little.
He takes a tentative step from his shelter and looks around. Nothing – it’s now or never. Crossing the street quickly, he takes up his position in front of the window, unfastens his raincoat and focuses on the redhead. Then…
FLASH!
He’s taken his shot and he’s off at a run, buttoning his coat as he flies along fuelled by adrenalin.
At the coffee house he orders a camomile tea and closes his eyes for a moment. He reaches inside his coat as a heavy hand descends onto his shoulder.
“I’ll have the camera, Mate.”
The security guard is enormous, and there is no point in trying to refuse. Grey hands over his beloved device. The guard switches it on and looks at the image.
“Can I just see it, before you do anything drastic?” Grey pleads. The guard turns the viewing screen towards him.
“You can hit ‘DELETE’ yourself if you like, Mate. Your wife says she won’t press charges as long as you delete the picture and never try to pull a stunt like that again.”
“My ex-wife, you mean.” He takes the camera and examines the picture of the red-haired mannequin in a bridal gown. “She stole my designs, you know. I only wanted a picture of the finished article.”
The guard is not to be swayed. Reluctantly, Grey hits ‘DELETE’.
Bio:
Lilian Kendrick is a semi-retired Modern Languages teacher (French and German) from Birmingham, England. She now works part-time as a supply teacher anywhere she can get to by bus. She writes mainly women’s contemporary fiction and poetry, but has recently developed a passion for writing Flash fiction in a variety of genres including horror and erotica.
Her published works include “Sister, Daughter, Mother, Wife” – a novel, published by New Generation in 2009 and “Through my Windows” – collection of short stories and poetry available for Kindle. Some of her poetry was also included in the volume “Poeticising Chat” published in 2011. This anthology consisted of work from a number of poets from four continents who ‘met’ in the forum of Authonomy.com and published the results of their poetic conversations. All of these titles are available on Amazon.
She is currently working on a volume of Flash Fiction entitled “Flash in the Pan” and a new novel “Unspoken”.
Outside of writing, Lilian has a husband, two grown-up children and one grandchild. Her second grandchild is due in August.
She also runs her own editing business and has been privileged to work with some wonderful authors on polishing their manuscripts.
Websites:
http://www.verse-artiste.weebly.com
http://www.liliankendrick.weebly.com
