Sunday short short story: Such A Pterodactyl by Morgen Bailey

August 9, 2020July 5, 2020Leave a comment

Posted every Sunday, the following piece of flash fiction is from Morgen’s shorter short story collection, FLASHES, available in e-book from Morgen’s online store where you not only get the best price but can either instantly download the collection or purchase the paperback dedicated to you or as a present! We hope you enjoy this story…

Such A Pterodactyl

“Dad! Maisy won’t share!”

“Eddie, you’ve got your own,” Simon pointed out.

“I’ve finished it.”

“So you have. That’s not Maisy’s fault.”

“But hers is pineapple.”

“Then you should have ordered the same.”

“But I didn’t want to.”

“And?”

Neither of the children replied.

“Yours looked nice Eddie. Cranberry Crush, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, but…”

“Oh Dad,” Maisy piped up. “You’re such a pterodactyl.”

“What?” Simon asked, face screwed up.

“It’s a dinosaur,” Eddie explained.

“I know,” Simon replied. “But I don’t…”

“Never mind, Dad,” Eddie continued looking longingly in the direction of his sister’s dessert.

“OK,” Eddie said when Maisy had finished. “Are we done now?”

With her lips blue from the pineapple and damson ice cream, Simon smiled at his daughter. “Something else?”

Maisy shook her head.

“Really? You two usually work backwards; dessert, main, starters. Not hungry?”

Maisy shrugged her shoulders.

Eddie grabbed a menu.

“And you Eddie?”

Eddie nodded but stared at his sister’s blue lips. “Anything blue.”

Simon laughed, but before anyone said anything else, the fire alarm went off.

“Shouldn’t we evacuate?” Eddie said, proud of his knowledge of the word.

“I’m sure it’s only a drill or someone’s burning the toast. Can you smell smoke?”

The children shook their heads.

“Well, then. Go on, have whatever you fancy.”

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Sunday short short story: Knew Better by Morgen Bailey

August 2, 2020July 5, 2020Leave a comment

Posted every Sunday, the following piece of flash fiction is from Morgen’s short short story collection, SHORTS, available in e-book from Morgen’s online store where you not only get the best price but can either instantly download the collection or purchase the paperback dedicated to you or as a present! We hope you enjoy this story…

Knew Better

Emily knew better. She’d been told over and over. Only she thought she knew better. That it didn’t matter. She’d been out to the ice-cream van a hundred times, probably more, but always hands clasped tightly to grandfather, grandmother, or mother. Never alone… ’til now.

It was a classic scenario. Hot summer’s day, ice-cream van, little girls in school uniforms. A dream scenario to Frank. He’d promised the judge he’d behave, told the parole board enough times so they believed him, but he knew better. They thought he knew better.

And there was this one little girl. She looked like a Lucy. He liked the name Lucy. Used to have a cat called Lucy, until his father took it away. Told him it had been run over but Frank knew. His father looked guilty, just for a second, just long enough for Frank to know. He knew everything that his father did. And vowed never to be like him. But he couldn’t escape. Just like the little girl who’d gone to his car to see the puppy, holding the ice-cream that had already started melting. Except there was no puppy. He couldn’t have pets after Lucy. Couldn’t bear to let them go. He wouldn’t let her go… this little girl in her navy blue and white uniform. So smart. With navy blue shoes and long white socks.

They had holes in them. Not old, like his socks, but symmetrical, like the middles of flowers. Frank loved flowers. His mother would buy fresh ones every week until his father had lost his job and they’d run out of money.

But Frank had plenty of money now. He’d look after Lucy like she was his flesh and blood. She’d forget, and call him “father”. She’d be the sister he never had. The daughter he’d always wanted.

She knew it was wrong. “Don’t talk to strangers” that’s what she’d been told. Except there was something familiar about him. He reminded her of her father. The little she could remember. And his smile. He had a nice smile. Friendly. And she was in need of a new friend.

It had never been the same since they’d moved. So many times after her father had gone away. Her mother had promised that it would be fine, that there would be plenty of little girls for her to get on with, but she’d had that look in her eyes that Emily had seen before. Her mother had said that this was ‘it’ this time, that they’d stay, but Emily knew better.

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Sunday short short story: Almost by Morgen Bailey

July 26, 2020July 5, 20201 Comment

Almost

You stare at him and wish he hadn’t done it. It was a simple enough request; time for yourselves, just the two of you but he’d thought better, involved the whole family. You thought you knew him by now, that he knew you, but you realise that two years counts for nothing when you’ve spent little of that together.

He steps forward and kisses your forehead. You normally find it endearing but this feels patronising. You hear his mother sigh, proud of his son… the perfect team. Better than him and you.

You look down as he picks a thread of cotton off your blouse, his favourite top, the one he bought you for your nineteenth and you suspect that he had help.

At fifteen years your senior, you liked his maturity, but as you look around the room you feel almost a child.

Then he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a box, the blue velvet box that you recognise from his briefcase, the square diamond large enough to feed a country.

The room is silent, waiting for what everyone expects to happen next.

You shake your head. You know you shouldn’t, but you can’t help it. For once you do what you want.

You mouth a ‘sorry’ and turn to leave but he grabs your arm.

“Don’t you dare,” he hisses under his breath, the smell of whisky almost overbearing.

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Sunday short short story: Idiosyncratic by Morgen Bailey

July 19, 2020July 5, 2020Leave a comment

Idiosyncratic

“Well, well, well…”

“What?”

“He’s at it again.”

“Who?”

“Old Fred.”

“Oh, Harry. Leave him alone.”

“What?”

“He’s just old. You always have to find fault.”

“Mavis, I tell you, he’s up to no good.”

“Why?”

“It’s his green bin. He’s stuffed it full of lemonade bottles.”

“So?”

“Well, it’s not right.”

“Ours is full of wine bottles; that’s worse surely?”

“He’s idiosyncratic.”

“What’s that?”

“Quirky. Odd.”

“You’re like a walking dictionary, Harry.”

“And that’s what you love about me.”

“If you say so. Listen, come away from the window. He’ll see you and think you’re idio-whatsit.”

“Syncratic.”

“Yes. I still don’t see what’s so odd about drinking lemonade at his age.”

“That’s the thing though, Mavis, from the way he’s struggling to move them, he’s not drinking them, they’re all still full.”

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Results of Morgen’s 100-word competition: June 2020

July 15, 2020Leave a comment

Hello everyone and welcome to the fifty-eighth month of this competition. There were 20 entries from 10 authors for the theme of ‘a Twitter conversation’… a really tough month so I’m not surprised the entries were down from the usual 30-40+. The ones that came in though were really fun to read.

Two stories were disqualified for not having the @ Twitter handles but fortunately the third story from that author had so it went through to the judging… and did well, so it’s always worth submitting the maximum three stories. Another was disqualified for arriving past the midnight (UK deadline) and it wasn’t in the full Twitter exchange format as per the example so wouldn’t have qualified anyway. It’s a shame because it was the solo entry from that author.

The winning stories are ones that I reacted most favourably to. They were clever, surprising, eek-making (in a good way), or gave me a warm fuzzy feeling (without being sickly). Sometimes a story beats another because it has a stronger link to the theme so it’s worth writing a story to the theme rather than tweaking a story you already have to loosely fit it. Alternatively there may have been several stories on with same topic so I chose my favourite of those. With any competition, much rests upon the judge’s preference.

You may have chosen a different order or indeed not placed one or more of them so if you entered and didn’t find your story / stories here, don’t lose heart. You probably only just missed out so do enter new stories this month*, next month, whenever you like (but not in advance!). It’s an ongoing competition and free, so you could win at any time. There were new and familiar names this month so anyone could win… it’s all dependent upon whether your story grabs me, for whatever reason (whether it be clever, funny, unusual, quirky, or sweet).

Apart from the top three and highly commended, there are some ‘Honourable Mentions’. They don’t win anything but they were so close to being Highly Commended that I wanted them to know how close they came. It’s still something for them to put on their CVs.

*The theme for July is ‘a mature student’ and you can submit your entries (and do send three) at any time up to midnight (UK time) on Friday 31st July. Details and entry forms on https://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/100-word-free-monthly-competition. So without further ado, below are the successful entries this month.

First place (winning free access to three of my online creative writing courses (currently worth £60 / $60) or a free edit and critique of up to 2,000 words (worth £14 / $18):

Darren York with ‘One Last Job’

@dennis hows things?

@gnasher had better days

@dennis got a job for us

@gnasher no good mate

@dennis pays well

@gnasher my legs have gone

@dennis no running required for this one

@gnasher can’t bark anymore

@dennis I can bark and carry you, if you want?

@gnasher not funny, I’m in a home

@dennis for good?

@gnasher till I die

@dennis you’ve got years left

@gnasher no, I don’t know how long

@dennis I can come and fetch you. one last job?

@gnasher a bone in it?

@dennis of course there is

@gnasher ok, but hurry

@dennis on my way

Joint second place (each winning free access to two of my online creative writing courses (currently worth £40 / $40) or a free edit and critique of up to 1,500 words (worth £11 / $14):

Diana Hayden with ‘Trending on Twitter Worldwide!’

@harrypot got him

@weasley6 how

@harrypot zapped

@weasley6 dead?

@harrypot kind of disintegrated

@hermgraing If there’s no body then we can’t be sure

@weasley6 stop panicking Hermione

@harrypot before he died he went weird like he’d lost his power

@hermgraing That was Neville. He cut off Nagini’s head.

@weasley6 Nev’s a hero

@harrypot that explains it

@hermgraing Duh, Ron! Harry’s a hero too!

@harrypot What shall we do now?

@hermgraing Have a really good summer holiday!

@harrypot No, I mean will the world be safe? Do we need to do anything?

@weasley6 Reckon everything’s OK now Harry

@malfoyd hi kids

Sue Massey with ‘Lockdown Lyrics’

@popster Topical random prompts. Reply by song title.

@punkster OK. Social distancing?

@popster Don’t stand so close to me. Shopping?

@punkster I’m all lost in the supermarket. Present day?

@popster The times they are a-changin’. Education?

@punkster School’s out for summer. Next holiday?

@popster Fly me to the moon. Annoyed?

@punkster Get off my cloud. Where you live?

@popster Ghost town. Work?

@punkster Clampdown. Entertainment?

@popster That’s entertainment. Pub?

@punkster I wish! Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps please!

@popster Nice one! Wine?

@punkster Little ole wine drinker me!

@popster Wine o’clock. Virtual cheers!

@punkster Good health!

Third place (winning free access to one of my online creative writing courses (currently worth £20 / $20) or a free edit and critique of up to 1,000 words (worth £7 / $9):

Lestie Mulholland with ‘Waiting for an Answer’

@Godot: what do you want for Christmas?

@Sally: my two front teeth

@Godot: no silly, what do you really want?

@Sally: a fudge car

@Godot: and what else?

@Sally: wish you weren’t so far away

@Godot: it’s only a 10 minute walk

@Sally: may as well be the moon

@Godot: don’t sulk Sally

@Sally: I’m not

@Godot: so what do you want for Christmas?

@Sally: the house is horrid, mom shouts a lot

@Godot: should I get those pink sneakers

@Sally: no, mom already got them for me

@Godot: so what can I do?

@Sally: come home dad, come home

Highly commended (winning my Entering Writing Competitions course worth £20 / $20) or a free edit and critique of up to 1,000 words (worth £7 / $9) – in alphabetical order:

Adrian Deasley with ‘Clownclub’
Astra Lowelle with ‘The Party Planner’
Joyce Bingham with ‘Elvis has Left the Building Site’
Paul Mastaglio with ‘Rover’s Return’

Honourable mentions (not winning anything but only narrowly missing out and still looking good on their CV) – in alphabetical order:

Carmina Mcconnell with ‘Rarely Pure and Never Simple’
Jane Broughton with ‘Staying Safe’
Valerie Fish with ‘The Other Woman’

Congratulations, everyone. The entries for this month are already drifting in. Remember, you can send up to three per month so rather than miss out on a chance by sending one story, do submit more.

If you’ve enjoyed these stories and / or just want to leave a comment, please do so below and / or you can email me at morgen@morgenbailey.com., although I won’t (can’t) discuss forthcoming entries unless it’s a general query.

Sunday short short story: To No One In Particular by Morgen Bailey

July 12, 2020July 5, 2020Leave a comment

To No One In Particular

I knew it was going to drive me mad, the sixties CD, but it’s become his favourite and who am I to complain? Not that he’d listen if I tried to.

A six-hour drive up to Edinburgh and this is all we have. At least it’s by different artists.

Cornwall was Pat Boone crooning to no one in particular. Not to me, that’s for sure and certainly not to Eric. Doesn’t approve of all that same sex malarkey. I think it’s fascinating, the connection they have, and some say they’ve always known, but the only thing Eric finds interesting is who the service station cafés are run by. We only stop at English ones, no Costa or Pret a Manger for Eric.

That’s one thing that first attracted me about him, how patriotic he is, and so vocal, but then I realised to what extent and, well, it became an obsession… not quite to BNP level, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he was on that list that someone published on the internet a while back.

He loves his computer does Eric. Never lets me go messing about on it, but then I wouldn’t know where to start. I’d be too afraid I’d delete something important, and it must be important or he’d not keep his door shut, make me knock when I take him his cups of tea.

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Sunday short short story: Less Than Green These Days by Morgen Bailey

July 5, 2020July 5, 2020Leave a comment

Less Than Green These Days

Russell stared at the photograph sitting on the window ledge above the cooker. Sarah would laugh at him if she could see him now, only she couldn’t, wouldn’t.

The first Sunday after she’d died, he’d forgiven himself and knew she would have too; a roast for one.

Three months later and he was still serving up double portions – one sat in front of him, the other in front of the empty chair; the chair with the Border Collie cushion. The cushion he’d bought for her last Christmas; the Christmas they’d not expected to see together.

She’d been given six months at best and had seen another four. Christmas, New Year, just short of Easter and now it was summer. The time of year she’d spend her days in the garden. She wouldn’t be so pleased about that; the dying plants, unmowed lawn, less than green these days, bird food containers.

Work had been understanding. “Take all the time you need,” John had said. He’d known how Russell had felt then – but not now. Jane had got better, lived, thrived. She’d helped Sarah those first few months but when it became clear that there really was no hope the gaps between visits grew wider until she stopped coming – to the house, to work, to the funeral.

Russell had considered quitting his job but he’d needed something to focus on – a return date – another set of walls to stare at all day.

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Results of Morgen’s 100-word competition: May 2020

June 30, 2020Leave a comment

Hello everyone and welcome to the fifty-seventh month of this competition. Sorry it’s so late this month… unforeseen circumstances (new books, elderly mother etc.). There were 42 entries from 21 authors for the theme of ‘may or may not’… I did struggle this month with some stories to see where the theme fitted. There either felt no connect or so loose that they felt as if they been tweaked to try to fit the ‘may or may not’. NB You can all send in three stories for a better chance of being picked.

Two (from the same author) were disqualified for having a ‘maybe’ that should have been ‘may be’ (It may be…). Another was for having words connected with /s which still count as separate words. Even if they hadn’t they were inconsistent so the story would have either been 98 or 101 words. One story was 99 words for no obvious reason other than there being a hyphenated word (16-wheeler) which could have been counted, by the author, as two. Sadly it was the only story submitted by that author so it (and the author) was disqualified. Another story had hyphens between words which Word counts as words but they’re not, and when corrected to dashes, they don’t so was only 96 words instead of 100. There was also other punctuation detached from the word they should have followed so that made the story 95. Fortunately there were two other submitted stories so one went through to the final judging. One story was disqualified because it had ‘maybe’ (noun) as ‘may be’ (verb), https://www.grammar.com/maybe_vs._may_be explains the difference. Sadly the author’s other submission (always worth sending three) was also disqualified for being 108 words. And she was new to the competition this month so doubly sad.

There were two from an author that I felt were as strong as each other. I chose one over the other purely on a ‘began to’* but then the other story had two ‘head’s (no relation) close together and a sinking heart so I decided to keep them both as Highly Commended, winning one prize between them but not publishing the story so the author’s free to send them elsewhere without them being deemed as ‘previously published’.

*Where an action has ‘starts to’ / ‘started to’ or ‘begins to’ / ‘began to’ before it, most of the time they’re not needed because unless the action is interrupted, the verb alone works better / is stronger. An example would be ‘the phone began to ring’. If it stops without being answered then that’s fine (although it still rang!) but if not then just have ‘the phone rang’.

Another tip (inspired by a story where every sentence started ‘The’ or ‘He’): be careful of having too many sentences (and paragraphs in a longer piece) starting with pronouns (e.g. I, he, she, the character’s name). Even if they’re quite long paragraphs so they don’t leap out, it’s something to be mindful of. So if a section feels a bit flat, it could be that you have too many sentences / paragraphs starting with a pronoun, e.g. ‘Barry did this…’ or ‘He did that…’, or that you have too much narration (Andy was angry) vs. dialogue or the character ‘doing’, e.g. “Get out!” Andy slammed his fist onto the desk.

You may have chosen a different order or indeed not placed one or more of them so if you entered and didn’t find your story here, don’t lose heart. You probably only just missed out so do enter new stories this month*, next month, whenever you like (but not in advance!). It’s an ongoing competition and free, so you could win at any time. There were new and familiar names this month so anyone could win… it’s all dependent upon whether your story grabs me, for whatever reason (whether it be clever, funny, unusual, quirky, or sweet).

Apart from the top three and highly commended, there are some ‘Honourable Mentions’. The authors don’t win anything but they were so close to being Highly Commended that I wanted them to know how close they came. It’s still something for them to put on their CVs.

*The theme for June is ‘a Twitter conversation’ (click HERE for an example) and you can submit your entries (and do send three) at any time up to midnight (UK time) on Tuesday 30th June. Details and entry forms on https://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/100-word-free-monthly-competition. So without further ado, below are the successful entries this month.

Joint first place (each winning free access to three of my online creative writing courses (currently worth £60 / $60) or a free edit and critique of up to 2,000 words (worth £14 / $18):

Julian Cadman with ‘Hitting the Buffers’
The smile now leaving our station is yours.
This train of thought will not be stopping, it’s terminal bound.
And please note this journey doesn’t appear on your scheduled timetable.
So, apologies, but due to signalling problems the lights have all turned red.
Your unattended baggage has been destroyed.
Please don’t bother listening out for any further announcements.
And apologies for any delay in your ongoing journey caused by this derailment.
Your first class season ticket to ride is now invalid.
Mind the gap. Did you ever even notice it widening?
You may or may not have.
Anyhow, all change!

Sue Massey with ‘Morgen’s May Prompt’
We discuss Morgen’s May prompt. Jane thinks “may” sounds more eloquent than “might”. She uses “might” a lot. She may try to change that. We recall our childhood manners, “Please may I leave the table?” Only after we’d eaten all our dinner. We decide to have fun with the prompt. During our regular telephone conversations and emails, we will include a sentence using Morgen’s phrase. As many times as we like. After several glasses of wine, its usage becomes funnier and wittier. A month on and it’s still keeping us amused. We may or may not grow out of it!

Joint second place (each winning free access to two of my online creative writing courses (currently worth £40 / $40) or a free edit and critique of up to 1,500 words (worth £11 / $14):

Taria Karillion with ‘Fiat Iustitia Ne Pereat Mundus’ (May justice be done, lest the world perish)
Two shoppers reach for the last stickered loaf.
One hand, rough, fingernails glossed in Final Reminder Red. The other, rubble-brown, save for the white skin ring of last month’s shopping.
Both pause – the packet is the colour of a graduation gown, and the flag from which the other fled.
Red-nails grabs and turns on broken heel.
At the conveyor belt altar, the other’s too-big coat reveals a baby sling, a tiny hand.
Red looks back… Tearing the loaf in two, she holds out half.
And for a moment, in that small corner of the world, humanity comes up for air.

Valerie Fish with ‘Will I or Won’t I?’
I may or may not have a drink today. That’s my choice. I don’t have to have one, I could stop drinking any time I like, but why should I? It’s my life and I’ll do whatever I like despite what my husband says. He thinks I’m drinking too much. He was mad at me last night, accusing me of flirting with the guy at the bar, and ended up sleeping downstairs. Boring old fart.
He says I’m not the same person when I’ve been drinking. Whatever…
I may or may not have a drink today. But I probably will…

Joint third place (each winning free access to one of my online creative writing courses (currently worth £20 / $20) or a free edit and critique of up to 1,000 words (worth £7 / $9):

Jane Broughton with ‘Not a Happy Ending’
“Do I look like a genie?” hissed the scaly demon.
“You may or may not be a genie,” Dolores replied, “but you came out of that lamp so you owe me a wish.”
“For the last time, I’m not a genie! I went in there for some peace while I thought up some fresh evil to curse humanity with. It’s not easy coming up with something original and terrifying.”
“Talk to the hand,” Dolores retorted. “I wish for the man of my dreams…”
“Done,” interrupted the demon, “but you didn’t specify which dream.”
Dolores screamed as Boris lumbered towards her.

Lestie Mulholland with ‘Word Adversaries’

‘You may or may not believe me, Maisie, but messy Molly makes magical mulberry muffins.’
There! Fifteen words allowed for the best sentence demonstrating alliteration. I got ten M’s Ma’m.
‘Whether wise William wanted Wally to wait while he went walking westwards we’ll not know.’ I got eleven W’s Ma’m, I win!
My two best students were at it again, head to head. It was on days like these that I loved teaching, you know, when the class instructs itself because it understands and now reaches out to grab just desserts.
Maggie and Michael, 10-year-old combatants, top of my crop!

Highly commended (winning my Entering Writing Competitions course worth £20 / $20) or a free edit and critique of up to 1,000 words (worth £7 / $9) – in alphabetical order:

Darren York with ‘The Magic Box’ and ‘Back to Oblivion’ (I couldn’t choose between the two!)
Diana Hayden with ‘Secrets’
Hannah Rose with ‘Forward or Backward’
Katie Jones with ‘Mayday’
Steve Lodge with ‘Let There Be Something’

Honourable mentions (not winning anything but only narrowly missing out and still looking good on their CV) – in alphabetical order:

Jane Brown with ‘Three Children and a Bridge’
Joyce Bingham with ‘They May Or May Not Grow, The Seeds Are A Bit Old’
Laura Besley with ‘Regret is Also Pretty Damn Cold’
Mira with ‘One Last Knock’
Omer Berkman with ‘The Way Home’

Congratulations, everyone. The entries for this month are already drifting in. Remember, you can send up to three per month so rather than miss out on a chance by sending one story, do submit more. If you’ve enjoyed these stories and / or just want to leave a comment, please do so below and / or you can email me at morgen@morgenbailey.com., although I won’t (can’t) discuss forthcoming entries unless it’s a general query.

Sunday short short story: She’d Expected A Whooshing Sound by Morgen Bailey

June 28, 2020June 28, 2020Leave a comment

She’d Expected A Whooshing Sound

No one believed Izzy when she talked about the old man. She’d cried wolf too often, told people about her imaginary friends. This time he wasn’t so imaginary.

The Johnson family had moved into the Old Post Office a fortnight before Izzy had started seeing the old man. Him rushing from room to room, turning his head left to right, right to left, as if watching a tennis match. Izzy loved tennis. Her Uncle Frank had taken her to Wimbledon the previous summer but now that was a distant memory.

The house was cold, old and Izzy missed their place back in Weybridge; the rambling vicarage that had gone with Daddy’s job except Daddy no longer went to church – none of them did.

Izzy was sitting on her bed playing with Ruby Rabbit when the old man ran from the bathroom to the back bedroom, the spare bedroom that was still piled with boxes.

The man came out just as quickly, and disappeared into her parents’ bedroom.

One thing that surprised Izzy about him was the silence. She’d expected a ‘whooshing’ sound as he ran. Everyone makes a ‘whoosh’ when they’re in a hurry although she didn’t think anyone was as rushed as the old man.

It wasn’t long before he came out of her parents’ room and headed for hers. He’d just reached the threshold when he spotted Izzy and screamed. A noiseless scream which Izzy knew should have been loud, as loud as Mummy when she sees a spider, shuts the door to it and waits for Izzy’s daddy to come home.

“Hello,” Izzy said calmly. The man stopped screaming. It was then that she noticed something in his left hand.

“What’s that?” she asked. He held it out to her and she went to look closer, to take it, but he pulled it back, held it to his chest.

Izzy could just about make out a figure; a woman about the same age as her mother, but old-fashioned, wearing clothes like her grandmother used to wear.

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Sunday short short story: A Glint Of Gold by Morgen Bailey

June 21, 2020April 30, 2020Leave a comment

A Glint Of Gold

Johal’s heart sank as he looked at the statement on the bank’s ATM screen.

His holiday to Goa had taken more out of both him and his savings than he’d expected.

His next stop was to have been Tesco for a bag of ice but now he decided to go to the pound shop and buy some plastic trays instead.

As he walked home he passed the antique shop and stared at the window.

Few items were priced and he could see why. A glint of gold caught his eye and he grinned as he spotted a familiar item; a small Indian elephant lead by a man in national costume.

As Johal took a mouthful of water, the elephant’s price tag made him cough… if this baby was worth £1,000 what was his adult version at home worth?

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