500 words a day

620 words 8th september 2009

Stand up straight when I’m talking to you man! No slouching in this office do you hear. Now, what is there to report?


What do you mean nothing you idiot! Oh, so there’s no one around, no one, are you absolutely sure? Well where are they all, they should be up making breakfast and cleaning the house, we’ve got the governor coming tomorrow and at this rate its going to be an absolute bloody disgrace.





What’s that Justin, said his Mum.





Nothing mum, he said.


He’d been talking to himself. When ever he put his grandfather’s old straw hat on it reminded him of all the stories he used to tell him about his time in India and he became a character, captain higginson, based on his grandfather.





Colonel Ramsbottom, was in charge and obviously a name Justin found very amusing, but he wouldn’t tolerate anyone snickering. Last man that sniggered at my name was sent straight back to Blighty, the long way round, do you hear me boy.





His Mum said that he was a little bit creative with his stories, and that a lot of the things he talked about may not have actually happened to him, but that he heard about them or exaggerated a bit.





Do you think Grandfather’s a liar then Mum?  he asked her.


Not exactly, but he likes to be creative, lets leave it at that shall we?


He didn’t care and he believed every word and although his grandfather had died last year, Justin could still remember exactly how he looked, sounded and smelled, when he put the hat on. The smell was the strongest thing and some of it lingered in the hat. A combination of fusty old man and pipe tobacco.  He liked the smell and sometimes when his mum was busy he’d find hid Grandfathers old pipe and clamp it between his teeth just like he used to do, when he wore the hat and played the India game, as he liked to call it.





This morning there’d been a dreadful incident at the house, the colonel had called him in and asked about the preparations for the governors visit only to be told that no staff could be found. As the morning progressed they found out that they’d al left – some sort of damned rebellion, apparently.  I won’t tolerate it said the colonel, give them an inch and they’ll take over the bloody country. We have to clamp down hard. So he’d dismissed them all. Obviously Justin, or Captain Higginson as he was now, in memory of his grandfather, couldn’t actually dismiss them because they weren’t there, they’d all gone off to join some sort of demonstration , against the Queen of all things. The colonel said they ought t be shot for such Treasonous behaviour but Justin wasn’t really sure what Treasonous meant so he ignored that.





What he needed to do he decided was hire some new staff, that way when the old ones came back, as they surely would, where else would they get their food and pay from, he could send them all away without inconveniencing the household or messing up the governors visit. The thing was where did one get the ruddy staff.?





He set off into town immediately after his dressing down from the colonel and spent a good few hours trying to find people who wanted to work. Quickly he realised it was a waste of time. The whole place was in uproar. The queen and her party were due to arrive and the police and army were everywhere trying to keep the road clear from demonstrators who seemed to consist of the entire population, including he noticed, the staff that were supposed to be helping him.








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Steve Wybourn





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