Mindings -
Short Stories
"No one should be Forgotten"
I walked through the gate into the lonely graveyard and through the overgrown grass. No one had been here for years. Once tended and cared for, but now long forgotten. The gravestones were difficult to read, most were very old and worn and what was left of the inscriptions had moss obscuring the words. It was going to be hard to find what I was looking for.
Several times as I made my way from stone to stone. I felt thorns pricking my flesh through my jeans as if to warn me off. I was not wanted here, I was invading this place, this lonely place that had forgotten human presence.
Several hours passed before I found what I was looking for, my search had at last been fruitful. The stone was newer than most but moss had grown faster here and had disguised the newness. I had bought a few things with me and I cleaned the moss from the surface so that I could read.
[ Martha, daughter of John and May Cox, January 13th 1900 - May 15th 1920. Cause of death - Her Heart Broke - God rest her Soul ]
Of course her soul had not rested, why else should I be here today.
I was born 30 years after her death, and yet something called me to this spot.
Why? I did not know and only being here could perhaps bring me the answer.
My dreams started even when I was a young child. A vision of a young pretty girl always running towards me, but never reaching me. Her arms were outstretched and she seemed to be calling, but there was never a sound.
This dream intensified as I grew older. Not every night, sometimes it would leave me for weeks, but then return stronger than ever.
I could picture her face so clearly but who she was I never knew.
My own parents had been killed in a road accident when I was very young and I had been bought up my foster parents as there where no other relatives. I had no-one to ask.
the one day, not so very long ago, I was reading a magazine about old neglected church yards and there was this picture of this place. It was like as if my mind was hit by a strobe light and all I could see was this same girl picked out against this graveyard.
I came here and seemed to know what to look for, although not exactly where.
When I reached this Stone I knew it was that of the girl in my dreams
Martha Cox. Cox had been my mother's maiden name. That much I knew, but my mother was buried with my father many years later than this.
I traced my mothers birth certificate and found that her Mother's name was Martha. under Father it just said Illegitimate.
So my Grandmother's heart was broken.
I returned to that place soon after and made arrangements to cut the grass and tend the grave. I left flowers.
I had just one dream after that. This time she just stood in front of
me and smiled waving her hand.
© 2000 All rights reseved - Philip G. Bell
"Fast Cash!"
I was an ordinary man living an ordinary life in an ordinary town. I was not well off, but neither was I poor. Like most ordinary folk I had dreams, dreams of wealth, how nice it would be to win that lottery, to inherit great wealth, to be able to buy what ever I wanted and to have no worries, no bills to worry about and so on, and so forth.
The day it happened I was struggling. I had experienced some heavy unexpected bills and my finances were at an all time low. I approached the cash machine with some trepidation. I knew my over-draft was stretched to its limit and I was uncertain whether I could draw just enough to provide me with enough cash to see me through to when my salary went in to the bank.
I put the card in the machine and entered my code number. I was too nervous to check my account, I just asked for a cash withdrawal. I entered a modest sum and waited.
"Insufficient Funds"
Those hateful words. Too many days at the end of the money. I was angry.
I pressed angrily at the keys in quick succession one after the other in a completely random sequence and uttered a curse.
The machine screen flickered momentarily and then started to flash, blue, black, blue, black. I looked around to see if there was a camera. My card was still in the machine and now I had damaged it.
I stood there desperately wondering what to do. Suddenly the screen returned to normal and 50 crisp notes appeared. The screen said -
"Another Transaction?"
I pressed yes and checked my balance:
The numbers raced across the screen 1,253,764,858
I ended the transaction, retrieved my card and stepped back.
"Oh ####!", I exclaimed
Of course, I realised that they would discover the error the next day, but should I withdraw more? I guess if there wasn't a daily limit, it would have been tempting, but this would be wrong. I was an ordinary guy, with ordinary fears, and getting caught was one of them.
Next day, I went to the bank. I decided to bend the truth slightly by saying that I checked my account but it that it was clearly wrong.
"I'm sorry Sir, but there is nothing wrong, your account is in order", the teller stated.
"Don't be ridiculous!", I said. "I am broke, I don't have any money."
"Well our records show a transfer effected last night into your account and it has been validated.", said the Teller.
"But who?", I asked.
"I'm sorry, sir but this was a secure transaction and such information cannot be supplied.", he stated
"You mean that someone can transfer that amount into my account, no questions asked? That's ridiculous.", I said
"I'm sorry Sir, would you like to discuss this with the Manager?", he asked
Well I met with the manager, and all he did was to behave incredibly nicely. He kept saying what a good customer I was. Huh! What a change in attitude. As to where the money came from, he couldn't help. All he would say is that the transaction had been queried and verified. It was correct and the origin was with-held under a security screen. I was now a Billionaire.
I walked from the bank in a state of shock, a beggar asked me for money and I thrust the fifty I had withdrawn into his hand. He looked back at me as if I was mad, didn't say anything but scurried off to a liquor store.
I went to a cash machine.
Put my card in and entered my code
I had always wanted to withdraw the daily limit. I had always taken just small amounts.
I entered the amount and waited.
"Insufficient Funds"
"Ah well, it's only three days to pay day!"
Copyright 2000 Philip G. Bell
