Meeting report for Tuesday 2nd September 2014.

Felixstowe Scribblers Meeting report for Tuesday 2^nd September 2014.

In attendance: Caz, Martin, Barry, Mairéad, Suzy G, Richard, Jane, Liliane, Les, Beryl, Tony and Dave.

Apologies were received from Aidan, Dick, Derek, Tom, Carolyn and Cathy.

Thanks: To Suzy for supplying a case to keep our numbered tokens in. 

Late News: Felixstowe Book Festival 2015: Did you see the double page spread by Sophie Hannah in this week’s Sunday Times?

Sophie has been commissioned to write the first Poirot novel since Christie's death.
Meg Reid just had the great pleasure of listening to Sophie's talk at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Some of you will remember that Sophie was on the panel of "Deadlier than the Male" at our 2013 festival and she's coming back to Felixstowe!

Sophie has agreed to appear at our Felixstowe Book Festival 2015
She will be sharing the platform with her mother the very popular novelist Adele Geras
You can hear Sophie and Adele taking about their writing at 2pm on Saturday 27th June 2015 at the Orwell Hotel. A very exciting date for your diary!

Sophie Hannah's Poirot novel ‘The Monogram Murders’ is published on Sept 9th
  

Our New Signatories for bank cheques are now in place.

Tonight’s short stories on ‘A Thin Line’:

Suzy: Lines Upon the Earth: Something very different from Suzy. A work about artist Richard Long. I winter 1964 it had been snowing in Bristol. Up on the Downs above the City Richard made a snowball and rolled it along the ground until it was too heavy to move. He took a photograph of the dark line it had made on the earth. An art student at the West of England College of Art in the 1960s when artists were discovering a freedom from painting and sculpture and creating work that could not be displayed in a gallery. He concentrated on lines, lines made from walking. He made a series of walks on Exmoor, Dartmoor, further afield in Ireland, across a Canadian Prairie, in the dusty red soil of outback Australia and through a bamboo forest in Japan in fact all across the world. There is so much more to Suzy’s research. A book is available on Richard Long in the Library.

Mairéad: On a Freezing Cold and Hot Sunny Day: Having returned from Ireland Ann posted a thank you card to her hosts. Back in Felixstowe she needed some lamp oil despite the sunny weather making her feel as if she was still on holiday. There was a person walking towards her who didn’t seem quite right, seemed to be floating and shouldn’t have been there. Terrified Ann tried to avoid her but as they passed she looked into the figures eyes. They were totally black with no white at all. Ann’s heart felt like a block of ice and she had a great feeling of evil. Afterwards Ann always avoided that road.  

Liliane: Crossing the Line: Another episode from Liliane’s (in)famous family from which a section is covered here. Ruan asked how Carlo got on with his cousin who said he was all right. Ruan agreed that Steven seemed OK. Steven was his uncle whom he vaguely remembered before he emigrated to Australia. Carlo was relieved that Peter was not his father for he was a trifle mad. He tried living like a monk despite being married to Aunt Marina and having a biological son Paul. Peter was just eccentric and harmless. Carlo hadn’t been home much since being sent to boarding school at 15 and the trouble he’d got into after that! He supposed his mother was eccentric too, running a new age shop despite acting normally. She and his father had been rebels in their youth but had since grown to the edge of respectability though his father’s family thought the marriage was not all it should have been as she had not converted to Islam.    

Les: A Lesson for Mavis: Shane gazed at the attractive girl next to him – ‘Oh Mave, you are a bit of a cracker.’ ‘What you mean Shane. A cream cracker?’ ‘No you dozy cow, a cracker.’ ‘What a Christmas cracker?’ ‘No! It means you’re good looking but blimey you are a bit thick!’ ‘I’m not thick Shay, I just don’t know a lot of words that’s all. I know one long word though, antidisestablishmentarianism. Don’t know what it means though. I know another one, infinity. What’s it mean Shay?’ ‘It means ever such a long way,’ ‘Like Southend?’ ‘No much further than that. Further than the stars, Mave!’ ‘That’s further than bleedin’ Australia innit?’ Shane sighed. It was going to be a long winter.

Tony: Record Island: Marcus reached Wornwood Forest where Head forester David Hoff blocked his path. ‘No horses in the forest,’ he declared. Marcus said he needed to find Robin de Hogshead who was in the forest with, perhaps, Hoff’s daughter Daize. Hoff refused entry stating that even if they were together they were not to be disturbed. Marcus declared Emperor Constantine had demanded Robin’s attendance. Hoff  then suggested where he might be found yet the first voices Marcus heard were a pair of Hoff’s men crouching behind a bush who, when challenged, disappeared into the trees not wanting to be accused of voyeurism. The other side of the bush Daize and Robin re-dressed. Robin recognised Marcus and knew he was on the Emperor’s business. Marcus suggested Robin asked Daize to marry him and she said she would. ‘Right then,’ said Marcus. ‘You two follow me...’  

Beryl: The Other Place: An intriguing story from Beryl using two sets of dialogue interwoven. He had been a social worker – a good one he believed. He enjoyed working with people rather than moving up the ladder. Then came the cuts and he went part time but still had the same case loads as before, always going that extra distance to help those in his care. Today’s social worker is different – only there to tick boxes so he became depressed. Eventually his wife left him and she believed that was the last straw. That’s why he did it. Committed suicide. A plastic bag over his head. She would spend the rest of her life feeling guilty. He was talking to Peter feeling really guilty about what he had done. Peter said his wife would find someone else, the grief counsellor after he had died. He apologised to Peter and assumed he would not be allowed through the Pearly Gates thinking of the fine line between heaven and the other place...

Martin: Smudge is Missing: Another superb tale from Martin. The cranes on the quayside stand in a row like wading birds ready to strike... The story is broken by local reporter Richard Cornwall who texted his office. Smudge is missing it said. Louise Minchin and Bill Turnbull headed for the briefing. Look East reporter Kim Riley has no further updates. Police set up a hotline. The Sun and Daily Mail both claim exclusives. David Cameron is briefed. Nigel Farage blames the disappearance on the influx of foreign cats before his record got stuck... Local radio announced several schools would close during the crisis which is picked up by CNN. Rumours suggest that Smudge may have been eaten by Freddie Starr and the police arrest Bobby Davro in error. David Beckham has Smudge’s name tattooed on his back in Arabic except it is wrongly translated as Sludge. Barack Obama declares there is no evidence of Soviet involvement. President Putin orders a military build up along the Russian border. A neighbour returns from holiday in Skegness and discovers Smudge, dehydrated but responding to treatment... and that it only part of the story!

Barry: The Grand Re-opening: A fine line was drawn round the dead body. Inspector Martin was last on scene, bacon sandwich in hand The stage manager, Mr White pointed to Mr Blackwell and commented ‘He’s the dead one over there.’ Sergeant Jane Blower was interviewing the only other male, tall and frail resembling a zombie. He had discovered the body, blocking the gent’s loo. Jane found out Mr Blackwell painted nude models so Inspector Martin suggested she get a full list of all his work and identify all the models in case a jealous husband or boyfriend was the perpetrator. Inspector Martin had other things on his mind, like the White Lion Public House opposite. Inside he sat by himself at the bar and took a giant sip of the drink then noticed the piece of paper that read, ‘I know who murdered Mr Blackwell.’

Richard: Get The Picture: A simple story of moral behaviour. At coffee time Jim and Mack and discussed their prospects, whilst Jim had been passed over several times for promotion and had heard of looming staff cutbacks. In the firms storage room he found a picture that used to hang near the boardroom which he liked. Mick suggested he nick it but Jim couldn’t do that, it would be dishonest. After having to re-apply for his job Jim was demoted. So he took the picture, hid it at home worried he might be caught as a thief.  When Jim met Matilda he felt happier with life, found a new job with a Financial Advisors team, was able to move to a smart address outside town and drive a shiny new BMW. The picture became his ‘loft find’. So if you are tempted to cross that fine line, you’ll probably get away with it.

Dave: A Little of What You Fancy: There’s a fine line that we can’t see, but it’s there, it always is. Sometimes it pushes us over the edge towards temptation or wrong doing. Such was the case of Joseph Whiting. Frail, freckly, be-speckled and scarred with pockmarks of teenage acne, he was a brilliant scholar, but shunned University for a menial supermarket job. He discovered pornographic sites on the Internet that changed his outlook on life. He fantasised over work colleague Zoe who wanted nothing to do with him. Eventually he grabbed as she left off, she struggled free and ran for the pathway. Joseph caught her; they stumbled to the ground as he tried to kiss her. Zoe found a heavy stone near where she lay, and used it as a weapon...

Caz: A Fine Line: A fine line can be drawn between so many examples – between love and hate, need and greed, hope and hopelessness. From soul and soulless, sane and insane, hot and cold. Happy and sad, pleasure and pain, from a smile to a tear. A lamb to the slaughter. A mate to hate. Wrong to right. Between rich and mean, quiet and rowdy, charming and alarming. Remember, when times are good they can change in a heartbeat.

Jane: Abandoned: I see the way you look at me as you wait for the lights to change. Fancy car, smart suit. Taking a short cut through the rough end of town. Your lot doesn’t give a damn. We’ve been abandoned. Last Xmas we were doing ok, me Joe and the kids, Tyler and Connor and my little princess Carly. She’s staying with Joe’s parents and asks why we can’t live together. She’s 5 years old. It breaks my heart. We felt secure. Joe’s a skilled kitchen fitter and a few years back bought into a business. The banks said the risks were minimal. Two years on the orders dried up, the business went bust and the creditors circled like vultures. Joe’s travelling the country trying to find work that never pays much. Sure we get benefits, barely enough to live on, the children’s clothes are hand-me-downs. When Joe’s home we row. I’ve been cooped up with the boys and we want Carly back. We just crossed a line we didn’t even see, so thin it’s made of gossamer, and now we’ve been abandoned.

Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday 16th September at 7.30pm in The Room at the Top, Felixstowe Library commencing at 19.30 hours. This will be the prestigious Bill Budner Trophy anonymous competition for attending members – Details and rules can be found here.

Look forward to seeing you all and fired up at the competition, so remember, until then...

Keep Scribbling!