This could have been another 101 story. But I want to post it here, and also I wanted more words than 101 –  falls about – nine dots of doom (no less!), and they tip the whole shebang over the 101 cliff edge, weighing it in at a hefty 116. It’s still very short and I did have a 101 version, but it just wasn’t as good as this one ultimately, (to mine eyes), however, tis but a mere trifle (no dairy).)

Good Time Merchant

Shattered, finally home, I enter the bedroom; she raises her head; long copper curls falling over bare shoulders.

Mesmerising.

“Miss me doll?”

“Joe, you’re all I live for, where have you been? You never say.”

We fall into a tight embrace; I whisper a thousand counterfeit promises into her perfect ear;

She sighs. “One day I’ll be a rea . . . ”

Silence.

She’s gone again.

I put one hand over her mouth, slip the other up the back of her dress, and slide the key into her oiled lock, turning, clicking steadily . . .

“ . . . I-I-I, Oh Joe, really you wind me up, but know just what makes me tick!”