Summer Splash Supplement 2010
Five Years in a Nameless Life: A Snippet
1. Flying low on a concrete ground the last wine-sodden
kiss you gave away was a year ago, in back-seat passion. The taxi driver
laughed at you. He was cynical and weather-ridden, callous laughs at odds
with smooth driving gloves which clutched the wheel. And you turned away.
Hues of grey tumble down and you don't know what you've done…
2. Boom went the market
But your bunted stall fell still– deathly– pale in moonlit granges where
graves rang free and bells sang to deaf ears.
3. You took this as a sign to move into property. You appropriated the appropriate estates (30 in 3 years, £30,000,000) and made the sign of the cross that your luck would hold in twelve months' time.
4. Time… took you by its watery hand and led you to a gnarled foot. Feats were performed like a court jesters magic. Bells and feathers peeled from the sky, cavorted with a cry.
5. You sit in mansion walls, marble lights, haloed screens and depthless vaults. The golden disc keeps watching, fire drenched and flowing. Glowing with permanent value and sky-rocketing shares.
It gleams and you snake into your garden to rake a dip in the pool.
Jade French is an English Literature student about to embark on the task of living in London as cheaply as possible. She likes planning adventures and waiting for the kettle to boil.