The Pure Life of Dreams

May 15, 2022October 1, 2025

Love from a Previous Life

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Image by Juri Kivit from Pixabay

May 10, 2022April 11, 2025

Buying a Flat Opposite the Dinosaurs

I am barely awake as Elaine and her boyfriend lie next to me on a bed in an upstairs flat in Hanwell.

They are canoodling even though I have my hand on her bare shoulder. And he is a bit rough looking; droopy alcohol eyes, red pyjamas, not very attractive I think, but I can’t really judge her, it is her choice. I was lying there with Elaine talking things through, when he joined us and she turned to kiss him.

They got off the bed and left the room. And in the other bed was one of the tenants who would be renting the flat that the four of us, Elaine, me, Steven and Andrew were buying.

I had come over there for the first time some days earlier and it was unfurnished then. Elaine had brought me; and she’d introduced me to Steven, who was well dressed and clearly smart, although I was still wary of going halves on a flat with Elaine’s friends. I wasn’t sure how well she knew them.

We’d spent a good deal of time looking around. The other side of the road, there were dinosaurs on a rooftop balcony. And Elaine gave me her cell phone when Andrew called through, so I got to talk him for a short while about where we could meet, the four of us, for dinner. He too, sounded polished and I wondered whether I should dress up for the restaurant; to establish a level playing field so that Elaine and I wouldn’t get jipped…

As Elaine is leaving the bedroom with her boyfriend I look out the window. I see again, the open balcony on the opposite side of the road, with the large number of dinosaurs that dance on their bases. They are black and burnished gold and at first I think they are real, they are so well made. There is a T-Rex and and a Pterodactyl, as well as a crane and other more modern creatures, moving mechanically.

And to one side a father holds his baby up, pretends to fly him in the air.

“Way to give him nightmares and a complex when he’s thirteen or eighteen,” I say.

The T-Rex’s arms move fast in a circular motion as do the arms or legs or wings of the other creatures, and I feel a bit stupid for thinking they were real.

The tenant gets up from her bed to look. She is in her twenties, chunky, and pale, almost white skinned. And she wears a powder blue nightie, short, with thin shoulder straps.

As her feet hit the floor her penis spills out from under her nightie; it is thick, large, a good few inches and folded a little.

She catches me looking and smiles lasciviously at me.

“Let me get a good look at that yanky!” she says, but I try an escape for the door.

She grabs at my underpants and they get stuck half way down my buttocks as I pull away from her. I am shy, I don’t want to reveal myself, I can’t match her, I fear her disappointment, before I relent. Instead I turn around and we fall back on her bed.

As we fall, I find myself on top of her, her cute wide face framed with black, short cropped bangs. I bury my head under her chin, kiss her soft white neck. And she begins to reach between my legs.

“I want you.” I say to her, hesitantly and truthfully, “but we should be alone, the others are still here.”

I wake up, stirred.

Image by rubiopinar from Pixabay, cropped

March 22, 2022July 31, 2025

Quit? Then You Need a Place to Stay and Money

I have quit my job, everything, and am traveling with nothing but the thick dark blue shirt on my back and mustard colored shorts. I am on a boat, I think a fishing boat or cargo boat, with heavy iron doors in the hold which, when slid shut, close with a clang.

The boat is Chinese owned and heavy with the air of grease and dirt from the toil of fisherman and ferry workers. A dim light below deck reflects off dark girders; off the water sloshed across the floor to clean out the discarded catch.

I liked it, liked being back. It was where I was meant to be. Siobhan would never understand. I felt laden with sweat and grease too and it was OK. The rub of sweat clung in black shavings to my collar, to my cloying shirt sleeves and the hem line of my shorts.

When the boat pulled in, I saw we were at Yung Shue Wan and my first point of order was to find a place to stay.

I had not arrived to see Dee. I didn’t want to see her, preferred to avoid her if possible, I just wanted to be back in Hong Kong.

The passenger deck disembarked first, locals disgorged over a shifting iron ramp and on to the pier. And I walked with them, passed newly built single room lodgings lining the pier’s left side. They were constructed with heavy bamboo, frames and doors, painted dark red; they looked rough but good to stay in as a last resort. Plus the rooms did not have much privacy; I could peer in through the bamboo slats, and each had a timer above the doorway that showed the price by the minute.

Further along, there were gathering rooms, also for rent, the same heavy bamboo construction, also dark red. But these included a four person table where you could sit at a window and look out at the pier.

At the far end and now on land, I stepped up to some more familiar restaurants; grey concrete floors, twin tables scattered, two café chairs per table. And right in front of me, at an open café, at their tables pressed together, I saw Oliver sitting with a person I did not recognize.

I cannot believe it, that you are here, I said to Oliver as I looked down at him.

He said the same back.

I knew I looked shabby from the traveling and from the fact that I had nothing on me.

He stood up, and the other man moved over to make room.

Oliver was still Oliver; tall, with short curly hair and a languid style that made him popular with the girls, although now he had a few reddish locks in with the dark.

He buried me in his arms, and I pressed him back in a huge hug. And he even kissed me, almost on the mouth, before he sat back down.

His friend said, You look exhausted.

And I did indeed look weary, tired. I felt the weight of my shirt.

Oliver turned to his friend, don’t worry about him, he has the money.

To make it light I said, I have a few pesetas, yes.

What are pesetas? he replied.

I thought to reply, and so too did Oliver but then we thought better of it.

Photo by Anne Roberts via Flickr

January 6, 2022July 13, 2024

Breaking the Sweet Melancholy of the Past

We met Original Anne outside, by the tables of what was either a museum or a castle gift shop café. Cooper the Navel Gazer introduced myself and Liam to her. Anne was dressed in a neat blue shirt and ankle length skirt. Her hair was almost black and straight, and she wore it down, shoulder length.

We hugged, and she said softly “I missed you very much.” She had the hint of a Scottish accent.

I hugged her again much tighter and brought Liam into our hug. Emboldened I gave her a big kiss on her left cheek.

And as we left the café Liam started talking, describing in detail the places in London that had good bites to eat. It broke my melancholy and I was a little taken aback.

He has fancy tastes for the cafés and restaurants there, I explained to her.

Photo of the Holy Loch by Kloniwotski via Flickr

December 17, 2021October 22, 2022

Chick Corea Tells Me How to Treat a Woman

I sit in a large overstuffed armchair, my leg draped over one arm, my hand draped over the other, and I graze my fingertips against the cool glowing dark skin of her shoulders.

She is young, slender, her hair cropped in short shiny Afro curls. I hesitate to touch her.