The short fiction of j hardy carroll
Anarawd steps from the beached coracle, his steward Heilyn following behind him carrying their swords and lances. “What is this place, I wonder?” Anarwd says. “The sea-fog was so thick it might be anywhere.” “Is that not Castell Cricieth, Lord? Do not you recognize the tower?” Anarawd wipes his face to clear his eyes. It is the tower of…
Batsa stands in the foyer watching his father pack. He can see himself in the gold-framed looking-glass on the wall beyond, the crisp school uniform and shined shoes looking out of place on his sturdy frame. As always he admires his father’s precise movements as he stows the complex array of mountaineering equipment into the…
The Provincial Chief Inspector got out of the jeep. Zhou thought the military boots and trousers an odd outfit for a Provincial Chief Inspector, but the ways of these higher officials were nothing if not mysterious. Another man got out as well, a man not quite Chinese and not quite European, what Zhou’s mother would…
Dale’s primary rule: plan your dive and dive your plan. For years he’d done exactly that, and not just in diving. The long years made of seemingly identical days of hurried breakfast and work and weekends. The kids moved from grade school to middle school to college and finally off into their own lives. Through it…
Gulder waded through the muck and swatted at the spit of flies hovering around his face. New Netherland. Such a grandiose name for this shabby place, but that was Stuyvesant all over. Pompous and self-important, quick to take insult, and––above all––immensely ambitious, Stuyvesant’s first action upon landing was to read the proclamation declaring himself Director-General…
Paavo hurried, knowing his uncle Hillar was a stickler for punctuality. Uncle Hillar stood beneath the flag, the thermos tucked beneath his arm as always. And as always, he tapped his watch with his finger. “Oh, come on,” said Paavo. “I bet it’s not even two minutes.” Hillar shook his head. “On time is on time, and anything after…
Saturdays we got up even earlier so as to get the chores done before setting out. If Carl’d stayed sober Friday night, then the delivery would be ready. That hadn’t been the case for months. It was just getting light when I got to the still. Jody was already there, wrapping the mason jars in…
Every weekday I take the 8:08 Churchgate slow train from platform number two in Borivali. At 8:40 I get off the train at Mahalaxmi. At 8:45, bus number 154 arrives and I arrive at my office between 8:56 and 9:04. There have been four occasions in the past twenty years when I was late because…
Longwood House, the only residence on the island large enough to accommodate the Imperial Retinue, has proved unsuitable. Rats scuttle along the hallways with impunity, the acrid tang of their urine and copious droppings in every room. Ever the soldier, he seems oblivious to such discomforts, instead nursing a private resentment because Governor Lowe refuses…
You men, he said, meaning us. Bleedin’ pongo inspecting us like a proper sergeant-major, looking at the shine on our buttons and the laces on our boots. Ain’t been here a week yet and I’d wager this soutpeel paw-paw is sending cables back to England about how he’s solved all the colony’s problems, calling us…