I am very angry with you. Because you are more intelligent than I am.
So I said, it’s taken you 45 years to work that out?
So he said, well I just needed your salary, you see.
So I said, it’s mutual.
He said he was angry because he was dying or was it he was dying because he was angry?
Of course I didn’t know that he only had one week to live. He didn’t know either.
See nobody knows exactly when they’re going to die and that in itself could make you very angry
And then when you realise it’s too late to do anything except die.
He said, you are very beautiful and I said, I’m glad there’s something about me that you like the thing is I’m still very intelligent but I’m no longer beautiful except to someone who loves me
The most important thing is that intelligence is not the most important thing in life. But looking at certain people in the public eye we realize a modicun of intelligence is essential
We never really know another person no matter how long we live with them with at least we can be kind to one another. For some of the time anyway.
Stan managed to drive from the Wash to Knittingham without accident.Satan was asleep in the bottom of the mirror only wakening when they stopped for a cup of tea in a Restaurant.
But how can Satan drink his tea?
Stan persuaded Satan that if he wore Stan’s hat and coat nobody would know he was not human.After all, many real humans don’t look human.So Satan went into the Little Chef for his first experience of human life.They all sat down and ordered tea and pancakes with jam and golden syrup.
Woww,said Satan.I might consider apologising to the Lord if I can eat this every day
Emile looked puzzled:
An apology is not genuine if it is done for gain, he mewed.
Gosh,where did you get such a clever cat, Satan asked Stan?
He just turned up looking wet and hungry a few years ago.Then I taught him at home how to speak properly and the basics of ethics but he seemed to know more than I could explain
Both the men stared at Emile as he lapped up the tea from a white china saucer.I wonder who he really is, they both murmured in a hushed tone.
I have taught him to swim in our bath and sometimes he comes for a ride in my bike basket.Once he fell out yet managed to lure a beautiful lady to bring him home as he is tired of my mistress Annie and fancied someone who didn’t wear crimson and magenta together nor such extraordinary makeup from Lemmings of Wigan and Warrington.
I’ve never heard of them said Satan wonderingly.I didn’t know women actually bought “makeup.”I thought when girls matured their faces went like that naturally/
That’s a bit stupid, said Stan bluntly.But never mind.Let’s carry on or Mary will worry
Satan decided he would sit with Emile and stay out of the mirror.He was beginning to look like a human being albeit a rather ugly one
And so say all of us
Satan had been, for an hour or two ,inside a solid gold powder compact which a delightful old lady called Dora had been given by her husband Alf.Alas when Dora saw Satan in her mirror she was not amused.
Luckily for Satan the mirror broke and he was able to escape into the North Sea. Since Stan and Emile were going home he decided to swim to the Wash and see if he could catch up with them.,(He is well up in geography unlike the author) Being in the sea was very different from being in the Fires of Hell.Both have their downsides.Still we all have to conpromise now and then.
But why did God let Satan get out of the mirror? Alf and Dora stuffed with hot tea and buttery muffins were paddling back to the car park in Cromer where their silver car was waiting Why is there so much water on the road,Dora asked her amiable husband. It’s not been raining, has it? Well. I saw some canoes sailing down the promenade.What has happened? Cromer is a very strange place at the extreme east end of the Norfolk coast.One moment you are facing North, the next East.This is where houses fall into the sea.Officially it is subsidence but the truth is, it’s the place where demons come onto the Earth and cause devastation with their fiery clothes and weapons. And here they come, looking for Satan, their master whom God has taken away from his hot home with no running cold water. As Dora got out of the car, she saw her shoes were full of water.Why even the car was flooded despite being in a high level car park Don’t buy anything from a stranger on the beach again, she begged Alf. We don’t know what we are unleashing.I wish we had gone on the cliffs to Weybourne rather than that old pier Well,I had no idea such a delightful old man might be in league with the Devil.Though when we see what is happening in the world it seems evil is much more sophisticated than it was when Fire and Brimstone were the punishment for murdering your wife with wilful intent.
Maybe Satan was not so evil, just too proud to apologise. The Mayor of Cromer was on the pier looking at the cracks in the concrete, Has a bomb gone off, she cried? Well, not exactly…… there’s a funny story about that Satan has been calling on us and someone tried to drown him, Who could drown Satan? He is not human.He has no lungs. My goodness, how intelligent the people of Cromer seem to be.Maybe we should get them to run the whole country! Stan and Emile were standing by the Ouse Crossing watching the swans and sea birds when suddenly Satan emerged from the swollen water How did you get here,Stan enquired tactlessly? I thought we had seen the last of you. Satan looked very upset. Help me, let me get into the mirror.My servants are looking for me but I don’t want to go with them.I am fed up with Hell and sin and evil Emile had a bright idea, Look there are mirrors on the car. Stan was not eager to let Satan hide there but the wicked creature leapt in and cried with relief after taking a nice white hanky out of his hat I never thought Satan would weep,Stan murmured unkindly. God has almost gone and the order of the Western world is collapsing.Everything is upside down. Emile ran into the car and nuzzled against Stan’s old tweed jacket. I’m frightened,dad, he muttered sheepishly. So am I said Stan as he looked into the mirror before backing out and hitting an invisible stone wall which had not been there moments ago. Now,Satan, step to one side or we will never get home to Knittingham if the mirror is not freed Satan obeyed,He has fallen in love with Stan and Emile.He wants to live in this quiet city forever.But what will Mary say if Stan tells her Satan is on her dressing table in the mirror? Will Stan be sent to see a psychiatrist? Will he be diagnosed with paranoid dementia and double pneumonia of the mind? Or will he manage to get Mary to see things his way? Will she see Satan when Stan is out? We will wait and see
When he went away He said,”Lehitraot,mama.” Do vstrechi. He died, but I’m still here Yes,in my heart I feel his love. But why did I live, And he did not? Auf wiedersehen Lehitraot. Yes,darling,I’ll see you later ,When the sky turns black and all the stars blaze bright I’ll see you shining in the night. I’ll see you in my dreams alas. Do vstrechi. But why you and not me too? Araka I can’t understand .Lehitraot,beloved. A plus tard Some where in this world,you fell But no-one,not even God, can tell. God was absent then or in some other place He’s gone again .They said He’s died too ,But He didn’t have a mother like you. Do vstrechi. My breasts ache and my heart and soul, My breasts were made to make you whole. To feed, give love and to console. A plus tard And now they ache with grief as my tears fall .A bientot My body trembles in the night As dreams may bring my lost ones to my sight. A plus I’d walk across the roughest bleak terrain If l I could find my loves and hold your hands again. Do vstrechi .The bell rings on the ancient clock As time goes on as normal, never stops. Araka I wish the hands of time could be reversed, And I was not living with this curse. People forget that I once had a son. They think my grieving has been done. Araka.But grief and loss and pain will never end Until the curtain of my death descends Auf wiedersehen. Meantime I look at flowers and birds and trees ,But it’s really you my deepening insight sees. Lehitraot. The inscape of my heart is shown to few. An artist of the lost would know this view. I know I want to see just you. Do vstrechi. But for me there is no Auf wiedersehen Never again will you say What you said that day Lehitraot,Mama.Papa A plus tard Tot ziens. See you later See you ,darling See you soon
How softly sweetly,gently flowers pose Carnation,orchid ,daffodil and rose. For their intricate petals form a shield Yet bees with striped force shall make them yield. Appearances,both natural and contrived, Mixed with the wiles of human nature thrive. As knowing not, we pluck the apple rare And bite its flesh,with teeth we have to bare. We too deceive the innocent who pass Not seeing watchers hid behind the glass. The windows break,the deep earth quakes; Seized is the maiden ,he her virtue takes. Beneath the surface,force and fierceness thrive. What fearsome, burning God enjoys our lives
How my heart sings 