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Batter my brain, lead foot'd loon; for you *
As yet but screech past, fast, into the bend
So I must brake and stoppe in order to defend
My car from blowes and dints whilst new.
I, like some ravished maid, tis true
lust labour to catch up, but to no end,
Until the traffic slowes you down, my friend
And I drawe up right next to you
Wind downe my window to abuse.
But the lights turn greene, you streake away
Nor ever curst, to sinne another day.
* Holy Sonnet: Batter my heart, three person'd God .....

As a child she used to spend her pocket money on bullseyes, humbugs and licorice at a quaint old lolly shop down the lane. High on the top shelf stood a jar marked Shangri-la*. The shopkeeper kept this for grown-ups only. Frail old pensioners would sample lollies from this jar and walk out quite jauntily, she noticed.

War came. She was evacuated. Years later she returned to look for her lolly shop. It was gone. Today, sitting in her wheelchair, recalling her youthful vigour, she thinks wistfully :- "I wish I could find that lolly shop again to try some Shangri-la".

 


* n. an idyllic earthly paradise; an inaccessible land in the Himalayas in Lost Horizon, l933, a novel by James Hilton. The inhabitants never aged!

An exercise in writing a short story using only 100 words.

Clarence City Council
We'd like to thank Clarence City Council for their support via a Community Support Grant.