Charles Meistersinger heard the shot, a soft report which seemed to come from behind his left shoulder. The sound could have been a branch cracking into the high window on the back wall. It was a dark, blustery night. But immediately it became obvious to everyone that the sharp, low, thwack had been caused by a bullet. Pantile stopped speaking, slightly raised his head with a look of startled astonishment, then crumpled to the stage.

There wasn’t much sunlight filtering in but the place still felt like the inside of a cathedral—not only the soaring ceilings and brilliant colours like stained glass, but also the hushed atmosphere of a place which had been sacred for centuries. King Billy Pines could live for two thousand years. When they fell they remained, moss-covered, like rows of green-cushioned pews.

The tour group, art lovers all, trotted behind our Russian guide, whom I’ll call ‘Sergei.’ We were following him through gallery after enormous gallery in the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, heads swiveling…

There’s a lot of talk about how terrible the weather will be this summer, hot and windy, they say.

I have an embarrassing little secret. Let me tell you about it. The scene: an office at the university, me perched on the edge of a visitor’s chair…

In the dim light of the apartment block stairwell, Olivia couldn’t make out just where she was….

You knock again and call again: Mum. It takes a few minutes for her to shake herself awake…

Dear Aha Moment, Dear Duh!…

“My thoughts were perfectly lucid, neatly parsed and clearly enunciated—inwardly at any rate….

"Leave the house, going left, left for my daily walk, all that we’re allowed now…

“Plenty of people told me I was lucky after I sold my sculpture, the one I made from the innards of a piano…

I was supposed to be at Corinna by now; they were expecting me at the pub, but the journey had…

“In the middle of all this Coronavirus crap, I had to write my father’s eulogy…

“Earliest memories. Mouthfuls of warm mashed potato. Sensations of heat and comfort…

“It was a fresh day in May, and there was the aroma of morning coffee…

At the hairdresser, they were having some kind of celebration. The salon was decorated with pink balloons…

Puddles reflected car lights like winking windows. Adriana scurried through the rain…

Tonight Denny had parked on the fourth level, red/green, and to get to the exit he’d had to…

“Juniper’s old eyelids flickered open on one more day. Every day she had the same three thoughts when she awoke: first, incredulity that she had woken at all; second, that she was really amazingly voraciously hungry and when would breakfast arrive? And third, a longing for Koko.”

A man met another man going towards the faculty office. It was last Wednesday evening…