STORY SHOWCASE #6

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SHELLY AND THE FISHMAN

by Mark Cowling

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A little taster…

While sipping a Cinnamon Roll Frappuccino and considering whether to transition an elongated mid-morning break into an early lunch, Shelly spotted a dark shadow shift at the far side of her kidney bean pool. God damn raccoons, thought Shelly. It was bad enough that they trawled through her trash and crapped on her sunbed, now the raggedy little bastards were taking a dip in the pool.

Shelly armed herself with a broom and slid open the patio door. She beat the broom against the floor a couple times. “Hey!” she yelled, but decided against any further outburst in case the actress she was trying to befriend next door heard and thought she was loco. The girl only had a part as a bespectacled coroner’s assistant in some basic cable CSI rip-off, but her career could blow up at any minute in this city.

The paving stones were good and toasty underfoot and Shelly made a mental note to take that early lunch outside, perhaps followed by a quick power-nap. Once, that is, the yard had been de-raccooned.

Shelly shrieked and let the broom clatter to the floor.

There was a large shape zipping around the bottom of the pool. The size of an adult man but moving far too swiftly to be human.

About the author

Mark Cowling is a writer from Essex, UK. His work has been featured in BBC Radio sketch shows and many places online, such as Daily Science Fiction. His short fiction was included in the anthology Campfire Macabre, and was a winner of the 2020 Yahoo! Stor14s competition.

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