'Sticks and stones can break my bones but names can never hurt me' she repeated over and over to herself, though she knew very well it wasn't true. Taunting, mocking voices filling the classroom. One of

! Traffic was a standstill in Dublin yesterday as hundreds of farmers blocked the city streets with tractors in protest at, among other things, the price they’re getting for their beef. Judging from the

Determined to qualify by finishing in the first ten, and with no other runners in sight, Billy reversed the direction of the arrow indicating the run route. Little did he know the competitor in front of

An Easter Egg. Not any Easter Egg. The egg! It called to them from the window of the shop they passed on the way to nursery. Hello! It was the most exquisite thing they had ever seen, a magical golden

"But you'll feel differently when it's born" she wailed, filling the void left by his inability to articulate a single word in response to the news of her pregnancy. But his face said what his

Brendan cycles home whistling happily, his thoughts on his wedding next day, when he notices the altercation. He hesitates, slows. He almost stops but doesn’t. Thoughts ricochet through his head …it’s

We have a county in Ireland called Kerry where they speak such heavily accented English as to be almost unintelligible to the rest of us. I once went on a Brazilian odyssey with a group of 10 Kerry men

It was her 21st birthday, and there was a big party at the house for all her friends and family. What better day to ask her to marry him thought Sean. After all, they’d been dating for two years. Since

The clanking and stomping didn't stop all night. Up the stairs, down the stairs - all she wanted was sleep. She knew when she took the job as Ralph’s live-in companion that he was an eccentric old geezer

Mural at Smithfield Dublin You can’t walk around Dublin city and fail to notice the ever-increasing number of people living in tents. memorial to a rough-sleeper who died of hypothermia in this doorway

This is my entry to @freewritehouse's and @zeldacroft's WeWrite challenge I donned my Mills & Boon hat for this one, so I hope it's not too corny. The images are my own. THE PROMPT At the Club by

She sits slumped in her chair by the fireside, a stream of incoherent mumblings issuing from her, as we kids concentrate our attention on the TV, increasing the volume incrementally as we try to drown

It was when finally the food ran out, and the desperate castaways agreed that one should be sacrificed to save the others, that meaty Martha wished she'd gone on the lose 10 stone in 10 weeks diet her

Silence fell as the Great Poodini took the stage for his famous vanishing act. And with a wave of the magician's hands and a muttered incantation, the audience disappeared, save for one fortunate soul

Hanna stood in the impossible night of the forest, her eyes fixed on that one spark of light which flared up like a beacon and just as quickly disappeared. Left, right or straight-ahead she though. There

In the spirit of paying forward some of the bounty showered upon me by a certain Mr. Wombat, I’m sending 35 SBI shares each to these hardworking Steemians @preparedwombat @whatisnew @freewritehouse

By the time I'd finished school, I knew I'd never make it as an employee and I'd be an awful boss. I was what they called wilful which luckily in those days didn’t result in a prescription for Adderall

I remember times in our house when we'd have no electricity. Sometimes this was due to strikes, quite common here in the 70s and other times as a result of my parents breaking open the meter and stealing

If there’s one thing that makes me crazy, it’s post turtles swanning around expecting the red carpet treatment wherever they go. They can’t simply go from A to B, oh no, they have to travel in a cavalcade

And it was in the year 2045, with humanity long in thrall to the machine which monitored and controlled every aspect of existence, that a diligent cleaner named Maud quite by accident stumbled upon the