Misconstrued!

By Margaret Christopher

Alone in her house at night, a woman sees her back door latch start to move. Who or what is out there? Another has found evidence of a tragedy. What really happened? A chance visit while on holiday in France sets in motion a chain of events which will affect three generations of one family.
In every one of the first eight short stories reality is not what it appears to be on the surface. In some cases it has taken only a single moment for the truth to be distorted or destroyed.
In each case, what has been ‘Misconstrued?’

• Language: English
• Publisher: Margaret Christopher
• Release date: Sep 6, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301715718

Margaret Christopher

Margaret Christopher lives in the Charente Department of France with Nina, her dog and five cats. Her major interests are gardening, observing the local scene and of course writing, the latter conveniently taking up much of the time which she should be devoting to housework!

Book preview

MISCONSTRUED!

by

Margaret Christopher

This book contains a collection of short stories where misconstrued or lacking evidence leads to misunderstandings. The first five are of coffee break length while the final three are considerably longer. The ninth is somewhat different in that is a factual account of an event which took place in the 1960’s. In this case the authentic evidence was in place - nearly - 32,000 square miles of it!

About the author

.

Margaret Christopher lives in the Charente Department of France with Nina, her dog and five cats. Her major interests are gardening, observing the local scene and of course writing, the latter conveniently taking up much of the time which she should be devoting to housework!

This is her second book. The first, ‘Fresh Fields’, is also available as an E-Book.

Misconstrued!

by

Margaret Christopher

Copyright © 2012 by Margaret Christopher

Cover design by Anthony Frazer

Prepared for publication by Just Do It Publications

Smashwords Edition

The right of Margaret Christopher to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication can be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the prior permission in writing from Margaret Christopher

Unless stated otherwise, these stories are works of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This e-book is licensed for your enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Mistaken Identity!

Just Deserts

Perfect Recall

Enlightenment

The Interview

Helping Hands

Quick sands

Beyond Belief!

Unforgettable Austria?

MISTAKEN IDENTITY!

I knew that if one more person mentioned hindsight – I would scream! Virtually every other science teacher in my department had come out with their own variation of a comment starting,

But, Margaret, surely with hindsight you’d have.............

I gave up pointing out that hindsight is exactly that, by definition the one thing that you don’t have to help you in decision making at the moment in question.

My, to them, unforgivable lapse had occurred on the previous Saturday. O.K. – I had been tired – perhaps a partial excuse but what I had learnt that evening was that when fear stalks in through your door – logic departs via the window!

I should emphasize that I have never believed in weird happenings, in horoscopes, in ghosts or that 13 is an unlucky number – nor do I avoid walking under ladders unless, above me, is man holding a huge pot of paint. In fact I had felt devoid of all that paraphernalia of superstition which dogged so many of