Help!

By Top Writers Block

Help - yourself or others?
These eight short stories all tell their own tale of help. Grab a coffee and take the time to enjoy variations on the theme 'Help!'
The authors' proceeds go to Sea Shepherd, France, automatically. Sea Shepherd (international) devotes it time to saving our oceans and seas and the life within.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Top Writers Block
• Release date: Apr 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311532558

Top Writers Block

Top Writers Block is a diverse and eclectic group of talented writers who decided to write stories together - just for the fun of it! We are happy to announce that authors proceeds have always gone, and will continue to go, to Sea Shepherd.fr every time Smashwords has made a payment! Thank you to those who have supported the group, independent authors, and Sea Shepherd. Our collections are usually written with one theme or genre in mind. Each author contributes when they have the time, so some of the collections have as many as twelve authors participating. Every collection has something new, with stories and poems ranging from romance, drama, and adventure to mystery, fantasy, and horror. All the Top Writers Block's proceeds will go to Sea Shepherd, so by buying you are helping to keep our oceans alive! Thank You all so much!

Book preview

A Collection of Short Stories

by

Top Writers Block

Written on the theme:

Help!

Copyright©April 2015 Top Writers Block

Published on Smashwords

ISBN: 9781311532558

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

http://suzystewartdubotbooks.weebly.com

Smashwords License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook 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’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of these authors.

Cover Design Credit: Suzy Stewart Dubot

Table of Contents

The Winchmore Hill Laundromat Lady by Suzy Stewart Dubot

I Am Woman by Tracey Howard

Help Wanted by Barnaby Wilde

The Aviary Tragedy by Don Bick

From Depression to Isolation by Bill Rayburn

Rusty Lantern by Tracey Howard

Answering the Call by Elizabeth Rowan Keith

Dining Room War by Melissa A. Szydlek

The Winchmore Hill Laundromat Lady

(or, a little help goes a long way)

by

Suzy Stewart Dubot

Copyright © Suzy Stewart Dubot 2013

An Anglo/American who has been living in France for over 30 years, she began writing as soon as she retired. She recently spent seventeen months in London, UK caring for an aged relative. She is now back in France. Writing follows her as easily as her laptop. With her daughters, she is a vegetarian and a supporter of animal rights. She is also an admirer of William Wilberforce.

Winchmore Hill Green sported a laundromat. All glass fronted, the scruffy 'Quick – Clean' left nothing to the imagination. Every machine, every nook and cranny were visible from the street and, much to its neighbours' dismay, from as far away as the other side of the green. It was incongruous set amongst the upper-market boutiques, but it had been there before any of them - more than forty years. It would probably still be there after they had all gone.

Unlike the elegant shops gracing the green, the laundromat was ready for business by 7am each morning. This allowed some of the locals to kick off their day with washing. The more affluent or lazier ones only dropped it in early for Trisha to do for them, and this for a reasonable price.

Every morning for thirteen years, after picking up her newspaper at the corner shop called Hunter's, Trisha crossed the green at an angle, ready to open the laundromat at a quarter to seven. For the last couple of days, she had spotted a man on one of the benches on the green, which interposed between her shop and the posh shops.

'A strange time to be out sitting in this half-light,' had been Trisha's fleeting thought each time.

This morning, however, had made more of an impact on her as she passed near him, because a light dusting of snow covered the green as far as the eye could see. Now, stirring within the confines of the laundromat, she could make out his dark silhouette against the snow, pronounced in its sombre way. Suddenly, Trisha was not comfortable. Even though the familiar laundromat was always warm and smelt of clean linen, a reassuring ambience in itself, Trisha felt awkward as the fluorescent light hummed and came on. It reflected white light off the shiny, aluminium machines, adding extra light, which usually brightened her spirits this early in the day.

But, not this morning.

She had turned her back on the man as she had begun her routine of opening the service cupboard, hanging up her coat and flicking the switch on the coffee maker. A broom in hand, she had begun to sweep up the odd bit of paper, soap powder and lint on the grey, linoleum-covered floor, but it was not enough to keep her eyes from drifting back to that dark shape.

Fuck! she said under her breath. Bloody hell! she added for good measure. I know I'm gonna regret this... she said as she parked the broom and put her coat back on. The laundromat might be officially open now that it was 7am, but any matinal customer would have to wait. She crossed the empty road to the green and approached the man.

"Whatcha doing sitting out 'ere in