Cold Water

By Top Writers Block

Stories and poems of mystery, suspense, horror, comedy, drama, and more can be found in the newest Top Writers Block collection based on the theme "Cold Water." Immerse yourself in the depths and enjoy these wonderful short stories with the works of Barnaby Wilde, Tracey Howard, Cleve Sylcox, Melissa A. Szydlek, Elizabeth Rowan Keith, and Suzy Stewart Dubot.

Your purchase of this ebook not only supports the creative outlets of independent authors, but also supports charity. Top Writers Block is an international group of writers who continue to donate ALL of their proceeds to Sea Shepherd in France, an organization that devotes itself to preserving our seas and oceans and the life within. The authors' donate their proceeds to charity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Top Writers Block
• Release date: Feb 7, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311748119

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:

Cold Water

Copyright ©January 2016 by each individual author as noted

Published on Smashwords

ISBN: 9781311748119

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.

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.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Liquid Assets by Barnaby Wilde - https://goo.gl/Oqmz2F

A Talk With Granny by Tracey Howard - https://goo.gl/rI3eDX

Ellsinore Springs by Cleve Sylcox - https://goo.gl/zXDfdj

Cold Water by Melissa A. Szydlek - https://goo.gl/QeZqk9

Leaving Troubles Behind by Elizabeth Rowan Keith - https://goo.gl/X6lve4

Black Water, Bright Sun by Tracey Howard - https://goo.gl/rI3eDX

The Guilty Party by Suzy Stewart Dubot - https://goo.gl/snAUfw

LIQUID ASSETS

by

Barnaby Wilde

Copyright ©January 2016 Barnaby Wilde

An English writer of quirky verse, short stories, detective fiction and novels with a sense of the ridiculous, now retired from a career in manufacturing and living in the South West of England.

'Tis a funny thing, water. Not in a 'umorous way, I means. I means in a coorious way 'tis funny, if you gets my drift.

Did you know, f'rinstance, that water was at its most dense at four degrees Centrigrade? No? No, not a lot of folk does know that, but 'tis called th'irreg'lar and 'nomolous expansion of water. If 'tweren't for that irreg'lar and 'nomolous expansion then us 'ouldn't be 'ere at all, you see. 'Tis because of that 'nomolous expansion and the four degree Centrigrade thing that water freezes from the top down, you see, 'cos all the densest water, the four-degree stuff, sinks to the bottom. Otherwise, all the seas 'ould freeze from the bottom up and never unfreeze and us 'ould all be gonners. Well, like I said, prob'ly us 'ould never have been 'ere at all, to be fair.

Most on us is made up of water, too. About sixy five percent, apparently, 'tis about the same percent as the area of th'earth covered by water as it happens.

Anyhow, what was I saying afore I got distracted? Oh, yeh, I remember. I was saying as how water is a coorious thing. 'Tis never where you want it to be. Some places is too dry and some places is too wet. That's all to do with th'inclination of the earth and the rotation and somethin' called precession, which is a sort of a wobble that th'earth does on its axis. There's prob'ly other stuff as well, like random variation and jet streams an' things like that. An' then there's global warming, of course, which is pretty much to blame for everythin' these days, or so it seems. Not like when I was a boy, to be sure. Back then winters was winters and summers was summers. Now 'tis mainly just rain whenever.

Anyhow, you prob'ly remember that a couple of winters ago we had rain for weeks on end and all the soil got washed off Davey's field. 'Twere then that 'e discovered the ruins, only 'e called 'em runes, an' it turned out in th'end that 'e were nearly right 'cos th'archeologists that dug 'oles all over 'is field found a bit of broken pottery with actual runes on it. 'Tis in a museum now, somewhere, though Davey still 'as a notice up for visitors to come and see his runes, even tho' th'actual runes aren't there any more, 'cos they're in the museum, like I said. But to be honest, the numbers have tailed off somewhat lately, anyhow.

So, it shouldn't 'ave come as too much of a surprise to any on us that Davey 'ould need to come up with some other scheme to make 'is fortune, an' it turned out to be water this time. Only 'e thought 'twere liquid gold.

You see, water 'as a mind on its own. It don't necessarily go where you wants it to go, or stay put where you puts it. Sometimes a stream, or a river, that's been flowin' away for 'undreds o' years quite 'appily, mindin' its own business, except for when it might get a bit full on itself and come up over the banks, of course, suddenly dries up, or decides to go a different way. An' sometimes water'll pop up out o' the ground, where's there's never been water afore and make a completely new stream.

An' that's what 'appened in Davey's field. The one as used to 'ave the Holey Oak in it, until if fell down a few years back. There's still a bit on it left, mind you, the Holey Oak that is, and Davey still charges folks to look at it, but truth to tell you'd 'ave to 'ave a pretty fair imagination now to see th'image of Jesus in it. 'Tis lookin' more like a goat now, apparently. Not that I've see'd it since e' cut the old tree in 'alf, way back.

Well, just recently, that field 'as become very boggy. Never used to be that way, of course. I remember when us was kids, us 'ould play there, 'round th'old oak tree – that were afore it become the Holey Oak, like – an' the ground 'ould be dry the whole year round. We'd climb the tree and chase each other and gen'rally be like boys will be, 'til Davey chased us off, of course, but it were never boggy. That's a recent phe-nom-en-on. I s'pose ole Davey must 'ave been young Davey then, even though 'e always seemed old to us boys. Funny thing, that. You never think about everyone else getting older at the same time as yourself.

Anyhow, most folks might be a bit upset if their field suddenly turned into a swamp, but Davey don't think like most folks, 'cos Davey is always looking for the next big thing, an' 'e reckoned that 'is next big thing was gonna be what was bubblin' up from the ground in 'is field.

Well, the first any on us knew about the next big thing was when Davey painted on the bottom of the Holey Oak sign 'Bottled Water from the Holey Oak Sauce, five pound a bottle'. Now, afore you go thinking that ole Davey don't know how to spell 'source', you should know that 'e 'as a theory that folk takes more notice of a sign that's spelled wrong than they does if 'tis spelled right. 'Taint no accident that he spelled the Holey Oak the way 'e did.

Anyhow, underneath the sign 'e put up a table with a few bottles on it and 'e sat there all day waiting for someone to buy 'is expensive water, an', believe it or not, 'e did actually sell a few bottles to folks driving past 'is sign.

Some folk must 'ave more money than sense, is what Betty from the village pub said. "They could