Something Unusual: Michael’S Collection of Short Stories

By Michael Montero

This is it, years had passed when I started writing these stories. Never had I imagined these could still be produced into a book. It has been forgotten for years and was kept inside a folder in my office. With your support, I am now able to fulfill everything which I thought I could no longer do, Thank you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Jun 28, 2018
• ISBN: 9781546293941

Michael Montero

Michael Montero was born in Madrid, Spain on the 4th of June. A true Gemini thrives in the inspiration given as a precious gift by the Gemini Sign. Writing comes effortlessly. By nature Michael lives in a planet without boundaries. His first book MANOLO A CHILD IN THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR is now republished with the title WAR NIGHTMARES which can be bought all over the world. There are some two hundred short stories and performance pieces yet to be published. Michael studied at the Cervantes Institute in Madrid before entering University. Came to live in England on an autumnal October day and made London his home. Authors other books: Maddison War Nightmares Pesadillas De La Guerra

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© 2018 Michael Montero. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 06/14/2018

ISBN: 978-1-5462-9395-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-9394-1 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Dedication

2. Adele And The Dervish

3. An Ideal Husband

4. Arrival

5. Ashes To Ashes

6. Aspects Of War, The Spanish Civil War

7. Cuddly, Amazing Tiger

8. Everything Is Wrong

9. Happy Christmas

10. The Journey I

11. The Journey II

12. Last Thursday

13. Memories Of Childhood

14. Memorium

15. Sunbeam

16. Sunday Evening At The Curzon

17. Sweet And Sour

18. The Exhibition

19. The Haunted House

20. The Inheritance

21. The Intruder

21. The Locomotive

22. The Plague

23. The Sins Of Love

24. The Sounds Of War

25. The Speedy Hernia

26. Tina Is In Love I

27. Tina Is In Love II

28. Veronica

29. Why Sally Would Not Tell

30. Yesterday

DEDICATION

A man needs a woman that supports, that cares and that loves him fully without asking something in return. I am just so lucky I have someone like you, to Maria Cristina Antunes, this will never be materialize if it’s not because of you. Thank you for coming into my life when I needed someone to look after me. Thank you for staying by my side despite the several agony and thank you for the hard work and the dedication. This is it, years had passed when I started writing these stories. Never had I imagined these could still be produced into a book. It has been forgotten for years and was kept inside a folder in my office. With your support, I am now able to fulfill everything which I thought I could no longer do, Thank you.

ADELE AND THE DERVISH

Adele sat up in bed reading a book she had become addicted to: the story of Aladdin. Now it was time to go to sleep and if she was lucky to dream about him. She wished she had a magic lamp like his with its own gene inside it ready to grant her every wish. Alas she did not posses such a thing. The nearest to it was an art deco lamp in the shape of an angel that stood on her bed side table, covered in dust more often than not.

It would be wonderful if giving it a rub a gene were to appear. So, with this thought in mind she gave it a rub with her college scarf and waited for a gene to materialize. As expected, no gene appeared, After that she soon went to sleep.

In the morning she asked her mother over the breakfast table:

‘Mum, what would you do if you had a magic lamp like Aladdin?’

‘Well’ quickly replied her mother,’ I would get the gene to do the washing up, clean the house, dig the garden…’

‘No, really, what would you do’

Her mother’s face took a serious expression.

‘Things are not at all well, Adele. Since dad’ business went to the wall we’ve been living on credit, spending money we haven’t got, the mortgage hasn’t been paid for months. We are almost facing eviction.’ Her expression took an even more serious turn. ‘We’ll never be able to put you through university.’

That morning Adele went to college with a heavy heart. When she returned to her bedroom she noticed that the lamp had taken the shape of a dervish with a benign face under a colorful turban.

She run to tell her mother.

‘The angel in my lamp has turned into a dervish’

Busy in the kitchen, without taking much notice of what her daughter was saying, she muttered:

‘That lamp has always been the same, a white bearded dervish.’

Strange! Adele decided to take another look. There was no doubt that the lamp had changed shape and what was more, there was something edged on the dervish’s turban; a tiny legend that read:

Look under your pillow.

With contained excitement, she lifted the pillow. There. Wrapped in silver paper she found a pencil with the words:

What this pencil draws will become the real thing

Edged on its side.

Adele was good at drawing and wasted no time putting the pencil to the test. The dinner had been rather light. She felt hungry. A hot dog greatly appealed to her appetite. She took a sheet of paper and let me pencil draw a sausage. The pencil did just that with no difficulty. Then came a roll, the onions, a napkin. Adele’s excitement increased by the minute. The sausage was large and plumpy and the onions plentiful. The napkin was beautifully decorated with flowers and in the middle an exact copy of the dervish’s head.

She waited a few seconds for the drawing to become the real thing. But nothing happened. Disappointed she put the pencil down and looked at the drawing with dismay. What was happening? Was the dervish a figment of her imagination? It could not be since her mother had told her the dervish had always been there. She looked at the lamp again. This time there was another sentence edged on the dervish’s turban:

take the pencil again…So she took the pencil I her hand and this time it drew a plate all by itself. A few seconds later a real hot dog, on a bed of onions inside a bread roll appeared on a plate covered with a napkin. The nutritious smell of food filled her bedroom inviting her to eat. The hot dog was succulent and quite substantial.

Adele thanked the dervish and after replacing the pencil in its silver wrapping went to sleep.

On waking up in the morning, she wondered if she had dreamt the events of the previous evening, but when she saw her mother taking plate and napkin away she realized there had been no dream.

‘Your bedroom smells like a kitchen, daring. Open the window to get rid of the smell.’

So it had really happened. How wonderful.

There was another phrase edged on the dervish’s turban:

don’t tell anybody

Adele promised not to.

Now that she knew the magic pencil could make wonders, she decided to use it to change things a little.

The thought of being evicted and having to sleep under the stars was not something she fancied. The worried look on her mother’s face made her worry too. The prospect of not going to university, something she would rather not think about. Besides all this there was her fathers business gone to the wall through lack of capital. Everything seemed to spin around money. She considered how to remedy the situation.

Perhaps she could get the magic pencil to draw a fifty pound note. Well, not just one, but many. Gather them in bundles and give them to her parents. Not a good idea! There would be a lot of explaining to do. And in any case that would give her secret away. She would have to do things in a way that whatever she did appeared normal.

She sat in front of the lamp deep in thought. The dervish’s face seemed to acquire an even more benign expression that usual. On his turban the word ticket flashed briefly.

Not difficult to know what that meant. A lottery ticket. That was all very well, buying a lottery ticket was a simple thing, guessing the winning numbers quite another matter. Then a thought came into her mind. She unwrapped the magic pencil from the silver paper and guiding it with her hand drew a lottery ticket request form. Then she waited for the six winning numbers to appear. She waited and waited. The form remained blank. No numbers were selected.

So much for the magic pencil she muttered to herself.

Let your mum choose the numbers

Appeared on the dervish’s turban.

Adele did as she was told and gave the form to her mother.

‘We never play the lottery. It’s a waste of money.’

‘Oh, mum buy a ticket just this once.’

‘I don’t approve of gambling, darling’, she said with determination.

‘This is not gambling mum. It is just trying your luck, that’s all.’

But her mother was determined.

‘No. That’s just an excuse. A feeble one at that.’

Was her mother going to throw away the chance of getting the much needed money?

‘The money people spend on the lottery is not wasted money. Some of it goes to projects like the Cornwall Gardens, schools, even for some medical research.’

Her mother was unmoved.

Adele tried one final argument.

‘We can give some of the prize money to charity.’

A smile appeared on her mother’s lips. Her daughter’s insistence made her laugh.

‘You seem sure we’re going to win the lottery, aren’t you?’

‘Somebody’s got to win, mum.’

‘Alright, then, we’ll buy a ticket just this once. You’d better mark the winning numbers. I’m sure you know which ones they are.’

Another difficulty!

‘No, I got the form, you choose the numbers and buy the ticket.’

Adele’s mother finally agreed.

On Saturday afternoon the lottery ticket was purchased and placed by the television set for checking when the results were shown in the evening draw. Adele eagerly awaited that moment.

To pass the time she went to her bedroom and sat in front of the dervish. There was a long message on his turban.

You have made good use of the magic pencil and will not need it for the time being. I’ll be going now, but I’ll be going now, but I’ll return whenever you need me.

After this the dervish’s head faded away and the original lamp in the shape of an angel appeared in its place.

AN IDEAL HUSBAND

I am an ideal husband. I love my wife. When I am away from her I miss her. A lot. Now I am away.