A BOROUGH writers’ group has revealed its annual short story competition winners.
Wokingham Writers Group’s three best stories can be read in Wokingham.Today.
The competition theme this year was External Influences, with the judge, author Louise Morris, looking for originality, interpretation of theme and quality of writing.
Louise’s stories are inspired by women in the past who achieved extraordinary things, but whom history has forgotten.
Her debut novel, Operation Moonlight – about Special Operations Executive secret agents who helped win World War Two – won the Penguin Random House First Novel competition and was published in 2022.
Competition winners this year are:
Highly commended – Harriet Escapes, by Rachel Parker
Highly commended – A Tale of Three Clues, by Liz Godwin
And overall winner – From Under her Feet, by David Palin
Harriet Escapes, by Rachel Parker
I saw the mouse in the courtroom on day one — keen eyes watching me from the skirting-board, whiskers quivering as if she was picking up a wireless message.
A family friend — I’ve forgotten his name — gave me a pet mouse when I was a little girl.
I called her Harriet.
She was whip-smart, I used to think.
I don’t know why.
Perhaps, because her tail looked like a tiny whip?
When I told the other jury members about her, I got lectured by the foreman, Gareth.
“Helen, in a ‘he-said, she-said’ trial like this, we need to bring to bear all our powers of concentration.
“A man’s future is at stake.”
Powers of concentration! Condescending tw*t.
Later, I thought, ‘What about the woman’s future?’ But it was too late to answer him back; the moment had passed.
On day two, the defence barrister cross-examined the woman in the dock.
He’s more dramatic than the prosecution, more of a performer.
“Could you explain to the jury exactly how you escaped without a single physical injury?” he asked, turning to us, smirking.
Just then, the mouse shot out of the woodwork and darted across the courtroom.
“She’s lightning-fast,” I told the other jury members later. “Did anybody else see her?”
“How do you know the mouse is a she?” Gareth asked.
He shook his head and tutted loudly.
That night, I couldn’t sleep.
I kept remembering the mouse scuttling across the courtroom floor.
Suddenly, I had a vision of myself walking to the bottom of our old garden, carrying Harriet in her cage, opening the cage door, coaxing her out.
“Run away, Harriet.
“At least you can escape.”
Then I’d cried hot tears.
I wish this trial could just be over.
On day three, the accused man was in the dock.
The defence lawyer spoke to him as if he was a trusted family friend.
I looked for the mouse everywhere but couldn’t see her.
“I think she’s gone to ground,” I told the other jury members at lunch.
They just looked at me blankly.
I overheard Gareth muttering: “I have serious concerns about Helen – our secret for now…”
It was on the bus home that the terrible memory returned — Harriet’s eyes shining in the back of her cage — how she went quiet.
I remembered the family friend I’d called Uncle.
Putting his grown-up hands on mine.
“Do you want to stroke it? It’ll be our little secret.”
I pulled the bus alarm and had a panic attack on the pavement outside.
Bas*d, bas*d!
I would have been, what…eight?
The next day I arrived at court early.
Sleep or no sleep, just try and stop me.
The woman was called to the dock again.
She looked exhausted.
Suddenly, I spotted two bright, little eyes under the bench.
My Harriet, alive and well!
Whatever the sentence, I’m going to tell the woman in the dock all about Harriet.
How she’s survived all these years.
How fast she is, how keen.
Whip-smart.
How proud of her I am.
Wokingham Writers is a friendly group of individuals with a common interest in creative writing.
Members range from keen hobbyists to aspiring novelists and published authors.
The group supports and encourages members with their writing projects, large or small, with meetings held at Wokingham Library on the third Saturday of each month.
Anyone interested in joining should ask at Wokingham Library.
For more information, visit: louisemorrish.com
