What are you reading <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A book of short stories<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Martin Po <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Are they good <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At present I am reading a story <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Called Lake Side <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is it set near a lake <\/p>\n\n\n\n
No that is the name of a small boat <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which is hired out by a group of friends <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is very much like the Menrossa <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What happens <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a sense it is what does not happen <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nothing much happens initially <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But then the boat hits an obstruction and sinks <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The friends are scattered and eventually rescued <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is with the exception of Sandra <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who finds herself alone in the sea <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She treads water and practices survival techniques <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But as the hours pass she begins to tire <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She has accepted that she is going to die <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And watches the sun as it sets in glorious colour <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The seagulls circle and hover above her <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But there is little then can do as she slowly drowns <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just before she closes her eyes she sees a plane <\/p>\n\n\n\n
High above her which she mistakes for a rescue plane <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is in fact an airliner flown by her older brother <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her final three thoughts are about the seagulls the sunset and the plane
To her great surprise Sandra finds herself conscious <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But she is no longer a woman but a seagull <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Flying high above the wide expanses of the sea <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It takes Sandra quite a time to become used to this <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She does not question it and initially considers it to be heaven <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So she flies towards the lighthouse that she once knew well <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As it was near the cottage that she shared with her boyfriend <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sandra finds the cottage empty but visits it many times <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She thinks that her love has left the small coastal town <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But on her tenth visit she sees him in bed with her cousin <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That shatters Sandra and she flies out to sea<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And sees a man jump from an ocean liner and drown <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She slowly begins to realise that she is not in heaven <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And returns inland to observe her boyfriends infidelity <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her emotions get the better of her and Sandra weeps bitterly <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is quite quickly noticed and the legend of the weeping seagull is born
Sandra next finds herself in a green mosaic bath with her boyfriend <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She is no longer an unhappy seagull but a woman once more <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is a knock at the door which the lovers after dressing answer <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two members of the coastal police force face them with sad eyes <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They are told that the Lake Side has been lost after a collision <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And all her friends are missing <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is little hope for them as the sea has succumbed to a storm <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This overwhelms Sandra and she begins to weep <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The police and her boyfriend comfort her <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is then that she notices a seagull on the roof of a shed <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For what seems an eternity it stares at her and then leaves <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Slowly vanishing from from sight as it climbs into the clouds
Has Martin Po written any other books <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They are on the bookshelf near the door <\/p>\n\n\n\n
May I borrow one <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Be my guest <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am sure that you will like his stories <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What are you reading A book of short stories By Martin Po Are they good Yes At present I am reading a story Called Lake Side Is it set near a lake No that is the name of a small boat Which is hired out by a group of friends It is very much like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18490"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18493,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18490\/revisions\/18493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}