Unkempt Koithko <\/b><\/p>\n
On my first day in the seminary he took the register and told us that if we were going to hang ourselves then it was better to use a strong well made rope over a metre in length<\/p>\n
He had tried it himself with a shorter less sturdy rope and had failed<\/p>\n
Unkempt Koithko<\/i><\/p>\n
The ginger youth opposite me remained silent<\/p>\n
Unkempt Koithko<\/i><\/p>\n
Is that your name sir?<\/i><\/p>\n
Yes that is my name<\/i><\/p>\n
Then why do you not answer me?<\/i><\/p>\n
I did not feel I had to <\/i><\/p>\n
Then you are not a Christian <\/i><\/p>\n
Please leave this room <\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
The Examination Papers (Fragment) <\/b><\/p>\n
I awoke early that morning and found the examination papers on the desk in the hall<\/p>\n
I noticed that mine had been stamped with the examiners stamp<\/p>\n
Most promising candidate <\/i><\/p>\n
This left me cold as I considered myself quite ordinary<\/p>\n
I might have done well in the preliminary exams but this should not have been taken into account<\/p>\n
How much did I know about Hardy\u2019s Wessex Tales?<\/i><\/p>\n
Did I know them at all? <\/i><\/p>\n
At that exact moment I considered I knew nothing<\/p>\n
Nothing at all<\/p>\n
My paper was going to be as disaster<\/p>\n
I returned to the main room and found Mary putting her bra on<\/p>\n
This was not usual for her as she usually went braless under her shirt<\/p>\n
But today was a different day<\/p>\n
The day of our main examination<\/p>\n
I wished the day away<\/p>\n
I wanted to return to normality<\/p>\n
Rob was up and had dressed smartly for the day<\/p>\n
He was speaking to Mary who was now wearing a sensible business suit<\/p>\n
I wanted Mary to act as she did on those hot days in our apartment<\/p>\n
I wanted her to walk around topless wearing only her shorts or her panties<\/p>\n
But then again Rob and I took little or no notice of her preferring to watch either sport on television or just chat lazily on the sunny balcony<\/p>\n
That was the way it was<\/p>\n
But today was different we were being invaded<\/p>\n
Two officials from the examination board were due at ten to oversee our four hour exam<\/p>\n
They had already set the desks out in our second room<\/p>\n
This had been done when I was out<\/p>\n
Rob looked at me<\/p>\n
Are you not going to clean up?<\/i><\/p>\n
I am clean <\/i><\/p>\n
You are not to going to take your exam in your jogging bottoms and a tee shirt are you?<\/i><\/p>\n
I looked at the clothes I was wearing<\/p>\n
Possible not as I slept in them but I will only wear jeans and a beach shirt when I change <\/i><\/p>\n
Is that wise?<\/i><\/p>\n
Wise? <\/i><\/p>\n
Why did you think Mary and I have dressed up?<\/i><\/p>\n
To impress the examiners <\/i><\/p>\n
You are too casual Graham <\/i><\/p>\n
I am not casual I just like to be relaxed <\/i><\/p>\n
It just comes too easily for you <\/i><\/p>\n
What comes easily?<\/i><\/p>\n
Everything academic I have seen your paper <\/i><\/p>\n
Most promising candidate <\/i><\/p>\n
That only means that they will mark me more strictly <\/i><\/p>\n
Mary came into the room carrying a tray<\/p>\n
There were three mugs of coffee<\/p>\n
Do be careful guys <\/i><\/p>\n
Do not spill any especially after all this preparation <\/i><\/p>\n
She looked at me<\/p>\n
And Graham please do not argue with me<\/i><\/p>\n
Your business suit is hanging from the door <\/i><\/p>\n
I have ironed you a shirt <\/i><\/p>\n
But <\/i><\/p>\n
No buts<\/i><\/p>\n
When you have finished your coffee please change <\/i><\/p>\n
Rob smiled<\/p>\n
You do not have a chance mate just conform and things will return to normal in a few hours <\/i><\/p>\n
The past is another country
\n<\/i><\/p>\n
\n<\/i><\/p>\n
The Queen of Hearts <\/b><\/p>\n
In Hendon in the 1960s there was a woman called Anna C Earle <\/i>who had blemishes all over her body<\/p>\n
The strange thing about these blemishes was that they were in the shape of three of the four suits of French playing cards<\/p>\n
Clubs DIamonds Spades<\/i><\/p>\n
Anna was brought up in the Catholic faith and ensured that no-one saw her blemishes except for her close female friends<\/p>\n
One of these friends recorded in her diary that whilst Anna had blemishes<\/p>\n
That they were only in the shapes of three of the four suits<\/p>\n
She noted that she had not seen any Heart<\/em> shaped blemishes on Anna’s body which she knew quite well<\/p>\n When challenged Anna had told her friend that she indeed had all four suits and played cards with the Virgin Mary quite frequently when at prayer<\/p>\n In 1990 Anna disappeared whilst hiking in the Scottish Highlands<\/p>\n Although she was never found it did not really concern her closest friends as they knew her to be something of a Joker<\/p>\n Only the King and Queen and her brother Jack expressed any regret that Anna had vanished without trace<\/p>\n And they often appeared on television poker faced<\/em> requesting further information about the whereabouts of the mysterious Anna C Earle<\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Unkempt Koithko On my first day in the seminary he took the register and told us that if we were going to hang ourselves then it was better to use a strong well made rope over a metre in length He had tried it himself with a shorter less sturdy rope and had failed Unkempt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3215"}],"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=3215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3215\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}