Southerly by David Haywood

Hi David,

Just writing to tell you how moved I was by this piece (tears streaming down my face). It reads like poetry.

Thanks,
Ann

Glad you liked it, Ann (if 'like' is the right word). It was written a decade or so back, and I just thought I'd post it at the same time as 'The Moon and McNulty', partly to answer this request from Kyle Matthews.

I hasten to add that there's a large dose of poetic licence in it. The story was based partly on a conversation with my grandfather a few days before he died, but also on something told me by a friend, and a dream I had following my grandfather's death. Although I think, in some ways, it does capture the (at times) contradictory nature of his personality.

I should perhaps also add that I don't personally believe in anything supernatural.

Glad you liked it, Ann (if 'like' is the right word). It was written a decade or so back, and I just thought I'd post it at the same time as 'The Moon and McNulty', partly to answer this request from Kyle Matthews

My first and last piece of work as a 'publisher', and I use the word liberally.

Again, very nicely written.

You're a makar David - whether real, poetic licence, or gathering together of thread, the thing works.

I'm an atheist and a nonbeliever in supernatural stuff. So was my uncle Bill. My mother was at his deathbed
(in hospital aue) and says, just before he died, he opened his eyes wide, smiled, and whispered happily "Mum's here!"

Whether that was an hallucination or not - who cares?