Fiction Animal News — Fiction
Owl Insists It Is Not Grumpy, It Simply Cannot Move Its Eyes
A tawny owl in the old oak by the playing field has asked the neighbourhood to stop reading so much into her stare, which she says is just how her face works.
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manners
Everything filed under manners.
Articles
Fiction Tiny Stories
The Ferryman Who Waved at Every Boat
For years a river ferryman waved at every passing boat, including one kayak that never waved back, until one grey Thursday in March.
Fiction Tiny Stories
The Casserole Dish That Never Went Home Empty
One blue dish, two neighbours and a low garden wall: for years it crossed back and forth, and it was never once allowed to make the trip with nothing inside.
Fiction Made-Up Words
Echowish
(n.) The reflex that fires a good wish straight back at the person who offered it, so that a waiter setting down your dinner is warmly told to enjoy his meal too.
Fiction Made-Up Words
Laughlend
(n.) A hearty, generous laugh given in response to a joke you did not hear, offered on credit in the hope that nobody will ask what you found funny.
Fiction Tiny Stories
The Strip of Grass Between Number Nine and Number Eleven
For six summers, two neighbours who barely spoke each mowed a little more of the shared verge than was strictly theirs, and neither ever mentioned it to the other.
Fiction Made-Up Words
Dodgewaltz
(n.) The short, unrehearsed dance performed by two strangers on a pavement who both step left, then both step right, then both apologise, then both step left again.
Fiction Useless Inventions
The Seat-Saving Sofa Cushion
It learns the exact shape of the person who sits there most, and when anyone else settles into that spot, it inflates, very politely, until they move.
Fiction Useless Inventions
The Goodbye Extender
A telescopic hallway that grows a little longer every time someone says right, we really should be going, and then does not go.
Fiction Made-Up Words
Wavelorn
(adj.) Stranded in public after cheerfully returning a wave that was meant for the person behind you, with your hand still up and nowhere dignified to put it.