small country

small country

by 

steve coel

me? i like to walk.

i like listening to places.

                              steve coel

[ interview: American Audio Prose Library, missouri, 1985 ]

2 extracts.

1]

12 months ago.

wave goodbye to the good times

                                                   ...she noticed the writing when quickly dropping from view to hide from her minder. he was busy looking for her and she didn't fancy getting beaten up again so soon after the last time.

evil man, evil temper, bad habits.

but not even street minders come in this place.

not here.

owner, seeing it all, simply placed her own drink on the table.

                                 ...watching her calmly go outside for a couple of minutes and have a quiet word with her minder, she could straight away tell who was more powerful.

she watched them shake hands, a gangsters agreement reached...

2]

tonight.

                                    ...she looked out to the empty dark street and once more at the words, by the door, written in her own language.

small country [ draft ], from Tin Collector [ A Series of Micro Flash Fictions ] by Steve Coel, 2015

Arfordir Byw

steve coel

An 11.59 Publication, Birmingham

an 11.59 publication - tin collector

tin collector

by 

steve coel

tin collector: a story in four parts -

nice breakfast

free time

teamwork

heavenly session

nice breakfast

nice breakfast is about a female door person. 

a threat, last heard in prison, has been directed at her.

she needs to find out if the threat is a real one and deal with it quickly before things turn really really nasty.

extract 1.

makes a nice breakfast me

when i's got the time

keep it simple

i says

works for me every time

breakfast

pretty much

sums up the way

i approaches

most things in life

but i's still thinking

thinking hard about

where i was

made the mistake

that might just prove

to be the game changer

extract 2.

see 

time inside

can be time

well spent

for some

but first

you got to adapt

and get used to

different ways 

of doing things

and

getting things done

there is

for example

a particular noise

which you either

get used to

or

you don't

extract 3.

if you's been in

you knows

exactly

what i's been talking about

like a quiet scream

is what it sounds like

like a huge cry

for mercy

is what it really is

only mercy

don't come 

until

it's all over

free time

free time is about institutions and their quests for uniformity in everything they represent and do.

different individuals in free time stand out for many different reasons.

extract.

                                              ...so this last time in the bank, spooked i was. uniforms see, everyones in uniform, everyone. had some cash, needed an account, to open one like, but i caught someones eye. 

wrong someone.

asked to leave i was, exchanged a few words was all, honest. so i loses me cash and a bit more of my free time...

teamwork

this story is about the neighbourhoods we've either lived in, driven through or read about.

they are what they are, like anywhere; different things to different people.

extract 1.

like i says

when they leaves their mark

people learns about it

real quick like

got to

if they wants to survive

in this game

they like nice things

pretty girls

you know the story

we all know how that one goes

they's still young

keeping it all legit

is the hard part

and truth be

they got that covered

real good

has the gift

they has

is why they'll stay

top of the pile for a long time

round here at least.

extract 2.

still

someone is going to have a quiet word

straighten things out

cos theres always a someone involved

somewhere along the line

always

this ain't normal

but you tell me

what is

take that drink now i will

heavenly session

about four characters and their responses to the same threat.

extract 1.

                         ...old guy in the corner   doghead we calls him   and doghead is what he likes to be called   main reason being   he's always on about times   either had dogs   or raced them   something like that   anyways   was coming here   before i took over like   so could be different reason   anyway   always in the corner spot   always drinks steady like   for an old timer   not a problem...

extract 2.

                                                                               ...watching it all go down   not seen it this bad before   somebody's going to win   somebody always does   but if you has winners   you has losers too   just natural like   i ain't a loser.

will always win me   always...

tin collector [ Draft ], from Tin Collector [ A Series of Micro Flash Fictions ] by Steve Coel, 2015.

An 11.59 Publication

cais archif. An 11.59 Publication

Chiselled Anthems [ part 1 ]

by 

steve coel

extract[s] 

...the discordant noise, a parody of pop consumerism played by a 

second tide of anorak clad shamblers. tantalisingly embryonic 

they are initially beguiling and ultimately quite engaging.



it's a wall of clipped chunky guitar noise singing mischievously 

of bed sit drama with a comic edge and serious interior... [ side 

1 - page 54 ]



...clearly front page glamour and risking a sense of magnetic 



sexuality her painstakingly spidery hand reveals the reflection 

of women breaching the pinking surface of a puddle with her 

stride... [ side 1 - page 56 ]



...its a corrupted eden of hot blood with tragic figures proud 



and petulant beside dribbling junkies laboriously patient as 

icebergs... [ side 4 - page page 57 ]



...voyeurs at slaughter houses creating potentially revolutionary 



development of tales of dark dislocation and resentment spilled 

into sour language... [ side 4 - page 62 ]

previously published:

chiselled anthems [ part 1 ] from mud on a plate [ 2010 ], 

steve coel. An 11.59 Publication

An 11.59 Publication

promise is a promise

promise is a promise

by

steve coel

1]

today.

doorway.

long corridor.

2]

place used to be arcade.

not now.

shops are long gone, roof caved in, steel mesh windows ripped out by scrappies, walls decorated courtesy of local youth.

no charge.

3]

nice touch that.

4]

so you could say it's quiet round this way now there's nothing left to nick.

5]

council says places like this is going to be developed.

we'll see.

6]

meantime, it's where i comes to spend my days, to finish jobs i been doing during the night.

7]

i'll have finished in about six months anyways.

8]

do what the fuck they wants then.

all of them.

9]

and if they ever finds what i been hidin' round here won't be any come back.

10]

promise is a promise.

promise is a promise [ Draft ], from Tin Collector [ A Series of Micro Flash Fictions ] by Steve Coel, 2015.

Arfordir Byw

steve coel

An 11.59 Publication, Birmingham

carry on waiting. An 11.59 Publication

carry on waiting

by 

steve coel.

part 1: outside Like.

story starts on the street i suppose.
my street.
outside like.
always a good place to start a story i reckons.
begins with police searching a car.
wrong car as it happens.
other footies are holding some guy against a wall while others check his jacket in doorway of the adult store.
i understands they won't find nothing.

part 2: busy day.

sunny day.
busy day.
bad atmosphere.
looks passed between people trying hard not to know each other, failing badly it would seem.
should do better.
so what's the story then.
bit of back story always useful right?

part 3: early for some.

morning.
early for some.
late for others.
someone, it seems, is clearly not quite making it through the day, is getting desperate and is needing some action pretty quick.
like right away is about what it's about.
so.
quick snatch job is all.
bad call is what it is.
being watched see.
being watched quite closely as it happens. 
decision time.
do i?
let it go and carry on waiting.
or move in...blow cover?
luckily for all involved uniformed footie steps in.
very lucky.

part 4: laugh that.

footies seen everything, and nothing, as usual.
bit of a chase.
laugh that.
likes a good chase. 
who doesn't?
security joined in too.
laugh that too.
twats they are for joining in though cos peoples quick round here when opportunity arises.
so it is.
quick in and out, even though they knows cameras sees them all.
and they knows security'll speak to them later.
poor bastards.
but hey, what you going to do?
i'll have word with them prior like, it's what i do, my job.
like i told you, my street.
so that's the back story.
reckons you knows the rest...

carry on waiting [ Draft ], from Tin Collector [ A Series of Micro Flash Fictions ] by Steve Coel, 2015.

An 11.59 Publication

Outside in - Your Town An 11.59 Publication

Outside In - Your Town, Any Town

By 

Steve Coel

Like looking out through our window I do.

Looking out I sometimes wonder to myself what it must be like negotiating your way through all the stuff on the sidewalk. 
Bit of an adventure I suspects.

There's been all sorts of complaints I'm telling you. Bruised knees is popular. 
Letters from council have stopped, don't know why.

Owner will be pleased when I sees him.

Still; we hardly have any customers come in anymore, so looking out the window gives me something to do while I wait to answer the phone and pass on the message. 

Owner won't ever let me listen to my i-pad, even though he knows I can't read. 

Didn't tell me why either.

Doesn't really explain why we have all the stuff outside the shop on the sidewalk though  does it?

I can't help wondering where it all comes from to be honest. 

Outside in - Your Town, Any Town [ Draft ], from Tin Collector [ A Series of Micro Flash Fictions ] by Steve Coel, 2015.

An 11.59 Publication

Paste Ups [ June / July, 2015 ] - An 11.59 Publication.

steve coel

An 11.59 Publication

Glare - Extract. Illustrations.

Illustrations.

steve coel

steve coel

An 11.59 Publication

Vol.1. Posters. 2015. An 11.59 Publication.

To follow...

c. Steve Coel

An 11.59 Publication

Apples and Pears

Apples and Pears

Got another letter today.

Don’t know who from. Don’t know where from. It’s just another reminder. Just like the all the others.

Then.

Times were different and some say if you remember what you were doing you weren’t there.

But I remember.

It was great.

Saturday nights dancing at the ‘Apples and Pears’ with all the other Mods and then off we’d all go Sunday morning, to Southend or Margate, for a laugh.

But for me it only took one big mistake to make all those good things stop and that was seeing that stupid card in the pub window down the Old Kent.

All it said was: Fence wanted. Ask for Chick any Saturday afternoon before closing time. Cash paid.

So for a dare the next Saturday, after listening to new singles with the girls down Woolworths, I went over there and asked for Chick.

Didn’t really understand what it all meant back then.

Do now.

                                                          

So anyway I got another letter today.

Don’t know who sends them or where they’re from but I do know why they’re sent and I do know why they’re sent to me.

Now.

Down the market this afternoon people commented about my sixties hairstyle and how it suits me, some even asked after mother.

But I don’t like talking, never did, so I just got on with things. I mean; after all those years inside I’ve learnt to keep myself to myself. And as for mother, well least said really.

So here I am.

I keep myself clean and live off the money I got given on release. It’s what they owe me after all, seeing as how I’ve kept my mouth shut all these years.

So when each new letter, like the one today, comes, I read it just once, and put it away with the others.

There’s no way round it, I am what I am, a rich women with no life.

Pity mother isn’t alive to share it with me really.

Apples and Pears [ Draft ], from Tin Collector [ A Series of Micro Flash Fictions ] by Steve Coel, 2015.

Cycling for Happiness. An 11.59 Publication.

Cycling for Happiness

By

Steve Coel.

In all fairness she'd expected the water to be pretty cold. After all, it was November and the summer hadn't been anything like she had hoped and she knew well enough that what her family really needed was to get some sun on their bones. But there you go, what you gonna do about it?

So, even being short of money and that, she'd taken them all away for the weekend for a treat, the break she reckoned would do them all a bit of good.

                                                  c. Steve Coel [ 2015 ]

Houses were mostly boarded up it being out of season but she had managed to book them into a side street B and B. Thing is the rides on the front were all boarded up for the winter too. As a result the kids were generally pretty miserable, but they say that a change of scenery can put a lot of other things in the shade. 

So they say.

Like i've heard that if a car drives on to your foot adrenalin gives you the strength to pick the car up so as how you can move your foot to safety. So I've heard.

Still, no-one's really sure where she got the strength to go into the water with the kids like that.

Cycling for Happiness [ Draft ], from Tin Collector [ A Series of Micro Flash Fictions ] by Steve Coel, 2015.

An 11.59 Publication.

A version / draft of this microflashfiction story appears in the April 2015 UK Edition of flashfloodjournal.

Shopping Trolley. An 11.59 Publication.

Shopping Trolley

By Steve Coel.

Like a dream it was just now, watching you walk barefoot and unconcerned across the wet road, it being early morning and all.

You must have started the evening with shoes, but there you go.

No CCTV to follow your every movement.

Not here.

Not yet.

But you're being watched my friend.

Trust me, you're being watched.

c. Steve Coel [ 2015 ]

Yeh it's quiet around here.

Well apart from the splashing water from the broken guttering and the occasional gun fire.

Odd that.

The guns usually start later, at a more sociable time like.

No real point. No-one to frighten see.

This time of day is just showing off.

So what the fuck you think you're doing around here this early in the morning is beyond me.

But then I'm not being paid to think or worry about stupid little fucks like you am I?

Oh well better get on. 
Now, if I can just get this knife a bit further in I can 
be on my own way as well.

Shit, was that gunfire again?

Shopping Trolley [ Draft ], from Tin Collector 
[ A Selection of Micro Flash Fictions ] by Steve Coel, 2015.

An 11.59 Publication.