February meeting

Held at J&J's on a wet morning but enjoyable morning.
Much to my surprise I got four votes as I almost scrubbed my story as not that good. 
Must remember the formula if I don't like it they do if I like it ................

Next month at Sue's (perhaps)
"Soft enough"  23rd March

My story

How easy is it to do it?

The rain came down in sheets, the low blanket of cloud made the streets dark The dim lights sent long shadows against the buildings . The man a thin figure slumped against the corner of the building fronting the quayside carefully scrutinised the foreground . It seemed devoid of life although he could hear sounds that came from the sheds where the dockworkers were engaged in separating the personal baggage of the passengers who would disembark at six am. The ship a cavernous cruise ship had come in during the early hours. Only the baggage was being removed the passenger allowed to sleep on. He could see the glow of the cigarette held by the man guarding the gangway to the ship.

James Fenshaw had reached here after taking the train from Paddington and then a taxi to Western Docks. He had tipped the driver, proceeded the short distance to 109 berth where the Mandela was berthed. He carried with him a small black suitcase Carefully making his way along the side of the terminal until he encountered the half open shed door.

Inside was a hive of activity fork trucks bustling among the stacked lines of luggage. The whole place lit up by giant lights suspended from the roof. Giving an eerie atmosphere of another world. Glancing around he picked up a discarded clipboard with an attached pencil. He assumed a confident air and walked along the lines of baggage head down studiously checking the label names.

Seeing a small number of suitcases further along the shed he made his way over to them and as he guessed it was for the passengers who would arrive in the afternoon. They had already been screened similar to the airport security. Looking around to see if anybody was taking an interest in him he dropped his own small suitcase amongst them it was clearly labelled S. Parks for the Mandela. Discarding the clipboard he strode purposely out of the shed his job was done.

The cruise ship was well out into the channel heading for France when a siren like sound shrieked out from the baggage room. A crew member was hurriedly dispatched to investigate the baggage room. He soon found the cause of the noise and nervously he brought the suitcase before the chief engineer who had been fetched to see what it could be.

Hesitantly he opened the suitcase up, inside was a battery and timer with a loudspeaker and a recorder. With it was a note that read BANG you are all dead.

That day James Fenshaw reported to the company that hired him find out how easy it was to overcome the security of the cruise liner. He added his summary of how improvements could be made.

He enjoyed his role as a James Bond.  

January

Nice morning at Pat's Joan R got 3 votes to win the most votes

                     Kept On Pushing 

Omar Kaliff looked at his wife and children and realised at that moment what he had done what should he do he was desperate but he kept on pushing himself to find a solution. They had arrived in England ten years ago from a refugee camp in Pakistan and everyone was basically kind to them they were given a three

bedroomed house so that his two boys and daughter could have separate rooms
something that would not have been possible in Iraq where they were originally
from. The children enrolled in the local school and soon picked up the language
and made many friends this was more difficult for Amira his wife who went each
week to a class to learn the language and customs. Omar obtained a job in a
garage as a mechanic which he was good at and enjoyed, the pay was very good
as well and they managed to have a good life. Now because of one stupid incident this could all change. It happened four months ago he was working as usual when a customer brought in her car for a service her name was Anita, Omar could not get over her she was white as snow. They started to talk and the next time she came in they went for coffee, over the next few weeks things escalated and then one morning he woke up in her bed. He told her that this would not happen again but Anita told him if he did not meet her she would make it her business to tell his wife she also said that she wanted money to pay her rent. It was only then he realised she was a working girl and he was convinced that he had picked up a disease and because of this he had not touched his wife since it happened which was causing questions to be asked. Omar recalled his past life in Iraq one he wanted to forget but now he felt that he would have to once again become that person. 
He had managed to hide his true profession from the immigration people when he and his family applied for asylum his wife knew nothing she was always told that his job was in pest control and that was on his papers. He began to think that as Anita sold her body for money nobody would miss her. Just as he did in the past he made careful plans and thought of every thing that could possibly go wrong. When he was ready he arranged to meet her. She turned up in her car and Omar said let’s go for a spin I have what you wanted and he gave her a bunch of money. He was confident that she would drive to her favourite place a small isolated park near a wood and cliff and he wasn’t disappointed. She stopped the car and counted the money and said I will expect this every month he just smiled got out of the front of the car into the back saying “well if I’m paying for it” she just smirked but before she had opened her door she was dead he had broken her neck. Yes pest control where he used to live in Iraq meant the removal of people that his superiors thought were against the regime. He retrieved his money, then with great difficulty pushed the car over the cliff, he watched as it smashed on the rocks below before going into the sea. He walked through the woods to where earlier he had left his motorcycle and went home. After a while things got  back to normal he just told Amira that he had been feeling ill and because of that he had no energy and did not want to worry her but now he felt he was improving. It was reported in the newspaper that a car had gone over the cliff, but because of the rocks and crashing waves it was impossible to look for a body and no one had been reported missing. Omar felt good knowing that he had not lost his ability to do anything for the survival of his family w ho knows perhaps in the future this skill would come in handy.