Member-only story
Fiction
Gordon and the Police Officer
A short story
Dark clouds brooded above the estate as evening approached. The bustle of children scampering home after school was over, and the quiet seemed ominous.
The housing estate sat next to a train track. Gordon’s foreboding in the stillness was only deepened by the rumble of a passing train. A thousand stories swept past. Not one of them would notice Gordon. No one did.
He was cold sitting on the bench. The grey clouds had replaced a previously blue sky. The warmth of the spring day was over. But Gordon had nowhere else to be. No one to talk to. And, worst of all for him right now, nothing to eat. He shivered.
Someone walked by. Gordon smiled at them. They stepped to the far side of the path, avoiding eye contact. Gordon was used to that. People didn’t appreciate a dishevelled, dirty man. He couldn’t smell himself, but he knew he must smell.
The bench he occupied was a few hundred metres from his old home. He’d been happy, living with his wife and two children, until he lost his job. The firm had made sweeping redundancies. There was no other work available. Gordon’s wife found a new man — one with a job. She screamed at Gordon to leave, telling him he was a waste of space and a useless father. Gordon’s feeble protest had met only…
