A little girl picks up a pebble from the shore. The sea rides closer. Seagulls gather overhead as the little girl inspects the pebble in her salt-ridden hand. On finding a crevice of imperfection, the little girl tosses the pebble over her shoulder and continues her search. The sea respectfully turns away. The seagulls descend towards the shore, their savage shrieks pillorising the pebble. As the pebble rolls across the other discarded pebbles, a tiny wave of consoling applause is omitted until the pebble stops, seeking comfort next to a slice of seaweed whose tentacles embrace an old sweet wrapper. A woman sits in a restaurant waiting for her date to return from the gentlemen’s toilet. Flushed with excitement, she steals a moment to imagine their first kiss, their first night together, their wedding day. As she does so, she twists a soft auburn curl around her index finger, crosses her legs and caresses the table leg with the high heeled shoe that balances at the end of her right...
The remarkable in the ordinary