SEABANK
INTRODUCING
ROBERT HENNEGAN
Complex Page
Crossed Lives: extract
Mortally sharp icicles threaten the kneeling figures’ heads, like grasping fingers of the grim reaper.
This mountain winter has been long and harsh. Longer and harsher than most.
And it will continue, inexorably.
From within the huddled group, a heavily muffled young partisan officer, frozen liquid hanging from his nose, walks slowly towards the two lines.
Lugubrious, behind the iced mask of his facial hair.
He stops, spits, and barks the ultimate order, loudly but without enthusiasm.
At first they look towards him.
One cries out, but their voice is lost on the wind.
Blasts ricochet in snow-muffled echoes. Rumble-tumbling, a small avalanche descends only tens of metres away.
Resounding.
extract from Crossed Lives copyright Robert Hennegan
This mountain winter has been long and harsh. Longer and harsher than most.
And it will continue, inexorably.
From within the huddled group, a heavily muffled young partisan officer, frozen liquid hanging from his nose, walks slowly towards the two lines.
Lugubrious, behind the iced mask of his facial hair.
He stops, spits, and barks the ultimate order, loudly but without enthusiasm.
At first they look towards him.
One cries out, but their voice is lost on the wind.
Blasts ricochet in snow-muffled echoes. Rumble-tumbling, a small avalanche descends only tens of metres away.
Resounding.
extract from Crossed Lives copyright Robert Hennegan
Crossed Lives
extract
‘I am sorry. There must be some misunderstanding. The person whose name you have given is out of town today. But we now have your contact details.’
‘But I was told I had an interview, an appointment …’
‘I am sorry. There was a mistake. I must now ask you to leave the building …’
‘What?!’
‘There is a fire alarm testing … imminent.’
‘Imminent’?
‘Please.’
‘But you will contact me?’
A second, older woman wearing a similar blazer uniform and high heels, whom Hazel thinks she might have seen before, somewhere, escorts her to the revolving door.
Hazel stares straight into a CCTV camera before revolving out.
No fond farewells.
As she walks away Hazel looks back over her shoulder. The building remains a picture of inactivity; an oasis of apparent tranquility. Perhaps the fire drill assembly point is round the back. Maybe the alarm bells can only be heard within the building.
extract from Crossed Lives copyright Robert Hennegan
‘But I was told I had an interview, an appointment …’
‘I am sorry. There was a mistake. I must now ask you to leave the building …’
‘What?!’
‘There is a fire alarm testing … imminent.’
‘Imminent’?
‘Please.’
‘But you will contact me?’
A second, older woman wearing a similar blazer uniform and high heels, whom Hazel thinks she might have seen before, somewhere, escorts her to the revolving door.
Hazel stares straight into a CCTV camera before revolving out.
No fond farewells.
As she walks away Hazel looks back over her shoulder. The building remains a picture of inactivity; an oasis of apparent tranquility. Perhaps the fire drill assembly point is round the back. Maybe the alarm bells can only be heard within the building.
extract from Crossed Lives copyright Robert Hennegan
Some children even wave at the bus, although most people just stop and stare. A group of youths shout, a young girl waves an orange, and a man in bulging swimming trunks with a squashed face flexes his muscles and grins enormous teeth.
As Arben is pointing out that this is the country’s main beach resort the bus stops with a jolt. He looks round in surprise; heads go up to see what is wrong.
Traffic lights. They have encountered one of the country’s few sets of traffic lights. When Jojo pulls away again a policewoman can be seen standing within a white circle in the middle of the junction conducting traffic.
The traffic lights are evidently not working.
Keith glimpses a young boy in callipers, reminding him of schooldays and the polio victims of his youth.
Sandra points her camera through the window at a young girl leading two sheep and a goose, and then at men crouched down, huddling together on shady corners around bicycle repair huts.
Just as the straggle of town is accruing interest, blocks of stark apartments rear up to darken the bus interior.
Extract from Crossed Lives
copyright Robert Hennegan
Author photograph by Janet Harris
As Arben is pointing out that this is the country’s main beach resort the bus stops with a jolt. He looks round in surprise; heads go up to see what is wrong.
Traffic lights. They have encountered one of the country’s few sets of traffic lights. When Jojo pulls away again a policewoman can be seen standing within a white circle in the middle of the junction conducting traffic.
The traffic lights are evidently not working.
Keith glimpses a young boy in callipers, reminding him of schooldays and the polio victims of his youth.
Sandra points her camera through the window at a young girl leading two sheep and a goose, and then at men crouched down, huddling together on shady corners around bicycle repair huts.
Just as the straggle of town is accruing interest, blocks of stark apartments rear up to darken the bus interior.
Extract from Crossed Lives copyright Robert Hennegan
Author photograph by Janet Harris
