Author: Remittance Girl

  • The Dinner Party – 5

    The Dinner Party – 5

    Isabel had no idea how long they lay silent, drifting through layers of dream. Images would flood into her mind, swallowing her up and then release her with the taste of them lingering on her tongue. She was a child looking up at a grey sky, gentle snowflakes falling on her face. And then she…

  • The Dinner Party – 4

    The Dinner Party – 4

    “Carmen, go inside and prepare the necessaries.” Carmen lazily drew her legs together and stood up. “Perhaps you should ask her first, Mâitre?” Gilles laughed and looked at Isabel. “It did not occur to me that our guest is…” He traced the tips of his fingers around the swell of one of her breasts, just…

  • The Dinner Party – 3

    The Dinner Party – 3

    Isabel walked mutely back onto the dining veranda. It was irrational, but she was positive that they only had to take one look at her face to know what she’d just been doing. If they didn’t see it, they’d smell it – she was sure. But Mr. and Mrs. d’Aubigne were on their feet, with…

  • The Dinner Party – 2

    The Dinner Party – 2

    Isabel ate her strawberries in silence. The table had completely returned to normal. It had been cleared by one of the Mase’s many staff, and even the wine stain was gone. The conversation had reverted back to gossip and rumour: whose business was doing well, who was leaving for the home country, which school was…

  • The Dinner Party – 1

    The Dinner Party – 1

    The invitation to dinner was unexpected. It came in the form of an email. It was very nice to meet you at the Consulate party on Tuesday night. Carmen and I are having a little dinner party on Friday and would be happy if you could join us. We realize that our villa is a…

  • If In Some Distant Place – Part 3

    If In Some Distant Place – Part 3

    Robert and Nuria walked back towards Lam Son Square, down the night-time chaos of Dong Khoi street. “Thanks for that,” Robert said, after a considerable silence.  “Madam Dai is one hell of a character. If she were ten years younger, I would have been tempted to seduce her.” “I’m pretty sure she’d still be interested.”…

  • If In Some Distant Place – 2

    If In Some Distant Place – 2

    The food Madam Dai had ordered without consultation arrived. On the table cluttered with greasy glasses, snake specimen jars and overflowing ashtrays, there were small plastic plates, each with a shoddy sample of Vietnamese cuisine. Wise enough not to partake herself, she replenished her glass in the murky jar. Like a portentous Greek chorus, Robert…

  • If In Some Distant Place – 1

    If In Some Distant Place – 1

    “The irony was, I’d imagined the Revolution would be exciting and romantic,” said Madam Dai, fiddling with the gaudy jade ring on her fat middle finger, “But it turned out to be drab and incredibly boring.” Robert pursed his lips to stifle his smile. He couldn’t recall a time in his life when irony hadn’t…

  • The Sin of Words

    The Sin of Words

    She wished that she had a story to write about lovers who were so taken up in each other that they’d lost all words. Or a story about a passion quick and sharp like a piercing that heals but never completely disappears. Or a love triangle where she was the wounded one, or where the…

  • In Defense of the Offensive

    In Defense of the Offensive

    I found it hard to find a good title for this; the one I’ve chosen doesn’t really fit the bill. Our world is becoming more and more complex, and the modes of distribution wider and wider. The internet and digitization of material has meant that barriers to publication –  once the purview of mostly wealthy,…