Over the past few years Dick has been writing short stories, mostly for his own amusement but has been tempted to offer them for sale.

There are currently 24 short stories with more appearing on an irregular basis. A sample is given below;

The CD with all 24 is available for just £9.95 (inclusive) for the UK, (Outside the UK £10.95 inclusive) and can be paid by PayPal to Dick(at)pascoes.plus.com. Email Dick via the contact above to let him know.

The Bell Bottoms Rang

At age 80 Gladys Jane Eastham had seen almost all that the world could throw at her. She had grown up in the poor district of the town where her parents had struggled to keep food on the table for the small family. Her father had been a shop assistant working for a grocer. The wages were small but the free fruit and vegetables were a bonus. They were always past their best of course and unsalable but who could be fussy when they were hungry.

Gladys had eventually left school and got a job in the local hospital as a trainee nurse. She had done well at school and her grades made sure that she at least should do better than average. She was just sixteen when war broke out and the rationing came in. Her fathers job was safe as he was too old to go to war.

She loved her work at the hospital, caring for people and the best job she thought was when she got to help out in casualty. You never knew what was going to happen next or who would walk in next.

It was just after her seventeenth birthday that her life changed, she was working in casualty when a young sailor walked in with a severe cut on his arm. She was delegated to hold the pressure point whilst the doctor got everything ready to do some stitches.

It didn’t take long for the young sailor to get her name and introduce himself, these days it is termed ‘chatting her up’ but then it was much more gentile! He was called Jim and as she bandaged his arm after the stitches were put in he asked if she wanted to go to the local dance on Saturday evening. It took her all of five seconds to agree, after all he was everything a girl could want, tall, dark and handsome and in the Navy!

It soon became clear to all her friends that Gladys had fallen, hook, line and sinker for Jim and what amazed them all was that it seemed to be reciprocated and no-one was surprised when one evening he went to her house for tea and a chat with dad.

The next day they announced their engagement and he gave her a wonderful ring and all the friends went to the pub that night to celebrate. It was then that he dropped his bomb shell; he had to leave in the morning on a ship. He didn’t know where he was going or for how long but he would write every day.

The next day she was late for work as she had watched the ships leave the harbour, wondering which one carried her Jim. There wasn’t a single Navy ship amongst them but she knew that some Merchant ships now carried Navy crew as well.

It took three months before the first letter arrived all it said was “I am well and hope to see you soon, cannot say when, lots of love Jim”

It took another two months before any more news arrived, but this time it was not good news. Jim had been lost at sea, a victim of an unknown U-boat in mid Atlantic. With the sea temperatures at the time he wouldn’t have lasted long in the water.

She cried for weeks and everyone at work tried to help but the happy smiling face didn’t reappear for a long, long time. The years passed and she seemed never to have met anyone else who met the standards she had seen in Jim, his photo still stood in pride of place on the mantle shelf.

Her work at the hospital had been interesting and as she progressed to become a Matron in charge of a ward she considered she had reached the peak of her profession. It never worried her that she didn’t have a husband as she sat with her mother each evening in the small terraced house they called home. Her work took all her skill during the day and the evenings seemed to look after themselves. Until the day came when she was approaching sixty and was asked what she would like as a retirement present.

Gladys had never given retirement a thought. Her life was the hospital and all that it meant; yes her mother was getting frail but could still cook a nice meal and have it waiting for Gladys when she arrived home.

The dreaded day eventually arrived and all the staff including the doctors, consultants and the nurses from all over the hospital took a short break to honour the forty three years of service she had given the hospital. The local press were there, along with representatives of the County NHS and even a few local councillors from the County and local Council. More people than Gladys had ever seen in one place at one time except for the VE celebrations.

That evening she sat with her mother in front of the television wondering what ever she was going to do now. Her whole world had come to an end in one fell swoop. No more getting up to make breakfast and take a cup of tea in for mother, run for the bus or even wonder what sandwiches to make for lunch that day.

The next morning she got up at her usual time and took the tea in to her mother. Then down for breakfast. Watching the news as she always did on the small TV in the dining room she looked at the clock and dashed upstairs to get dressed. It was only as she pulled on her blouse that she realised that she didn’t have to run anywhere any more. She could go back downstairs and watch the news a little more, have another cup of tea and even read the paper. The first hour was wonderful, then with the paper read, the TV news finished and mother fed and dressed she had nothing left to do.

She decided to spring clean the house starting with the kitchen and blitzed all the cupboards, the cooker and the hob. She cleaned all the walls, the pots and pans and as she stopped to put the kettle on she realised that it was lunchtime. All this work had taken just four hours.

The dining room was next but as she cleared away the lunch things she realised that at this rate the whole house would be done in a couple of days and what then. Her mother belonged to a couple of local clubs and took Gladys along with her they sat and had tea and played bingo for two hours but by the time this was over Gladys was bored to tears. She needed something to take the place of her hectic life at the hospital but what could it be?

As they sat on the bus heading home she racked her brain, could she get a part time job somewhere perhaps? After all mother could still look after herself for a few hours a day.

As they arrived home she opened the door and stepped through into the hall, mother followed. She turned to hang up her coat as she heard a heavy crash, turned to see mother on the floor.

Her whole body twitching, the dark clammy feel to the flesh and the blood draining away from her face. As a nurse she knew shock when she saw it so she quickly placed mother in the recovery position and dialled 999.

It seemed forever but just a few minutes later the ambulance arrived and mother was on the way to the hospital. Gladys rode in the ambulance with her and followed her into the examination booth. She had been retired for just two days.

The doctor in charge shooed her out of the examination room and nothing Gladys could say would change his mind, ‘you do not work here now – out please’ he said. After a long wait the doctor came back, he apologised for sending her out but as she was no longer on the staff he just had to. Mother? She had suffered a stroke and needed special care. Gladys knew instantly what she had to do and asked that mother be moved home as soon as she was fit enough.

Gladys had found a reason to exist again, she nursed her mother, catering for her every need but as the years passed she needed more and more care and of course Gladys was getting older too. At the ripe old age of 99 mother faded away, she didn’t die as such, she had just lost the will to live. She had given up on life and there was only one alternative.

The funeral was small, very few of mother’s friends were still alive and over the last few years Gladys hadn’t seen many of her friends either. All her time was spent looking after mother.

The day after the funeral Gladys got up at the normal time made tea for two and had her breakfast, she watched the news and read her paper and wondered what she could do to fill in her time. She decided to blitz the kitchen but as she walked over to the door remembered that time so long ago when she started the same thing. She knew that this was not the answer. She was eighty years old with few friends and no hobbies or interests. They had all died with mother.

Gladys got through the day with difficulty, she did a little shopping and walked around the town but rain soon forced her back home again. She sat in the living room that evening with the lights out and just a glimmer of light from the street coming through the window. What was she to do?

She looked around the room and wondered what would happen to everything when she died, there were no relations, no brothers or sisters, cousins’ nieces or nephews. She had been an only child. There was no-one.

The light from the window flickered across the old photo of Jim, looking very proud and smart in his uniform. He had been just twenty three years old when he died. The photo showed him smiling, with his hat at a jaunty angle and the bell bottoms looking ready to ring out a tune. The very smartest of men she had ever known.

The light made it appear that his lips were moving as if he was trying to talk to her. What could he be saying? She picked up the photograph and sat with it on her chest, her arm wrapped around it as if it were him with her in the room.

As midnight drew closer and the street lights went out Gladys still sat in the same chair. But now she was still, not breathing, her hand clutched an empty bottle of her mother’s painkillers.

There was a smile on her lips as though she had died happy, perhaps she had as she was with her beloved Jim now and she would not be alone for a very long time.