We’ve got a real treat for you here. Mike Moss embraced the September writing challenge bringing back a historical figure and placing them in today’s world. The only criteria given was that they had to have been dead for more than 50 years. Can you guess who’s been brought back to life in this short piece?
‘Well, tonight we have a real treat for you, and he needs no introduction. He’s sitting here next to me. Welcome, John.’
‘Great to be back, my dear Norton.’
‘Back indeed, especially as you died so young. What was it, tuberculosis?’
‘Yes, and I was only 25. Curable now, I’m told.’
‘So true, and I hear you’re planning to sue the descendants of your mother’s executors?’
‘I was deuced, by God. You might think I’m milking the pigeon but it was total incompetence or downright theft. They withheld my inheritance from both my grandmother and mother. A princely sum of £2,800. Worth almost £300,000 today. That would buy a lot of coal to keep one warm in winter.’
‘It’s all gas these days, and you’re right. But my advice is to buy a jumper.’
‘A what?’
‘It’s a sort of wooly coat. And will you go back to live in Hampstead.’
‘Yes, my old house is still there and I’m currently negotiating with the team who run it as a museum. I was quite overcome when I found out. A museum, to me. Perhaps I should write an ode. Anyway, they seem very keen to have me move in, but I have insisted I must have six hours quiet a day, to write you understand. I can’t have well-wishers traipsing about when I’m musing.’
‘Quite right. And have you started writing again?’
‘Oh yes, I need the money. My sponsors have all passed away so I’m on the look out for an agent.’
‘Well, I expect the phones will be buzzing before the show ends and…’
‘The what?’
‘Phones, you’ll soon get the hang of them. But I guess what your many admirers really want to know is, what are you writing now and will you be travelling round the country, a one man show, maybe?’
‘A show’s a capital idea. I’ll look into that. As to writing, I’ve started a new ode, Ode to the Millenium.’
‘Fantastic. So, there you have it, folks. John’s back, writing and coming to a town near you. That’s all we have time for tonight. Bye.’
Photo by John-Mark Smith
Windsor Writers' Group 