Copyright (c) Tony Mount, 2017

50

Flights

of

Fancy

Tony Mount

Dedication

These stories are dedicated to my wife, Sue,

and to Richard and Marylyn, Stephen and Karen, Chris and Kirsty

and to all their delightful progeny.

Acknowledgements

             Thank you Sue for more than twenty-five years of vetting my verse and prose homework writings in readiness for their baptism at Hobart U3A.

           Thank you Joan Loudon for all the new ideas you have continued to give your Monday morning Writing Workshop class for more than seventy terms.

          Usually limited to a single A4 side, these ideas grew, were sorted and arranged until eye-catching starts and parting punch-lines book-ended each brief work.

          We read out our homework and learnt from you and from each other which words to revise, which to save and later quarry, and which to cast aside.

         Thank you Yvonne Stadler for expertly editing every word of all fifty favored fictions featured here.

         Fifty verses from Joan's incentives were published in "The Forest Green" (2000 & 2001) and eighty more in "Spreading Thor's Great Gift" (2011). Then a hundred memory beads were strung together in "My Lucky Life" (2017).

            These stories start with Creation itself then come down to Earth with tales of man's misfortunes, mistakes and miracles.

           We learn to harness fire, to hunt and gather, to herd and sow, to harvest and defend.

           When winds and horses rule then we explore. We walk to market all the food we grow, paint murals when the pigeons coo, face night's winter snowstorm, step into famous shoes, defy the redcoats and gamble lives away.

           Our coal we turn to steam and power, soot and smog. We pick bluebells, play tricks, tell the river's tale and talk to dogs and birds. We fight fires, catch snakes, solve crimes and mysteries, tell fairy stories and cycle round the world,

           One day we will design a better doormat, transform war to peace, wear microchips, battle the Bonsai Bug and learn to govern Australia.

            Each of the five parts - Rainbow, Pot-Pourri, Harlequin, Medley and Mixed Bag - tells ten different stories  ranging from past to future times.

​1.  Mirror, Mirror                                         

2.  Dealing with Night's Cold and Dark       

3.  Heralding the Light                                 

4.  To Market, to Market                              

5.  One Hundred Years ago                           

6.  Flights of Fancy                                        

7.  Mathemagics                                             

8.  The Secret of the Cardboard Boxes         

9.  Other People's Flowers                             

10. The Peace Cake