Long Day’s Journey

This month’s short story by Dave Walklett is based on a real experience.

In the early 1980s, Dave and his fiancée travelled to Germany to spend Christmas with his parents — his father was in the RAF. They were due to travel by coach but, somehow, they lost the information about where to board the coach in London.

‘On the morning of our departure, my fiancée was very ill. I, however, was determined to go and so we embarked on a trans-European adventure. We caught the train to Dover, the Hovercraft across to Ostend, and then the train to our destination.

‘When we arrived at the Air Force Base, I had no idea where my parents actually lived; I had never been before, and they had only recently moved.

‘I have been trying to find a way of telling the story ever since and am still trying to find an effective way of doing so.’

Dave, who is currently studying for an MA in Creative Writing with the Open University, has chosen to write the story as a thriller. You can read his story here.