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Paul sat at his desk bored, he had loads of work to do, but he just couldn't be bothered doing it. It would still be there tomorrow and so would he. That thought filled him with dread. Another day in the office with blue lights and total silence would kill him but what could he do about it? He sat pondering for a minute and then it hit him, he would go to Galway to see Rebecca. She had been pestering him for ages to come and stay with her and he hadn't, even though he hadn't seen her for ages. Maybe now he should just do it and go. Work finished at five, which was an hour away and it would be a long drive but the idea had really taken hold and wouldn't let go. Never mind that it was only Tuesday and fuck work, he was going. For the remaining time he sat and did nothing except think about Rebecca. Should he just turn up or should he call first? He decided not to, she was expecting to see him at any time, he had told her that he would be down sometime and he could always call her on the way.

The hour finally elapsed and he ran from the office not bothering to say goodbye to anyone, just straight down the stairs, out the door, into his car and then straight into a traffic jam that he was stuck in for over an hour. When he finally arrived home he wasted no time, he made some coffee, and threw some clothes into a bag, eating could wait, instead he chain smoked the last few of his cigarettes and watched the news while gulping down his coffee. He decided that he shouldn't really just go without telling anyone, so he sent a text to his friend Eoin, saying that he was going away for a few days. When he finished he put the cup in the sink, turned off all the lights, picked up his bag and left.

Rebecca was sitting with no little finger on her left hand wondering what she should do. A wondrous world of mysteries and madness waited down the stairs in the basement for her. She could spend hours wandering around down there and take all the stuff back upstairs and show it to the man on the street who stood behind a pane of glass, waiting for what he had forgotten to pop back into his head. Then he would be able to rise up against the hands and voices that were all keeping him down. However a minute later she realised that nothing worthwhile had ever been put down in the basement!!

As the night slowly crept up on her house, it got harder and harder to await the ringing of her doorbell that would bring back into her world, Paul. However nothing happened and she started thinking back to when she still had her little finger, how she had painted its nail orange and all the others green, and how it used to talk to her. She had really loved it, she still did, but it was all gone grey and pointless since the day it had just dropped off, while she was feeding he goldfish. Slowly more time passed and she went to bed realising that Paul wasn't coming that night and that all she could do was hope that the nightmares stayed away.

They did and she woke feeling like it was a new yesterday beginning, that she had a purpose and that maybe today it would happen. The phone rang as she was eating breakfast and she answered full of the same hope and expectation that always filled her before when the phone rang. This might be my lucky day in hell she thought. It was Paul and he was on his way, his car had broken down the night before so he had had to sleep under a bush. She didn't really believe him but it didn't matter, he was finally coming. All that way just for her, so instead she told him just how much she was looking forward to seeing him again. It had been eight months since the cold and rather wet Sunday outside a restaurant when they had said goodbye. There had been phone calls and letters of course but slowly they happened less and less and then she had lost her finger. She had cried over it for days and every morning the first thing she did still was check to see if it was back. Telling Paul hadn't done much good, he had been sympathetic enough; but he could never fully understand what she had lost. Today was different though, and nothing was going to cloud her sunshine. She couldn't stop glowing with happiness as she hung up the phone. After dancing around the kitchen for a few minutes she went to get ready.

"Poxy car breaking down, how dare it," Paul was thinking. Still the guy from the garage had been able to fix it, after he had spent the night in a bush outside waiting for it to open. He mixed feelings about seeing Rebecca again, it had been a long time, and what would he say to her? Would there be the same awful silence that always got in the way of their phone calls? And the whole finger thing, how could it just drop off? He had thought about cutting off his own little finger, but decided against it.

His thoughts however weren't all negative, he was really looking forward to seeing Rebecca again and he really cared about her, something he was going to tell her this time they were together. She had seemed so happy on the phone that morning and it was because of him, all the silence had gone, and maybe something was finally starting to change there.

Much of this he told to the hitchhiker he had picked up. It didn't seem right to have so much happiness built up inside and not share it. The guy seemed interesting enough, asking questions and telling of his time in a hippy commune, the exact location of which he had forgotten. "So where you going now? What’s in Galway for you?" Paul asked. "Well there’s this plant that grows around there, its a natural hallucinogenic, my wife told me all about it before she left for some rich cunt with a big car. I'm going to take it and then draw the colours, write about the colours, make films showing the colours etc." "Sound good" said Paul "I work in a office, its so bloody boring, nobody talks to each other at all and you just sit there cutting yourself hoping you'll hit a vein and bleed to a relatively painless death. Haven't managed it yet though, they've got these blue lights so you cant find the veins" "Bummer" replied the hitchhiker.

Silence descended for a few minutes and just as Paul was about to turn on the radio the hitchhiker cut in, "if you love Rebecca so much why do you spend all your time in work trying to kill yourself? Why not think of each passing hour as an hour nearer to seeing her again? Like the way you keep looking at the miles going up now?" Paul thought about it for a minute, Dan was right. "Well I never thought of it like that before, I've only just started to realise that I really care about Rebecca recently, I don’t know about her feelings for me, but I'm going to tell her mine when I see her". "So things are much clearer now" said Dan. A large sign saying: Welcome to Galway, loomed in front of them. "Yippee we're there" cried Paul, he reached to the dashboard and pulled out a box of huge Cuban cigars, he handed one to Dan and took one himself, soon the car filled with the thick smoke and Paul opened the window. Outside it was a beautiful day and just across the road they could see kids playing in the park, a little girl with a red hat on ran past flying a kite and other kids were feeding the ducks in the pond. Soon they had miles of boring open fields around them again. Upon the hour Dan left leaving Paul to finish his cigar, alone except for the radio.

Rebecca's house was now only about a half an hour away. Inside Rebecca was dressed and was looking over some of the old letters that Paul had sent her and thinking about the dreams she had, had about him. Usually they happened on nights when he had called or sent a letter, but she liked it best when she had them on nights she hadn’t heard from him. As his arrival nearer she got more and more excited and also nervous. To pass the time she fed her goldfish Ernest and worried about what she should say to Paul about her little finger, or should she say anything at all? Finally she decided not to bother saying anything at all and just see did he bring it up.

The lights turned red and Paul braked sharply, he would be later now. But eight months of waiting were almost at an end. He was so hyper he felt like jumping out the window and screaming at everybody but at the same time he found it hard to stop tapping the steering wheel with nerves. Finally the lights turned green again and he started to move forwards again. Upon reaching the house fifteen minutes later, he sat for a minute in the car to get his head together; he was finally there AT LAST. Then taking a deep breath he took up his bags and got out of the car and started to walk up the path. He pushed the doorbell and waited. A second later a shape appeared behind the frosted glass and the door swung slowly open.

Arms grabbed and hugged him tightly; he dropped the bags and hugged back. Finally they stopped and stepped back and just looked at each other. Paul looked much the same as Rebecca thought except maybe his hair was a bit shorter. Rebecca was the happiest Paul had ever seen her, she was totally glowing. She didn't look much different, the glasses were new but they suited. His only worry was "should he look at her missing finger?" Finally he did his eyes drawn to it as if by some magnetic force. Ignoring his staring she took his hand and whispered "lets go for a walk."

Grabbing her coat off the end of the stairs she lead outside. It was a quiet sunny afternoon and they walked along the middle of the road talking about what they had been doing for the past eight months. Paul telling of his nasty workplace and lonely trips away to the mountains without her, she talked about everything, her band, her writing, her job in the local cinema and subsequent sacking for refusing to sell hot-dogs to the customers, everything except her finger. Almost without realising it they had reached the top of the hill. They stopped and looked at the wonderful view for a minute and then they turned facing each other and kissed. Soon darkness descended and they began to head back towards the house.

While dinner was cooking Paul started to unpack, not knowing which room to use he asked Rebecca "oh it doesn't really matter, just leave them anywhere, we're going to sleep on the sofa anyway because we've got lots of catching up to do, and new things to write about. Paul agreed and instead set the table. Over a dinner of pasta and cheese sauce Paul told her about the hitchhiker, Dan, and his plans for a good time in Galway. "He sounds really interesting, do you know where he’s staying?" asked Rebecca. Paul told her and they agreed that they would contact him at some stage in the very near future, with a view to working on some weird film, or book, or album and because they both wanted desperately to try the plant. With the meal finished they moved into the living room taking the bottle of wine with them. After putting on some soft music Rebecca took out some of the old stories and poems they had written together. The first copy they looked at also had drawings in it, and they discussed getting them blown up to hang on the walls. They laughed as they read some of the old stories they had written and thought of how much the others had been weirded out by them. "What does it mean?" They had been asked by almost everyone, no one seemed to understand that they didn’t have a meaning because they didn’t have too, it was up to the reader to attach a meaning if he or she wanted or just treat it like a bit of fun. But putting meaning on stories wasn’t for them to do. The night passed quickly as they relived all the fun they had had in the past by reading old stories and looking at photographs of themselves and others at the top on top of various mountains.

Early the next morning, just as breakfast was popping out of the toaster Rebecca decided that they should call someone. She ran her finger randomly down a list of numbers stuck to the fridge, and then she said, "Right let’s call Kate" and began dialling. "Oh it’s ringing, it’s ringing" she called excitedly. Finally Kate answered, "Good morning Kate how the hell are you?” Screamed Rebecca " I’m okay what do you want? Its six in the morning." Rebecca told her what was going on and then was deafened by the high-pitched screaming that came down the phone at her. They spoke for a few minutes then Paul took the phone and started to go off on one, screaming and talking so fast that Rebecca could only make out every second word, she knew better than to try and stop him, once he got started nothing would and he'd drunk a lot of coffee already that morning! Instead she went to get dressed. Returning fully dressed fifteen minutes later he was still at it but finally he calmed down a little, thanked Kate and said goodbye.

Spotting her, he jumped up again and took her by the hand leading her outside. He then climbed up onto the flat kitchen roof and began shouting and jumping up and down. Even though there wasn't another house for a mile or two Rebecca was sure that they could see or at least hear him but it didn’t seem to bother him at all. However the ringing of his mobile did and he was forced to get down and answer it. When he had finished he had a worried look on his face, and he told Rebecca that it was his job saying that if he didn’t show up the next day for work he was sacked. "What are you going to do? Asked Rebecca, he turned and looked at her, "what do you want me to do?” He asked, "I want you to stay here of course,” said Rebecca, trying to stop herself shaking he wouldn’t leave would he? "Didn’t you tell them you were going away"? "No, I just got decided to come, got in my car and started driving" laughed Paul. "You want me to stay don’t you"? "Of course I do, but what about work"? "Fuck work, " laughed Paul "fuck it, you want me to stay so I’ll stay". Rebecca hugged him so tight that he thought he would lose conciseness but he managed to keep breathing. When she let him go he told her that if he was to stay he would have to return to Dublin for a day or two to quit his job, his flat and tell his friends what was happening so that his face didn’t wind up on missing person posters.... again! They spent the rest of the day sitting around writing, playing with the cat sorting out a bedroom for them both and answering the phone, Kate it seemed had told everyone they had ever known, about them.

At five o’clock the next morning Paul got into his car to drive back to Dublin, Rebecca was sad but she knew he would be back soon this time. He would hopefully be back that evening, all he really wanted to do was not get the sack, because if that happened then his job had won. Finally his car speed away out of the driveway and down the road. Soon it was out of sight and Rebecca not knowing what else to do went back inside to bed. As she was untying her shoelace that she noticed something odd, her little finger where once there had been nothing, now appeared to be a little stump. Could it really be growing back? No, no it couldn't, it was just her imagination run amuck again, like the time she had seen the pope wrestling with a nun in the park. But she couldn't put it out of her head as she got into bed. Not so much so that it kept her awake though, the past day of not sleeping much catching up.

At exactly nine o'clock Paul arrived in his office to find his desk overflowing with paper and his answer phone showing 198 new messages all of them marked urgent. He sat down and started to flick through some of them, wondering as he did so about the exact way in which he should tell his boss to stick his job. Spotting the only person in the office who smoked as much as he did, he decided to tell him the news. "Hey Colin" he called "wanna go for a smoke"? Colin did and a minute later they were outside the front door with the receptionist Laura also joining them. "So what’s going on with you? Why weren't you in yesterday" they asked. Paul told them what was going on and that he was leaving for Galway later that day. At first they refused to believe him, when he convinced them that he was telling the truth, they began thinking up good ways, to tell their boss he quit.

A second later their boss, Smith, appeared behind them bellowing, "haven’t you all got work to doing"? "Paul I don’t know where the hell you were yesterday, but if you value your job you'll get back inside now." " Actually" Paul replied " you can stick your fucking job, I quit, fuck you, you old bastard, I’ve heard your wife keeps the neighbours up all night with her barking!!" Smith looked like he was about to explode and Laura and Colin ran back inside struggling to hold in the laughter. "Fine you have ten minutes to clean out your desk and get the fuck out of the building" said Smith his eyes bulging with rage.

"Yippee, yippee, yippee freedom" cried Paul. As he ran inside he started singing "you can stick your fucking job up your arse." To his amazement people started to join in and some people started to empty their desks or even kick in their computers, while more still simply walked up to Smith and quit. They began to gather outside in the courtyard, waiting for him. He ran upstairs to his office as fast as he could and took all he needed out of his desk and dumped it into a plastic bag. Then he kicked over his desk. From outside he could hear singing, he went to the window and looked out, about one and fifty people were in the courtyard below and when he opened the window it brought a huge cheer from them. He reached into his bag and pulled out a huge red flag and raised it high out the window, Resist, and Revolt, Fuck capitalism, he shouted to rapturous applause. He then stuck his head back inside and took a last look around the deserted office before making his way down to the courtyard.

Once there he dumped the bag into his boot, "let’s march to the Dail,” he shouted, as he jumped into his car and lit another huge cigar. People started to march behind as he drove slowly out of the gates. Bob Marley blared out of his stereo and people began to sing along, onlookers doing shopping and in neighbouring offices began to join in and soon there were about five hundred of them. None of them were sure exactly why they marching or where they were going, but it was better than work. Anything was better than work, and that Paul told them over the mega phone he had acquired, was the government’s fault. So they were marching to the Dail to tell them that.

Rebecca woke with a start; something was at the front door, Paul? No it couldn't be, he had a key now, so she got up to find out. It was the postman. A single large brown envelope lay on the floor, she was excited, and she didn't get post often. Picking it up she examined it closely, the address was typed and a franked, who the hell was it from she wondered.. Opening it revealed a two page typed letter. Excited she started reading and quickly discovered that it was from a publishing company, who said that she and Paul had sent them something that they wanted to publish, and could she call them as soon as possible to arrange a meeting. Now Rebecca got really puzzled, she hadn't sent anything to any publishing company ever and she was sure Paul hadn't either, so who had? A lot of people had copies of what they had written and anyone of them might have done it. She looked at the letter again, and it was then she spotted her sisters address on it too. What was that doing there? She picked up the phone and called her " Jane" she said really quietly and calmly "what did you send to a publishing company on behalf of me and Paul"? "Oh just some letter things you wrote ages ago that I found lying about at home, why?" Rebecca told her and Jane started to scream, it was infectious and before long Rebecca was screaming too. When they stopped Jane decided to come over and celebrate with her while she waited for Paul to return.

In Dublin Paul and his march, which had grown in size to about, six thousand were just approaching the Dail. People had joined from almost every office they had passed and there were even a few near misses with computers being hurled out windows as they passed underneath. Some radio and television crews had shown up to try and find out was going on and the police helicopter appeared overhead to cries of " scum, fuckers, wankers, crash" and widespread singing of “you can stick your fucking helicopter up your arse" from most of the crowd. When they got to the main gates Paul stopped his car. People began to crowd around in groups waiting for something to happen while others sang anti government songs. Paul wasn't quite sure what he should do, part of him wanted to storm the Dail, but there was a huge police presence and he didn't want to be arrested. Suddenly there was a huge cheer from part of the crowd and a huge mob ran in carrying huge banners saying fuck capitalism. When they started to sing about killing the police the crowd went nuts and started to join in. Paul decided it was time to make a speech before the crowd lost all interest in him. He took a microphone and jumped onto the roof of his car.

"My fellow workers" he began, the crowd now focused on him, "today I quit my job, today I said no more working for the benefit of someone else, I know a lot of you here have done the same, and if you haven't please do. Look behind the gates here, all the people who rule us drive around in big cars and live in luxury, while the rest of us drive shitty cars, and live in shitty, tiny flats at sky-high rent. How many of you think that’s right?" he paused while the crowd shouted there approval, then he continued, "we change this", "storm the building" someone shouted. "The way to change it,” he continued “is not by storming the Dail today, there’s not enough of us, it is about building the building the biggest number of people possible to overthrow the government and our bosses and to continue the fight for a better society that’s for the benefit of everyone and not just a few rich people. Thank you goodbye." The microphone was then passed over to a speaker from a socialist party while Paul stood waving a red flag.

Rebecca was still waiting on her sister, she had been waiting over a half an hour, so to pass the time she turned on the television and saw the scene outside the Dail. Paul was still on the roof of his car, waving a red flag around and beside him there was a young woman addressing the crowd. What the hell was going on, Rebecca wondered. The woman was speaking about the need to overthrow capitalism, in all its forms. It was then she remembered that Paul had mentioned something about joining some socialist group and that how one day he would lead the people from his office against the government. But he had been so hyper talking about that she couldn't remember exactly and going hyper was something he did often! The doorbell rang, it was Jane. Rebecca jumped on her immediately screaming "oh my God, oh my God, Paul’s gone nuts he on TV outside the Dail telling people to overthrow the government." "What, calm down and start again", Rebecca lead Jane into the living room and there she told/showed her what was going on. Paul wasn't anywhere to be seen though.

The young woman, Carly Johnson it said her name was, who had been on the roof of his car was now being interviewed, they didn't pay much attention at first to what she was saying, but then the interviewer asked, "and what about Paul, the guy who started this march, is he a member of your organisation?" "yes he’s been a member for ages, I think he’s gone now though, his cars not there anymore." The interview then stopped and the camera and reporter began to look for Paul. Rebecca and Jane sat in silence for a minute, then started screaming again. It seemed almost too to be true. Then the reporter said something about trying to find out where was going and speaking with him. She didn't want a huge load of reporters outside her door harassing them, but Paul was smart, he'd cop that they'd try and follow him wouldn't he? Jane agreed that he would and they thought no more of it, instead they opened a keg of beer left over from a party months before.

Paul was driving again, as fast as he could. There had been all kinds of reporters surrounding his car, wanting to know everything about him, and why he had started the march. But he had escaped, just like he had his job. That worried him a bit now, maybe he shouldn't have left so badly, but he could always claim the dole if he couldn't find another job. So things would be okay, plus maybe they'd be able to make money from things they wrote or made, but he didn't put too much thought on that one. He'd find work somewhere. Plus he had some savings. The march though had been a huge success, he wondered what was going on outside the Dail, so he switched the music off and the radio on. Every station he could pick up was talking about it and finally he found one that was live outside the Dail. From what he could gather a huge crowd was still there, chanting and singing. Then Carly was being interviewed again, the reporter asked about him and he held his breath wondering what she would say, he had told her where he was going asking her not to tell anyone for awhile. She didn't mention Galway, instead she said "as far as I know, Paul has just gone to the nearest pub to celebrate, he really hated that job". The reporter laughed and the interview finished. Paul laughed too. He was almost at his flat when an idea struck him. He had to give a few weeks notice to quit, so he'd pay them in advance and invite a mate of his to stay there for the few weeks rent free, then squat the place for as long as he could after. That would be revenge on his nasty landlord. He laughed at the thought, by the time he'd stopped, he was inside his flat, packing his things into bags and the few boxes he had lying around. When everything was packed he called his mate Peter and told him the plan. He was very enthusiastic, and said he'd be come round immediately. Paul laughed and told him he shouldn't be still living with his parents at his age. Then he called his landlord and told him he was leaving the flat and could he give he the four weeks rent now, the landlord agreed and said he'd be around in a few minutes.

Paul used the time to call Rebecca, he was sure she'd seen the news by now. A few minutes later as he hung up the phone, he pinched himself, no, he wasn't dreaming. Someone really wanted to publish his or her work, he had really quit his job and led a march to the Dail, all in the one morning and he was just about to quit his flat, as the ringing of the bell reminded him. The landlord of course, had seen the news and questioned Paul about where he was going to live after he left the flat and about work too. No company, he warned, would ever employ him again, advising that he went grovelling back to his former boss. Paul resisted the urge to tell him about the book and just shrugged his shoulders. "You never know" he said "could always start my own business". "So where are you going to live in the meantime?" "Far away from here, in a proper house" replied Paul "now here’s your money, four weeks rent in advance, what about my deposit, when do I get it back"? "In four weeks time when you leave" replied the landlord with a sneer. "Oh right, that'll be grand, just post it out to me could you?" "After I've inspected the place of course,” said the landlord "yeah that'll be fine" replied Paul desperate get rid of him, Peter would be around soon and he wanted to leave. The landlord did leave then after thoroughly inspecting the check Paul had given him.

As he was going down the stairs examining it again, he walked straight into a huge guy with no hair and rings in his nose, ears, eyebrows, all over his face, on his bald head was a huge tattoo of a jigsaw puzzle that seemed to continue all the way down his back, almost knocking him over. "Hey watch where your going asshole" he said. The landlord took one terrified look at his now angry face and fled away down the stairs. Another ring of Paul’s doorbell a second later and Peter was inside being told everything about the flat. "Just one more thing" Peter said, when he had finished "who was that asshole that just ran away down the stairs from me"? Paul laughed his head off when he realised who it was, Peter did too. Thing were going perfectly. A few minutes later and he had said his goodbye, left the flat and started driving again, this time destination: home.

When he arrived it was almost dark. Rebecca was delighted of course to see him again and Jane too. When he had stopped hugging Rebecca, he picked Jane up and thanked her for sending their work to the publishers. Dinner was almost ready and they bounced about the kitchen discussing the day’s events. People they knew Rebecca said, had been calling all day, after seeing him on the news. They hadn't quite believed it had been him, neither could Jane, telling Paul how lucky he was to be free, and he teased her, about still being in school and being small. She laughed and spat peas at him, he had to spit some back of course and soon a full-scale food fight was underway. When they had finished, there were peas in his hair, down his back, in his shoes and on the ceiling. Jane and Rebecca had ganged up on him. They had won that round, but desert was still to come and he had been told it was custard.... Jane stayed that night as she had had to change into some of Rebecca’s clothes as her own were covered in custard. She vowed to get revenge as she was shown into the spare room later that evening.

Next morning Paul woke early, something was wrong. What was it, he wondered as he staggered out of bed and into the bathroom. He'd better get ready for work quickly if he wanted to be on time. A few moments later, he realised, to his delight that it was Saturday and he didn’t have to go to work again ever. Looking in the mirror however made him scream in horror, his eyebrows were missing. The bitch, she'll pay he thought, as he got quietly back into bed. His screams hadn't woken anyone, amazingly enough and he wanted to keep it that way. He fell asleep again plotting all kinds of revenge. When he woke, it was mid morning and Rebecca and Jane were already up and about, he could hear them in the kitchen, talking and laughing. As he walked in they burst into even greater fits of laughter. He knew why, but pretended not too and after a few minutes Jane finally confessed. Paul decided to be nice, he offered to shake hands and when she agreed he pulled the handcuffs out his back pocket, and before she could stop him, he had handcuffed her to the chair. He left her for a few hours while he and Rebecca went shopping, when they returned she was asleep, very carefully Paul tilted the chair backwards all the way down to the floor. Jane woke totally disorientated and very angry, they laughed at her and finally she saw the funny side too. She left a few hours later swearing more revenge on Paul, when he was least expecting it.

Some time passed, Paul’s eyebrows began to grow back finally and they sorted out a meeting with the publishing company and got in touch with Dan. He hadn't being having, as good a time as he had been planning, unable to find the plant and therefore unable to see all the wonderful colours, dragons and other hallucinations he'd been hoping for, he'd been forced to take a job in a local supermarket. A meeting with him was arranged for the following weekend if he could get the time off work. They also found out exactly what Jane had sent to be published as they sent them a typed copy of it. Paul found out how his mate was getting on in his old flat. The landlord had been around a few times looking for him, but so far he had resisted telling him, anything other than that he was out looking for work. The four weeks would soon be up and the landlord had said something to Peter about having to repaint the whole place, so there would be no new tenant there for some time yet. That of course suited them both perfectly. He discovered too, that his old work place had totally collapsed, after his departure, most people had quit and the company was unable to find replacements for them, some past employees had sold their stories of the place far and wide. An experiment with foreign workers had gone totally wrong and the company and been forced to shut. Many of his friends had found new, better jobs, but a few had joined socialist groups outside the Dail and were preparing to stand in the upcoming elections. It had been suggested to him that he stand and although the idea excited him, he was for the moment happy to be out of Dublin. The idea though did excite him a little. After discussing it Rebecca, they decided that, for the moment they should just concentrate on their book, the meeting with the publisher was the following week and then there would be work to be done on it.

Dan called, he had got the weekend off work and would be arriving Friday evening. A lot of time was spent cleaning up the house and putting back together the bed in the spare room, Jane had done something to it once and ever since had had to sleep on a mattress on the floor. Friday evening found the house spotless clean, the fridge overflowing with drink and the bed reasonably reassembled. They waited and waited and finally the doorbell rang. It was Dan, Rebecca shook hands with him and brought him inside. A few minutes later they were sitting around talking and laughing about Paul’s exploits outside the Dail, drinking whisky and smoking. Rebecca showed him what was going to be published. He of course loved it, though he didn't read it all as it was a few hundred pages long. "Oh man that’s great, you’re going to get all kinds of mad people buying it. Its all the little things right the way through that really make it for me, the sea gulls, the whole bleeding thing at the end of some of the letters and what could beat the line 'nothing in the fridge, but a bucket and a mop, and an illustrated book about birds'? They laughed and for once tried to explain some of the meanings behind it. Nothing though seemed to fully explain it better than as Rebecca put it, " it just happened that way when we wrote it. Time passed and they got drunker and laughed more.

After a table had been over turned twice and almost broken because they were dancing on it, Jane, eager not to see the house destroyed, told them if they wanted to wanted to watch a film or something, she would make something for them to eat. "Can we eat the friendly animals?" asked Dan. "No only the unfriendly ones" replied Rebecca, "cows aren't friendly, so it’s ok to eat them". Soon he got his eggs and his pancakes too and laughed as he ate them, taking about his cup of coffee talking to him. Imagination he said, was returning to him. Paul gave him a piece of paper and a pencil, immediately he started drawing. When he had done, he handed it to Paul. It was a picture of a supermarket on fire and people fleeing while he stood by, laughing and holding a can of petrol. "Very good Dan" said Paul "I see that place has got to you big time." "Yeah" replied Dan. They spent awhile talking about it and drawing some more pictures of things happening to the building and to the managers. Eventually though they just passed out into drunken sleep.

Rebecca woke some hours later, it was just starting to get bright outside the patio door and her head hurt. She staggered, still drunken towards the kitchen where the pills where kept. Pills could make all the pain stop. It was as she reached for the press that she noticed it, at first she thought it was drunkenness still affecting her, it must be she thought, but it looked very much like her little finger had grown back completely. A few glasses of water and pills later and she was feeling better, looking again at her hand made her realise, this time without any doubt, that her little finger was back, complete with orange nail and everything.

Forgetting all about everything else she ran about screaming and jumping up and down with joy throughout the whole house, waking up an extremely hung over Dan and Paul. Knowing that they wouldn't be able to understand anything she was saying, she went outside still screaming, as they made their way to the kitchen for the pills. A few minutes passed before she returned to the kitchen, Paul and Dan were both sitting on the table, holding their heads, Paul was smoking and looked pale and tired. Dan was more alert looking but it still hurt him to talk. So they sat in silence for a few minutes until Rebecca could no longer stand them ignoring the huge grin on her face. She pushed her hand into Paul’s face, "look" she said beaming, "its grown back", "what has?" Paul asked. "My little finger, its back, its back," she cried. Paul looked a bit stunned and then asked "are you sure its not the wrong hand your looking at?" For a second Rebecca stopped, it was the right hand she was looking at wasn't it? she checked again in a panic, it was, it was. Paul checked too and after a few minutes examination he too agreed that it was her old little finger back again. Not that he could remember the old one particularly well. But he kept quiet about that and instead joined in the deafening screaming. When it stopped they all held their ears for a few minutes before jumping up and down some more.

Later after Dan’s pills had kicked in, Rebecca told them that she wanted to go play mermaids on he beach as her little finger would like that, and it had told her so. Paul explained to a rather puzzled Dan that Rebecca used the excuse "my little finger wants to" for anything the voices in her head told her to do. Dan understood and they threw away their cigarettes and returned inside to prepare for the trip to the beach. A picnic basket was filled with sandwiches, drink, knifes, forks and teaspoons. All the things they would need. Just as they were getting into the car to leave Rebecca said "oh I almost forgot the most important things of all", and she ran back inside. A minute later she returned carrying a large black bag. Ignoring all questions about its contents she got into the front seat saying only "all will be revealed when we get there". Soon they tired of asking her and instead Dan and Paul, who were in the back tried to attract the attention of other motorists by pulling silly faces at them and by sticking up signs on the window saying help we're being held hostage, call the police. It didn't work though as Rebecca noticed and turned off the main road, away from other vehicles. The beach they were going to was one that Paul hadn't heard of before, but Rebecca had told him that it was rather isolated and that no-one ever went there much, not since the two bodies had been found on the beach.

After driving around the cliffs for what seemed like hours, catching only glimpses of the blue sea sparkling in the distance, they finally stopped and got out of the car. Steps cut into the side of the cliff led down to what turned out to be a beautiful sandy beach. Paul was amazed, he hadn't been expecting this, there was next to no one on the beach except for two young women down at the very end. A beautiful beach just deserted on a beautiful weekend, why? Talking to Rebecca revealed that there had been no bodies found on it, it was just that no one really knew about it, and there was nothing near it like shops or pubs. While they were talking they failed to notice Dan taking off all his clothes, turning around after hearing his scream, they watched as he ran straight for the water screaming "freedom!" and then a second later after the first wave had hit his feet "oh man that’s fucking cold".

They laughed and his screams started to attract the attention of the two women sitting at the other end of the beach. They came running up to see what was happening. When they saw him they turned to Paul and Rebecca and said "oh we didn't know this was a nudist beach" "oh its not" replied Rebecca giggling, "we just haven't told him yet, "he doesn't get out much" Paul explained. “ Oh right are you his keepers then?" asked one of them. "For the weekend anyway" said Rebecca. They stood for a minute or two watching, even though he didn't appear to notice them. To break the silence Rebecca started to talk to them. Their names were Amanda and Teaspoon and they were both around twenty and from a little village just outside the city. They had come to the beach that morning because it was their first weekend away from the nightmare of work for six months. “oh where do you work?” Paul asked “we both work in a pharmacy,” they told him “where do you work?” they asked him “I don’t work anymore, I quit”, Paul told them. “and what about you Rebecca? Where do you work or do you?”. For people supposed to hate work, they talked about it a lot thought Paul. Rebecca told them she didn’t work anymore either. They stood for a few minutes in silence and Amanda quietly studied Paul. He looked familiar from somewhere, finally it struck her, “you’re the guy that quit his job and told everyone to overthrow the government aren’t you?” she asked suddenly. Paul blushed “how did you know?” he asked them. “The television, you were all over the news”, Amanda told him. Paul didn’t know what to say and just stood they’re hoping that something would make it all go away. Amanda and Teaspoon didn’t seem to want to go away but he didn’t want to talk them either. Fortunately a minute later Dan came running out of the water, screaming and heading straight for them.

Laughing they all ran quickly for the safety of the sand dunes near by. He didn’t bother to chase them and looking down Rebecca could see him putting his clothes on without even bothering to dry himself. She decided that they should show themselves again soon. She wanted her plan to be carried out, they were all going to be mermaids. Amanda and Teaspoon stood in silence watching Dan . Soon he was dressed again and they all emerged from the dunes to his surprise. “Oh your back “, he said “I was wondering where you’d gone, I just had to do that, it’s been far too long.” He laughed and introduced himself to the girls. He looked really surprised when he heard the name Teaspoon. “Is that really your name?” he asked “yes, yes it is” “really”?

Finally he accepted that it was her real name, but then he decided that she looked like a Sarah and he would call her that instead. She didn’t seem to mind too much and Paul decided that if keeping them around would keep Dan happy then it was worth it. Besides they hadn’t used the dreaded ‘weirdo’ word yet. Rebecca invited them to join them for lunch and they agreed. First though they had to go back down to get their bags and things from the other end of the beach. Rebecca used the time to get the black bag out of the car. Quickly opening it she pulled out some mermaid clothes. Paul and Dan watched as she pulled off her jeans and wriggled her way into one of the tails, then she put on a scaly green top. They had to admit she looked the part. “Now hide the rest of them quick I can hear the others coming back” she told them. They hurriedly stuffed the bag and her clothes into the back of the car and returned to Rebecca who was now lying on the sand.

Amanda and Sarah could be seen returning and Paul started to wonder what they would say. Dan ran up them and started babbling so fast that they hadn’t a clue what he was saying. “What are you talking about? you nutter” Amanda asked him. He slowed down a bit and repeated what he had been saying slowly. They didn’t seem to know what to say and when he told them to run up and see for themselves, they did, very quickly indeed. Rebecca was surprised by all the fuss, Amanda and Sarah came running up and when they saw her they stopped and stared. They didn’t seem to recognise her, “oh my God” Amanda kept repeating over and over. “A mermaid, a real life mermaid, see Teaspoon I told you they were real.” She didn’t say anything but instead turned to Dan and whispered “that’s Rebecca isn’t it”? He smiled but didn’t say anything except “shush, you’ll spoil the fun” Paul tried hard not to laugh as Rebecca made strange noises when Amanda asked her questions. “Eh I don’t think mermaid speak English, Amanda” Dan said. Teaspoon laughed and Amanda blushed. Paul was trying his hardest not to laugh as was Rebecca, suddenly Amanda copped it. “Bastards, you bastards” she screamed at them “I want one of those costumes”. Rebecca told her there were more in the car and soon they were all in them.

Later as the sky darkened a bottle of wine was produced and despite the excesses of the night before, Rebecca, Paul and Dan found themselves unable to refuse. The fire burned brightly and they had to remove the tails for fear they’d melt. It had been such a fun day. After Amanda and Sarah had copped on to the joke they had joined in too. Unfortunately no one else had come along and seen them. Now though they were happy again and sat around singing and laughing. “Do you know I’ve come to this beach almost a hundred times in the past six months, and never met anyone else here” Rebecca said. “oh I’ve been here a few times before” said Amanda “usually at night when I cant sleep”. For a minute nobody said anything, then Dan looking straight at Sarah said “ well I’m glad I came here today, how about you?” “Yes, yes I am” she answered loudly, then whispered something in his ear that the others couldn’t make out and then the two of them got up and Dan said “ we’re going for a little walk”. The others smiled and nodded, “ok we’ll see you soon, be careful” Rebecca said.

“Ha ha wonders what they’ll be getting up to”? Paul said with a smile. They laughed and drank some more. In the distance they could hear Dan and Sarah laughing too. They were happy. It didn’t seem to bother Amanda, that the sky wasn’t blue anymore, “it was really, really dark blue anyway” she said, “so it didn’t matter that it looked black, because it was still blue” and anyway she was normally asleep at night. They laughed some more, wondering about what Dan and Sarah were getting up too. Not a sound could be heard from them at all. Paul sat down again, he had been standing up just for the sake of it, now he lit a cigarette from a burning stick, took some more wine from the second bottle and then he spotted the crab! It was moving ever so slowly towards them. His immediate reaction was to scream, and he went with that and screamed really loudly causing the others to jump! “What’s wrong” Rebecca asked, startled. Paul pointed and they looked expecting to see something horrible. “Oh it’s just a crab” said Amanda, “I was expecting something horrible, like a shark or something”. Paul laughed a little, and said “ all the sharks live in the woods in the north of Italy, now kill it, kill it.” Amanda looked at him really strangely while Rebecca raised her foot and brought it crashing down on the crab crushing it instantly. Paul calmed down a bit then, but gave no explanation for his strange behaviour. Slowly they started to get sleepy and in spite of the fire cold . Rebecca suggested that they go and sleep in the car. They agreed it was a good idea and decided that Sarah and Dan would either find them in the morning or go off on their own somewhere.

They got to the car with only a fall or two along the way; it was when they got inside that the problems began. The back seat was barely big enough for Paul and Rebecca and the front seat had to lowered back so Amanda could sleep properly. This left the back seat even more cramped and Amanda’s hair hanging over the back of the seat and brushing against Rebecca’s face to her great annoyance. Moving to the other end though would be more trouble, and Amanda was already asleep, so simply asking her to move her hair wasn’t an option. Neither was sneezing, but she knew it was coming, and so didn’t try to stop it, “Achoo”! Amanda woke with a start “what?” she said “oh sorry Amanda” Rebecca said “it’s just your hair is in my face and it made me sneeze, I didn’t mean to wake you”. “Oh that’s okay, I didn’t realise” said Amanda and she pulled her hair away from Rebecca. Then she went back to sleep. Rebecca started to fall asleep too. Paul was already snoring lightly. Everything was just perfect and they slept soundly finally.

Everything was just perfect too for Sarah and a little away from the car and the fire she slept too, unaware that America had just launched its nuclear weapons against China and that in a matter of minutes the whole world would be wiped from all existence and the memory of everyone but a few astronauts left floating in space and the few aliens who had visited. She slept silently and unaware as first the Chinese launched retaliatory attacks on the U.S.A, and then as Israel launched it’s nukes at the surrounding Arab states, as Britain, France and Germany launched against each other and as the leader of the Al Quida group burned the US flag before launching his own special weapons against all countries in range and then against himself, and what was left of his country. Finally as the scale of the destruction began to sink in the remaining world leaders rang each other and decided that the best thing was just to give up, they had made a mess that could never be cleaned up, they had almost destroyed the planet, why not just finish the job now. And so they did, all remaining nuclear war heads were launched at any countries left. It didn’t take long before Ireland and the whole world was nuked out of existence completely. The astronauts on board the space station watched in horror as the mushrooms clouds rose, aware that they could never go back now, they were trapped.

Dan woke screaming in a cold sweat; his ex wife had never mentioned the plant having bad effects before. Or maybe he had just taken the wrong one, it had been dark when he had spotted it, so he could easily have got it wrong. Not that when he found it had really cared, it had looked as she had described so he had eaten it. Sarah woke up upon hearing his screams. He told her what had happened and she sat with him till he calmed down and the sun started to slowly rise.

Rebecca hadn’t heard the screams but still she was waking. Looking outside and seeing the day breaking made her feel good. It was going to be a good day. The only problem was, that although she was awake, she couldn’t move. Amanda was still asleep on the seat in front of her, and Paul though his head had dropped off the seat, still had his legs in the way of the door on that side. She was sure however that if she tried she could squeeze past, so…. she did.

When the others finally woke up it was time for the long drive back home to begin. Rebecca had spent the previous hour, trying to the pain in her legs stop then she sat watching the waves, occasionally scanning the beach for Dan and Sarah. Now with the others awake it was time to go looking for them. Splitting up they searched all over the beach. Finally Amanda found them sitting in the dunes. They looked up at her blinking “come on we’re leaving” she said, Dan let out a string of obscenities and Sarah rocked back and forth in his arms mumbling something that didn’t makes sense. Amanda tried again to make them get up, when this failed, she decided to go back and get the others to help.

But when she made it back a few minutes later they had gone. In the spot where they had been was a note. Paul picked it up and read it aloud. “Dear people, the earth as we know it has been destroyed, last night I witnessed the nuclear holocaust that wiped us all out. We don’t exist any more, what you seeing is an illusion. Since we don’t exist any more, nothing matters, therefore I’m going to burn down that kip supermarket and all the customers. Or maybe this is just the plant I ate talking from my feet cos my mouth busy … either way I don’t mind.” Paul laughed as he finished reading, “well they can’t have gotten far, lets go stop them before they really do burn that supermarket”

Again they split up to look for them. It was Rebecca who spotted them running over a dune not for away. She ran to catch up with them. They were moving quickly and didn’t seem to notice her coming up behind them. Paul and Amanda had obviously noticed her running after them and they started running too. Dan and Sarah noticed them running after them eventually and slowed to let them catch up.

When they finally did catch up with them, they stopped and Dan turned around laughing and smiling at them. “What do you want”? He asked them, “ To stop you burning down the supermarket,” said Paul, there was no nuclear holocaust, we are not just an illusion, it was just the plant talking through your feet like you said in the note”. “Oh yeah that” he said in an odd faraway type voice “never mind that now muggle, where did the monkey take my brain banana to??” Then he collapsed on the ground laughing. Sarah didn’t see the insides of her eyelids for another three hours as they all sat in a circle watching Dan, intent on keeping him away from more plants. Dan was in the middle still laughing and occasionally he would get up and shout things like “Clingons on the starboard side, captain” at the top of his voice. Finally, when it felt like there were pins growing in their legs, Dan stopped laughing and said lets go home! They stood up rather gingerly and moved slowly towards their car….