Jaspistos

Short story

In Competition No. 2485 you were invited to submit a short story entitled ‘Can You Forgive Her?’

In Competition No. 2485 you were invited to submit a short story entitled ‘Can You Forgive Her?’ The standard of the entry was mixed, but none was worthy of the mockery heaped on Anthony Trollope’s novel of the same name by Punch, which, infuriated by the indecisiveness of the heroine Alice Vavasor, referred to it as ‘Can You Stand Her?’ Henry James wasn’t much of a fan of Alice either, reputedly remarking that he could ‘forget her too, for that matter’.

The unforgettable prizewinners, printed below, get £35 each. Hats off to Peter Smalley’s beguiling if bemusing Pinteresque two-hander, but the bonus fiver goes to Brian Murdoch’s compromised priest.

***

‘Father,’ came the whisper. ‘I need a quick favour.’

‘I thought you had someone in your own confessional just now, Father,’ the second priest whispered back.

‘I have, and that’s exactly the problem.’

‘Why?’

‘Well, Father, she says she’s been a little bit naughty but she is sorry now.’

‘But you’re the one talking to her. It’s up to you.’

‘Well, shall we say she was, well, let us say involved. With a gentleman of the cloth.’

‘These things happen, Father. But if she has repented, surely you can deal with it.’

‘Ah, there we have it. I might — how shall I put it? — have to come to you with my own confession a little bit later.’

‘Oh, I see. Bit of a theological problem for you, then.’

‘Exactly. But I don’t want her wandering around unshriven, which is why I need you to do me a favour. Can you forgive her?’

Brian Murdoch

They sat in the window. The sun glanced dazzling off the wet street. The smell of coffee was rich and disturbing, like incense. Like blood. ‘Start again. Begin at the beginning.’ This bloody phone, the battery is always flat. Sorry, what?’

‘Tell me all about it.’

‘They say switch it off in here anyway.

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