Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #16 July 2015 | Page 4

Across the border
By Pete Sutton

window. The south side brandishes the red, white and
blue and declares “No Thanks!”
A flash of red amongst the grey old men of the
standing stones leads him to her. She is lecturing a
snail.

Her name is Melinda, caught between child
and teenager. Outside in all weathers in red raincoat
and yellow wellies, to escape the regime of the house
by the sea. She is a bright flash across the bleak
landscape, red and yellow against the heather, the
bracken, the gorse.

“If we get freedom you’ll live in a different
country, with all the change that will bring. Do what
your heart tells you, but listen to your head too. That’s
what they’re saying. If we get freedom, she’ll marry
him. I’ll have to change my name. I don’t want to
change my name.”

His name is John, reduced to observer,
silent watcher of future history unfolding. He walks
along the border near the house by the sea. He’s
accompanied by his ghost of a dog, all white mist and
frivolity. The house by the sea has been a constant
in his life for years now. He has not got used to it.
It is on the border. That arbitrary line, created by
long dead cartographers, does little to obscure his
view, or hinder his wild walks. The