A dozen pairs of gleaming eyes reflected the beam of my torch as I swept around the cellar. Their feral brightness startled me and the hairs on my neck bristled. "Rats!" "So what if we are?" a high pitched voice squealed in challenge. I inhaled sharply. "Rats can't talk," I muttered as I peered along the beam. "Who's there?" "They can too talk," a second voice squeaked back. I gasped again and paused and re-evaluated my earlier statement. My long held beliefs on the nature of t...

I stood at the top of the gentle incline and studied the grazing herd. I had been tracking them for several days and was now tired and very hungry. My furs were damp and muddy, leaving me feeling cold and uncomfortable. "Well, here goes nothing." I raised my club above my head. Then I screamed as loudly as I could and launched myself down the slope. The club began to whistle as I whirled it through the air. Several of the beasts looked up but, showing supreme disinterest, returned to th...

I looked down from my tree and saw a large, furry animal feeding upon the remains of a smaller but equally furry animal. At first I felt sickened but quickly mastered the urge. "Nature must run it's course," I declared. "Cobblers!" the green and red parakeet I shared my perch with exclaimed. Silence enveloped us once more and we watched the red sun sink slowly beyond the distant horizon. "Night," said I, once twilight had come and gone. "At last." Perhaps, I thought on, it will get ...

Every once in a while, I do a little bit of writing. Usually short stories but sometimes other little bits and pieces some of which may come across as being somewhat off the wall. I long time ago, I worked for the computer division of a large Scottish bank and the work - computer programming and systems analysis - was sometimes very dull. In one of these troughs, I penned three very short pieces of rather silly prose which I gave the overall title of "Segments". I thought it might be a laugh ...