“Pardon me sir, but what are you doing?” asked the peace officer.
“I’m looking for a witch” replied the strange man staring at the wall. He began running his hands over the graffiti that made a bright collage of the bricks in front of him.
“Is that a fact?” said the peace officer
“It is actually” said the strange man in his soft, quiet tones. He was wearing a long dirty coat, a wide brimmed hat and dirty combat boots on his feet. They were standing on a foot path that ran by the canal with a dilapidated building on one side and a retail park on the other.
“The crazies always hang out here.” thought the officer. He started to get a little anxious but not worried yet. Though that changed as he watched the strange man crouch down and start going through the rubbish strewn near the wall. The man began picking up pieces of food carton and old dirty items of clothing, sniffing and fondling before discarding them. Finally he scraped his fingers along the dirt pile that had built up at the base of the wall.
“So is there a witch here?” asked the peace officer.
“They have been here” said the strange man gathering the little pile of twigs, stones and rubbish together and scattering the handful of dirt over it. Seemingly as an afterthought he, without looking, threw some dirt at the peace officer. The officer looked down as the small flecks of earth landed on his shoes.
“That’s it, your coming with me” he said and stepped forward, arrested the man, dragged his sorry ass to a jail cell and left him there on some made up charge of assault or whatever, he would figure it out later.
At least that is what he tried to do.
The plan fell into place after years doing such things but today was different. As soon as the dirt hit his shoes the officer found that he couldn’t move. Couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, could only watch as the strange man by the wall began pissing on the pile that he had made. That done he made to leave. Passing the frozen officer the strange man stopped and threw his arm round the officer’s shoulder.
“Now listen, Ted, tomorrow is the day you retire.” said the strange man. “You’ve spent enough time on the force, enough time wandering the streets looking for trouble. So you are going to want a break and besides I think you are going to need one. Your beautiful wife Maggie is fucking your best friend, has been for years. They are together now in fact and if you were wondering, no, she is not thinking of you. She hasn’t thought of you like that for a long time. Your pretty, innocent daughter Hannah has just discovered she is pregnant. She is right now watching one of those home pregnancy things change colour. She doesn’t know what she will do now, she doesn’t know who the father is. You see last month when she said she was staying at a friends house, Jeanie I think it was, that friend said the same to her gullible, trusting parents and the two of them went over to the college campus for a party. It was so cool to be invited to a college party. Niether of them realised the beers they were handed were drugged. Woke up feeling sore and dizzy, so wandered home to try and forget about it. Then she missed the visit from Aunt Rose and now her world is falling in. Jeanie will get away with nothing but a case of the itches, but not Hannah. Right now she is scared and lost and the thing she fears most is you. What will she tell you? How will she tell you? Uh oh?! She just decided to run away. You had better get a shifty on or you will never see her again. So I gotta go but before I do you should talk to your son Robbie, he is getting way too interested in his mother’s underwear, right now he is wearing a set and enjoying the feel. Laters Teddy.”

Ted, still unable to move, began to weep quietly as the strange man wandered off, giggling to himself.

Tomas was flying. Soaring over the roof tops he was gliding on the breeze. It was dawn and the sun was just breaking the horizon and the city shone in the glow. Tomas flapped his wings (yes wings these were new) and rose higher in the drift. He came in to land on the roof of the old City Bank, that had since been turned into a bar. That seemed to be happening a lot lately, a building would close then open a month later to serve drinks.

From the rooftop viewpoint he could see the river glistening as it ran its course under the bridges and down to the Harbour. He could see the new Concert Hall still shadowy and malevolent, crouching by the road side. He could see the park glowing green with the flood wall through the middle of it, as if the city would only save half of the land and condemn the rest to a watery grave.

He would never tire of this.

All at once he flew back to the canal and back into the broke down rubble house that used to be a factory now long disused and woke up.

“Thanks buddy” he said then picked himself up. ‘One advantage of sleeping in your clothes’ he thought ’I’m up and dressed in less than sixty seconds’
“Time to greet the day” he said out loud.

“Bless me father for I have sinned, it has been a week since my last confession. Okay what did I do this week? I um ate some swan and I said fuck a lot and I ……..”
“Tomas is that you?” said the priest.
“Yeah its me” said Tomas
“Oh thank Christ” said the priest “I thought I was going to have to call security”
Tomas pulled back the curtain and stepped out.
“Do you really have security in a church?”
“No” said the priest “I would just start praying for Salvation!”
“Don’t think your going to get it if you keep taking the lords name in vain like that.” said Tomas
“Oh I’ll be fine, I’ll just say some Hail maries later.”said the priest “Come in back, we’ll talk”
Tomas followed the priest into the vestry where she promptly started to get undressed.
“Shouldn’t I wait outside or turn my back or something?” said Tomas
“Why?” said the priest “Does my body embarrass you”
“No, Christ, you’re like 28 and could be a supermodel except your not your a priest and you wear priest robes except for now your actually quite naked and I’m running the risk of having unsavoury, hellbound thoughts in God’s house.”
“In that case” said the priest. She turned around showing her full naked breasts to which Tomas couldn’t help glancing. “Go outside and start my truck”

The gear box crunched as the beat up Ford stopped for a red light.
“So Father, what is it today?” said Tomas swiveling in his seat
“Geena, Tom call me Geena out of the robes” she said “How many times?”
Geena had changed into blue jeans and a flannel shirt.
“So Geena, what is it today?”
“Mrs O’Breenan”
For a moment Tomas just stared. Geena grunted as heaved the truck up the gears.
“Don’t look at me like that Tom” said Geena with her eyes on the road.
“Is she really dying?” said Tomas
“Anyday now” said Geena
“Her family all there?”
“She needs the Last Rites Tom”
“Have they come round yet?
“Nope”
“Never a dull moment”
The truck hit a bump and a loud clang came from the engine.
“You should give the Last Rites to this truck. said Tom settling back into his seat
“Shut up Tom”

They rolled out of the city toward the little Hamlet of Brig. Next stop, the O’Breenan farmstead.