One Among the Sleepless, a novel written and performed for podcast by Mike Bennett. This novel is intended for an adult

audience. Episode 19 19.

Chapter 18

The long hair at the back of mixed neck fluttered gently in the warm breeze

as he strolled into the pavilion gardens.

He wasn't generally inclined to sing in public, but for some reason he had the street where

you live stuck in his head and it kept forcing its way out of his mouth in little bursts.

He didn't know all the words, so he whistled more than he sang.

He held his jacket draped behind his shoulder and his lunch

swung at his side in a small Marx and Spencer's bag. He stopped and looked across the

gardens to the bench that he and Sally had shared yesterday.

She wasn't there. He frowned. Was he early?

He checked his watch.

No, she should be here by now.

He looked around, searching for her among the people on the other benches and squinting against the sunlight.

There was no sign of her.

His sandwich bag sagged a little in his fingers.

He checked again, hoping perhaps she had been obscured for an instant by someone who was sitting next to her, maybe someone with a broad sheet

newspaper, but there was nothing like that. She just wasn't there. He walked towards the empty bench. Just as he was approaching it, a group of teenage

language students seemed to materialize around it from nowhere. They swarmed onto the bench bench a riot of flailing limbs and excited voices.

A voice called from way off.

He looked around.

...