Yule Among the Sleepless, a podcast mini-series by Mike Bennett. This podcast is intended for an adult audience. It contains

adult situations and really rather rude words. Episode 6.

The snow was melting as it hit the pavement, creating a thin skin of slush in which Wayne almost slipped as he bounded out of the pub.

The Lion and Lobster was on a corner and presented him with four possible directions for

Lucy to have gone in. He twisted this way and that head

swiveling and eyes searching the dark for a sign of her, but snowflakes gleaming

as they drifted through the glow of the streetlights, made it almost impossible

to make out anything distinctly.

Then he noticed a few trails of footprints in the snow. She and he were the only people to have left the pub in the last few minutes,

and on looking down to where he stood by the pub doorstep,

he saw that besides his own skidded tracks was one other set which went around the corner.

He bolted in pursuit and at the corner he looked up the street towards the Western Road. Here and there were pedestrians bundled

anonymously in hats and coats, but falling snow made it almost impossible to discern anything

other than vague shapes. So, like a hound, Wayne

cast his eyes down and hurried after the trail of footprints. After five meters they turned off the pavement between two parked cars and

crossed the street. Once on the other side, there was only one shadowy figure on the street

ahead, some 20 meters away a woman by her gate and then

as she walked into a pool of streetlight he saw she wore a parker.

Lucy! he shouted.

She stopped and turned back.

He realised he would appear as obscure to her as she had to him and so ran forwards to stand beneath a streetlight and waved a hand.

It's me! Wayne? Yeah!

...