ACT THREE, SCENE ONE “Well, you’ve got some fucking gall, turning up now, after all these years!” Riley spat the words out with contempt – but some indecision, which was evident in the way her accent wavered: part of her felt determined to be profoundly chavvy, so as to identify unequivocally with her mother, her mother who, she felt certain, has been so wronged by this man all those years ago; but part of her wanted to d...

On their fortieth wedding anniversary, Joseph and Mary made love under the date tree. He wasn’t able to screw her as energetically as he once had, but he knew his wife’s body well enough. When they’d finished, he turned to her and asked the question he’d waited four decades to ask. “Who was it then? An angel of the Lord? Come on! I won’t be angry. I’m curious. Seriously, who was it?” Sixty-year-old women do not blush as r...

“It seems to me,” muttered Balthazar as he stirred the teapot, “That gold, frankincense, and myrrh are pretty stupid gifts to bring a ten-day-old baby. Why don’t we get him a stuffed camel or a rattle or something like that? Something he might actually enjoy?” “Honestly,” said Melchior, “I agree. But Caspar insists. The dream was adamant. It has to be gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” “Pffffff. Those tax collectors doing th...

  Outside number 38B Tottenham Cunt Road, any parishioner arriving for the advertised Requiem mass that Sunday morning might have noticed a young couple standing guard on the opposite side of the road. Actually, only one of them was standing; the other was kneeling on the pavement in front of him, sucking his cock. Bradley gazed down at Claire, her head bobbing slowly back and forth, tongue twisting and slobbering, lips a...

And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; and he said, “Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways.” And they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a...

“Sangue di Cristo,” intoned Padre Antonio, as full-bodied Suor Dolcina drank deeply from the silver chalice, Precious Blood rich and honeyed on her tongue. “Amen.” A crimson droplet trickled across her lower lip. She savoured it, and saved it, gently touching a plump finger to her mouth. As she shared a kneeler with Angelica, her scarlet digit intruded under the folds of her fellow novice’s habit. And where she touched he...

  King David sat at his Harp, gently plucking at the strings. His nimble fingers finding their notes with precision. He had now been playing the harp for as many years as the greatest harpist in any of the nations around Israel. People would gather from the hills and valleys to hear their king play, his music sounding as if his hands were directed by God Himself. He had now been reigning king for twenty years. He was Davi...

“Have you seen the size of that boat?” Mahlah asked.“Yeah. That Noah bloke must be short of a couple of planks,” Salpaad said, tapping her head. “Up here.”“No, it’s definitely your turn to go for wood,” Noah bellowed, making both women cower..“Noah and his bloody Gopherwood!” Salpaad hissed the words almost loud enough for someone to hear over the hammering.“And get some bloody nails while you’re out there!” Noah’s head a...

Genesis 38 King James Version  11 Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter in law, Remain a widow at thy father's house, till Shelah my son be grown: for he said, Lest peradventure he die also, as his brethren did. And Tamar went and dwelt in her father's house. 12 And in process of time the daughter of Shuah Judah's wife died; and Judah was comforted, and went up unto his sheepshearers to Timnath, he and his friend Hirah th...

Night was just beginning to envelope the land as he set fourth. A gentle breeze rolled in from the south, rustling the underbrush and carrying with it a thousand fascinating scents. He breathed deep, relishing the bouquet of flowers, fruits, a thousand wild kinds of dung and dark, rich earth. He filled his lungs with the smells of countless unseen beasts and a multitude of roots and leaves and vines. He cast his eyes towa...

I had not expected the ship to be as huge as it was, dwarfing its surroundings. As I walked along the gangway I met him for the first time. I bumped into him when he turned to wave to someone on the pier. He bent down and picked up the purse I had dropped when we collided. There was a warm, friendly smile on his face as he apologized.He looked at me appraisingly, with a look in his eyes that caused a slight sexual tinglin...