As the Crow Flies - Maurice Ben Rose

The narrator sits sipping his cappuccino outside a street cafe, watching life flow by. A weird little man appears, a complete stranger and engages him in conversation. He talks strangely about crossing the border and zig-zagging out over 'no mans land'. This seems peculiar because there are no borders in the immediate vicinity. The scene metamorphoses into an horrific enactment of 'trench warfare' in which the narrator assumes the personae of a soldier 'Scot' who survives despite all odds, returning in substance to his seat outside the street cafe. He finds that the little man is himself named 'Scot'. The narrator becomes obsessed with him, can no longer live without his company. When he leaves the narrator becomes restless, cannot sleep. In his unquiet mind he resolves to make the journey himself across 'no mans land' in search of him. Born in London Paddington, 1935, only child, father Lithuanian Jew disappeared in war, mother Canadian. Evacuee, bohemian youth in Hampstead, full time teacher in the East End of London for 18 years. Married and living in Blackheath, I have 2 grown up children. I am a freelance artist, painter, sculptor, and have been writing for over forty years."