Stories

Anthology Pot Luck Theme: Turn Back Time

British born Chinese gay man Stanley Cheung wakes with somebody else's hangover.

Not only that, but he is laid out on someone’s couch in a grungy student digs where a strange woman is telling him he smells like a brewery. The thing is Stanley rarely drinks.

When the woman finally leaves, he finds out that not only has he woken as six-foot-three, ripped, blond-haired, straight Caucasian Don Bradley, but today is not Friday.

It’s Thursday.

Again.

He is reliving the same day but this time as somebody else.

The sleepy village of Crumbington is about to get a wake-up call.

When the new chairperson of the Summer Fête Committee pushes to create a naked calendar of the Crumbington football team, mouths drop open. Her further pronouncement at having snagged a celebrity host for the fête—rising television and movie star Clifton O’Keefe, and ex-resident of Crumbington—is met with indifference.

Not by Nathan Fresher, though, local baker and captain of the football team. He had been Clifton’s boyfriend in high school, until Clifton and his family disappeared into the night over ten years ago.

Gabriel Redbrick mourns the loss of his companion, Dr Albert Callico, who died in a minibus accident on his way to a medical conference.

Following a meeting with Albert's solicitor, Gabriel discovers he has inherited a derelict property in rural Italy. He also stumbles upon a secret message left to him by Albert.

The message leads Gabriel to the Italian site where he meets a groundsman, Lorenzo Morelli. The unravelling also suggests that Gabriel’s is in danger while offering a clue to unlocking his past.

Fellow students of Brathay Stonearm consider him pleasant and harmless. Nobody guesses at his single-minded determination to become the best buildings expert of his generation.

Until Counsellor Brokerman offers him a challenge he feels compelled to accept.

Lord Leonmarkh, youngest of the DuMankin siblings, has a reputation as something of a spoiled wastrel and has been shipped off to Black Ice Bay to assume the role of Watchman of the North. Brathay is tasked with assessing the ancient keep and advising Leonmarkh on how to survive the long winter months.

If only the man would grant him an audience.