Names Fiction |
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Name for a dog
Awake, his dream dissolved into air, Raeburn walked back the long walk from the ancient rock, along the stony beach, past the quayside. The dog greeted him long before he reached his gate. He told himself it was time he fixed on a name for the dog. The candidates for names were bafflingly endless. Aaran, Aaren, Aaron, Arran, he said out loud to make his point. The dog barked at this list. Kiss, Inward, Haythornthwaite and Death are all names. The dog barked louder. Raspberry is a name, Zaezilie, Fath, Cuquemelle and Rayssiguier. Rayssiguier? The dog howled. Come here Cuquemelle, here boy. Go fetch, Nightingale, Noy, Nettleship. And don’t forget Winona. King, Mascherano. Ivo, Dibba, Vespasiano.
Name of a ferry
A lady wrote to Raeburn saying she had been in touch with the spirit of Kokkola. She was waiting on his doorstep. In fact she was from the criminal investigation department. He showed her the list. She managed to look round his place: the list had been typed on an old typewriter owned by Raeburn. He told her he planned to live in Rennes but first needed to study the movements of the ferries. Among these he had a predilection for the Enez Eussa. On the basis of her report he was soon apprehended, taken into custody for an hour, and deterred from the idea of jumping a ferry. Asked about his occupation, he said he was retired but was an expert on the European Union. To his disappointment he was not held for further questioning but simply let go, left to himself on the island of Ouessant.