NEW SHORT STORY THE CANCER DOGS OF MIRIJEVO PUBLISHED!

 

Neil Randall is delighted to announce that his new short story The Cancer Dogs of Mirijevo has just been accepted for publication by Paris-based literary journal RIC. Based on an encounter with a street dog in the eponymous Belgrade suburb of the title, the story explores themes of bereavement, true love, and facing up to the losing that one special person in your life.

To whet your appetite, here are the opening scenes of the story: 

Ever since her Serbian husband of over forty years ended his life at Dignitas in Switzerland following a long and not particularly dignified battle with bowel and bladder cancer, Professor Patrica Atlee had been looking for something to occupy her mind. Recently retired and relocated to the Belgrade suburb of Mirijevo (assisted suicide isn’t cheap and the couple had to sell their highly desirable property in the far more exclusive area of Dedinje), Atlee had entered a dull and directionless period of life. Having enjoyed a successful career in the serious disease research field, she knew she had to either reignite her old passion for photography and painting, or find a new interest before she slipped into the same distressing rut that her husband had during the final years of his life.

At sixty-seven, the idea of entering the ‘mature’ dating scene horrified her. The mere thought of a series of pseudo-intimate encounters with strangers, no matter how pleasant, intelligent, or attractive was appalling. Whenever possible, she tried to catch up with family and friends for coffee, but found their company dull and insipid, rather than engaging and comforting. After long bouts of sudoku, the perusal of favoured medical journals, and internet surfing, she found herself wandering around her new home enclave, a singularly unattractive amalgam of high-rise apartment blocks, populated by thousands of young families.

Whether it was this – observing so many people at the start of their lives rather than the end – that both depressed and fascinated her, she could never quite tell. But it often saw her stroll towards the busy park near the supermarket, a well-appointed concrete quadrant equipped with swings, slides, roundabouts, and some nifty and well-used exercise equipment.

And it was during one of these now-regular forays that she noticed something so extraordinary, she knew she had just found the project she so badly needed at that time.

 

If you like what you’ve read so far, you can read the story in its entirely on RIC’s website.

 

And if you want to read more of my published work, head over to my Amazon page.