Hugh Roberts is a writer and blogger, now living in Abergavenny, South Wales.
Although Hugh suffers from a mild form of dyslexia, he doesn’t allow it to stop him writing. He has a passion for reading and writing short stories, many of which come with an unexpected twist.
Hugh is hoping to publish his first collection of Short Stories towards the end of 2016.
Sarah says: I’m delighted to welcome Hugh Roberts as this month’s guest storyteller. But be warned, his “unexpected twists” often have a wickedly dark edge to them, as you’re about to discover –shades of Roald Dahl, even.
To read more of his tales, plus some helpful snippets about the art of blogging, you can find him at Hugh’s Views and News.
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The Gingerbread House
Here’s the photo I took of it. Do you like it?
Yes, it took a lot of time making that gingerbread house. Mum was not very pleased about all the mess in the kitchen, but when Johnny volunteered to help me clean everything up and I agreed to make her a cup of tea, she went back to her computer upstairs and said nothing else about it.
The gingerbread house was a huge hit at Mum’s birthday party. Everybody loved it and said how nice it looked as the centrepiece of the table. We even used our favourite sweets to decorate the house. Yes, we ate some of the sweets as we decorated the cake, but there was enough left to finish it off. Mum was well pleased with it and Dad said it was the best birthday cake he had ever seen. He was the one that took the photo.
At Mum’s birthday party, the following day, everyone was eager to have a slice of the gingerbread house, but Dad said we had to eat the sandwiches, cheese and pineapple on sticks, and sausage-rolls first before Mum could cut into it while we all sang happy birthday to her. Mum was quite emotional as she made the first cut and we all thought it was because she hated the fuss of birthdays and being the centre of attention.
Mum had been upset the day before, not only because of the mess we were making but because she said the picture of the gingerbread house we were baking from the recipe book looked like Grandma’s house. Grandma and Mum were very close and when Grandma went to heaven to become an angel, we were all very upset. Johnny and I were so pleased with the gingerbread house and that it reminded Mum of Grandma’s house. Johnny is nearly eight and I’m ten in three and three-quarters months’ time.
After the birthday party had finished we agreed to help Mum and Dad clear up. Dad asked Mum if she wanted to keep the cake board the gingerbread house had stood on, seeing as the whole lot had been eaten. While Dad cleaned the cake board, Mum sat down in her favourite chair and noticed that the lid of Grandma’s canister, that they call an urn, was not on correctly. She asked Dad about it and he said he hadn’t touched it.
It wasn’t until Johnny told Mum and Dad that he’d emptied what was in Grandma’s canister into the mixing bowl, because he wanted to put Grandma back into her house, that the screaming and crying started. Even Dad was upset. I had no idea what Johnny had done while I made Mum that cup of tea and took it up to her. I didn’t even notice a difference in the mixture when I came back and Johnny was making a wish as he stirred everything with the big wooden spoon.
However, it doesn’t matter to Johnny and me because we still believe Grandma is an angel.
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Reblogged this on The Militant Negro™.
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Thank you for the reblog 🙂
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Go, Hugh, go! What a darkly funny little story. And Sarah, thanks for sharing Hugh with your world of readers.
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Thanks so much, Leigh. I do wonder about where my mind goes with these stories sometimes.
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That’s the fun of writing, just letting the literary muse tip quirky ideas into one’s head. If you’re anything like me when writing, dark twists to stories seem to come out of the blue and make one jump and down with wicked hand-rubbing glee when they happen.
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Hugh is so good at “darkly funny”. I’m glad you enjoyed his story, Leigh 🙂
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Thanks for introducing Hugh to us Sarah. Hugh, loved the twist at the end of the story, great fun.
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Thank you so much, Andrea.
Have a great week.
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Hugh can always be depended upon to produce a memorable twist to stories. I love sponge cake, but will never quite look at those made by someone other than me in the same light!
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Hi Sarah, Hi Hugh (Darth)! Great to see you and your story featured as Sarah’s Guest Storyteller! And I must say, this is yet another fascinating story with a, how shall I say, dark and disturbing twist…although I admit to feeling rather sick at the thought of it 😮 No wonder Mum needed that cup of tea! Great stuff 🙂
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Thanks very much, Sherri. I was so delighted when Sarah asked me to be her Guest Storyteller. If it wasn’t for her then this short story may never have made it. I think I may have put an end to the sale of Gingerbread Houses for a while.
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…a cup of tea with a double whisky added, more like! So Sherri, please enlighten me as to why you call Hugh “Darth”. Is it because his stories lean towards the dark side?
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Haha…yes, that would do the trick! You would be right about Hugh’s dark side Sarah…hence the nickname! It came about a little ago, can’t quite remember, but I know one thing, I won’t be making or eating any gingerbread houses for a long time, if ever… 😉
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