Copyright David Stewart
It’s a typical English village, all duck-ponds, rose-clad cottages and cricket pitches.
But Nick has a gift for scything through respectable facades.
Nick has a nose for human frailties; he inhales the ghetto surrounding him.
The vicar, who has lost his faith, takes nightly refuge in the whisky bottle.
His daughter, the so-called village virgin, is lusting after the mayor, who’s been helping himself to the town tax-receipts to meet the blackmail demands of the local police constable.
The local schoolmaster… Hell’s teeth!
“Now here,” thinks old Nick, strolling down the street, “is a place I can do business.”
Raining heavily here in France, as tropical storm Henri blows itself out, with winds approaching 100kph forecast for today. Moored up at Gray in NE France, time to hunker down, check the ropes and plunder our limited broadband connection. 😦 Thanks to Rochelle, la capitaine of the Friday Fictioneers port for her continued selfless application to the activities of our dedicated crew of writers.
castelsarrasin 
Dear Sandra,
I can see Old Nick, clad in back hooded cape with his scythe, patrolling the village for souls. Hell’s teeth, I might have had that one for a teacher at some point. 😉 Well written and evocative. I read it twice just for the shear pleasure of it.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thanks Rochelle, a doube read is indeed a compliment. 🙂
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Nice. It leaves me wondering what Nick’s business is.
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Oh just this and that, making work for idle hands. 🙂
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I love your cynicism.
Good piece.
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I keep it in a box, and polish it from time to time. 🙂
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There are so many phrases here that I really like, the second and third lines in particular.
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Thank you! I was taken with the idea of inhaling a ghetto.
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He certainly has some hidden agendas… really want to know his nxt move…
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Just so long as it’s not in your direction, I guess. 😉
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Oh yes, a story inside a story. Love all those complex , complicated people.
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Everyone has a story inside them. As well as the one they want you to read. Thanks for reading Kir.
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Old Nick can always find places that he is welcome and perhaps where he is seen as the lesser evil. Good story. Stay safe in the storm.
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Old Nick is never short of a resting place, for sure. Thanks for reading Irene. We’re watching the thunderstorm approach right now. Thankfully we’re moored up.
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Dear Sandra,
I know who Nick is. (“I know you,” says Billy Markham, “from many a dark and funky place,
But you always spoke in a different voice and wore a different face.
While me, I’ve gambled here on Music Row with hustlers and with whores,
And, Hell, I ain’t afraid to roll them devilish dice of yours.”)
What an absolutely perfect story, Sandra. Keep dry and warm and safe and above all, keep writing. (And keep watching the lochs for me.)
Love and Aloha,
Doug
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Thanks for reminding me of that piece, reviewed by the NY Post with the description “jokes coming Faust and furious”. 🙂 And thank you for visiting again, I’ve been to yours and as ever it’s left me thinking. Keeping a watch out for you. Take care.
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Love it. I recognise all those characters. Rich pickings for old Nick.
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Home from home, I’d say. Thanks for visiting Patrick.
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That ‘Ole Nick is a bit of a devil! Fortunately, this village is nothing like any that neighbour me here on the Sussex coast (where the rain is also relentless)
Rosey Pinkerton’s blog
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Thanks for reading Rosey.
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Old Nick or Little Saint? Guessing the former. Lol.
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Spot on Paul.
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Scything facades. Very nice.
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Thank you.
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That is a wicked delight. Mesmerizing!
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Thanks Karen.
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Fantastic. What great characters, and how skilfully you’ve woven the backstories together. I love it.
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Thank you Margaret. 🙂
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Very nice.
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Thanks Indira.
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This is a truly inspired, brilliant, creative, imaginative post! Terse and spare sentences, brilliant single-sentence character and story details and a great protagonist in old Nick the devil.
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Thank you! Glad you liked it.
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How fun! It reminded me of some of the Agatha Christie mysteries –set in some perfectly normal, peaceful seeming small town, harboring all kinds of questionable behavior!
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🙂 Thanks for reading.
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it’s a place that needs Christmas. way to go old st. nick.
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🙂 Thanks for reading.
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This seems so real, in a fantastical sort of way.
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All human and inhuman life is here, Dawn. 🙂
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Just in time for Halloween and the evil that some do. Nick is a very rich man. Needful Things, the temptations, and those who never refuse. Wonderful story!
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Thank you, Yolanda.
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Great stuff.
This made me chuckle quite a bit.
Reminiscent of the fabulous sketch towards the end of Monty Python’s Meaning of Life.
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I didn’t see that one CE. But I’m pleased it made you laugh. 🙂
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Excellent ending and a great read!
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Thank you!
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Made me chuckle too. Nothing is hidden from Old Nick. He’s capitalized on my frailties a few times too.
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Surely not! 🙂
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Wonderful. You make the sad truth behind the pretty facade interesting and Old Nick an intriguing protagonist.
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Thank you. 🙂
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I’ve just moved back to an English village – I hope you’re wrong!
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Hope you’re settling down again. And that it’s not this kind of a village, of course.
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I can imagine an episode of Midsummer Murders taking place here. Brilliantly woven!
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Thanks Francesca. 🙂
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What a wonderful portrayal of human nature.
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Wonderfully unpleasant. 🙂
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I meant the portrayal was wonderful not the human nature 🙂 Wonderfully accurate 🙂
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Sandra, this sounds like quite the dysfunctional town, so much so it would make a great novel or movie. I think it sounds like the perfect place for Old Nick.
-David
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I’m sure he’ll be perfectly at home.
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The truth behind the façade! I’ll need to keep a closer eye on the people in my village in case Old Nick is hanging around here too 🙂 Great story!
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Nothing is as it seems, I fear. Thanks for reading.
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Sandra, I love your writing. “He inhales the ghetto surrounding him.” Brilliant!
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Thank you Jan! 🙂
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Sandra, no doubt about who Nick is, but I have never heard him called by that name. So much information packed into your story! You certainly have a way with words.
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Ah, that’s interesting. It’s almost second nature to me to use the term Old Nick for the devil. Not that I’m closely acquainted with him… Thanks for reading Lynda.
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You did a great job setting the tone of this village. So sad that there really are places like this.
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The whole world over, I think Thanks for reading.
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Such a tight, edgy, unnerving piece, Sandra. You, at your best!
Stay warm, dry and safe… wishing your blue skies soon. xox
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Thanks Dawn, appreciate your dropping by. The storm has passed, the sun is on its way.
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Sandra, I’m so glad you had a connection so you could post this. Old Nick is walking around everywhere and you caught a moment of his destructive life perfectly. On a happier note, I hope the weather has gotten better. But if not, batten down the hatches, eat, drink, and be merry. 🙂
janet
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I think we’ll weather the storm, Janet. 🙂 Thanks for reading.
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Nick sounds like a scoundrel!!! Great post!
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He’s a master of evil, I think. Thanks for reading Courtney.
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Wonderful writing, Sandra. I loved how your set up the scene for Old Nick. He sounds like he doesn’t play nice. Keep safe and warm!
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Thank you Amy. We’re fine, hope you are too.
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Nick is someone we all know but often choose not to recognize. Hope you survived the storm!
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Fair weather cruising now, thanks Erin.
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This is very well written, you concealed Nick’s identity nicely but then on a second reading words like “Scythed” and “Hell’s teeth” make me wonder how i missed it! Nicely done.
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I love it when a plan comes together. 🙂 Thanks for reading.
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Great story, being a village girl by birth I can relate to some of the characters!
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Devil of a good idea that, I might just nick it. Beautifully done as always.
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Great story! This could be a vignette for “Needful Things” by Stephen King. Of course that character was actually the devil.
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Good story, Sandra. This sounds like one of the English villages Agatha Christie wrote about. Her detectives were like Old Nick. They could always discover the evil. Well written as always. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Great story Sandra, well written as always.
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clever of you to leave somethings unsaid, wonder what Nick has in his mind
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