• Home
  • Brooches
  • Podcasts
  • Stories
  • About The Casket
  • About Joanna
  • Competitions
  • TubeFlash

The Casket of Fictional Delights

Brooches Podcasts Stories

Lipstick in his Handbag

by Joanna Sterling

PodcastFlash Fiction Amusing, Optimistic

“Is she dead?” David, a plump, balding, middle-aged man wearing a tan-coloured raincoat and holding a Tesco’s carrier bag asks “Are you sure?”

The care-worker looks at David and with a well-practised sympathetic half smile and slight inclination of the head replies.

“Yes, I am sorry, she slipped away peacefully about half an hour ago. I believe someone tried to ring you.”

“A message was left on my phone. I came as soon as I got it. You’re sure she’s dead, there’s no doubt?”

“Would you like me to get you a cup of tea?”

“No. I want to see her.”

“Of course, you’d like to say good-bye.”

The care-worker leads David along a carpeted corridor, past prints of rural landscapes. At the door at the end he hesitates on the threshold of the room. Lying in the bed, eyes closed, is an old lady. Her white hair has been smoothed and she’s wearing a salmon-pink nightie buttoned up to the neck. David approaches, places the Tesco’s bag on the end of the bed and reaches into the bag, withdrawing a small mirror with a gilt handle. Walking to the head of the bed he bends over holding it close to the old lady’s mouth.

“Yes, you’re right, she’s really dead – at last.”

Again from the Tesco’s bag he withdraws a lipstick and holding the mirror paints his lips bright red. Finally he takes out a black patent leather handbag, puts in the mirror and the lipstick and snaps it shut with a satisfying click. He takes off his raincoat, stuffs it in the Tesco’s bag and hands it to the care-worker.

“Could you get rid of this for me, I won’t be wearing it anymore.” He turns and leaves swinging his hips and handbag in unison.

 

  •  
  •  
  •  
Hear

You are listening to
Lipstick in his Handbag
by Joanna Sterling

https://thecasket.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Flash-Fiction-Compilation-Two.mp3

Story read by Keith Morris for The Casket of Fictional Delights.

About Joanna Sterling

Joanna writes short stories and flash fiction, has had her work published in a number of magazines and anthologies. She lives in London with her ever growing collection of Brooches.

You’ve reached the end of this story. Please do explore further. And if you’re feeling generous today, donate to The Casket and help keep the fictional delights flowing. Want to know when more stories arrive? Make sure you sign up for regular updates.

A little tin-rattle

The Casket is a platform for new, fresh and enjoyable short reads. We don’t receive any grants and your generosity helps us provide FREE accessible ad-free content. Any donation is hugely appreciated. If you would like to contribute, donate by PayPal by submitting your name and an amount.

Sending

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

If you choose to leave a comment on The Casket of Fictional Delights, in addition to the comment you provide we collect a little data, including your IP address, in order to check it isn't spam and to publish the comment. Following approval, your comment text, name and website URL (if provided) are visible to the public. To find out how your data is used, check our Privacy Policy

Everyone at The Casket is hoping 2021 will be a better year than 2020.  We have some great short stories and flash fiction lined up for your delight.  We kick of the year with a story by Lydia Unsworth “The Smallest Boxes” and then for Valentine's we have a story by Dylan Brethour which will also be available as a podcast. Later in the summer we have a new Flash Fiction Summer Collection which will be published online and as podcasts read by Menna Bonsels and Richard Hodder.  We hope you enjoy the stories we have for you and look forward to welcoming you back regularly.

Joanna & The Casket of Fictional Delights Team

 

Help Keep Us Going

Please consider making a donation to The Casket of Fictional Delights.  All content on the website is free and widely available to audiences worldwide.  We do not receive any grants and all our content is Ad free.  The Casket of Fictional Delights specialises in producing high-quality podcasts which are recorded by professional actors/voiceover artists from around the world. We hope you enjoy reading and listening to the stories and finding out about Joanna’s varied brooch collection.

DONATE

Tweetings

  • RT @MaryEll23998592: Tweeting again. Sophie is still missing from her home in Attenborough, Nottingham NG9 . Wednesday 17th she got out ,she is an indoor girl. Will be scared,cold and hungry 😪😪😪 Anyone in that area please look out for her. Thank you. https://t.co/dJU4WZiH0E, Mar 2
  • Right excited just booked my #COVID19Vaccine for tomorrow. I have never been so excited about having an injection https://t.co/5ECw5mX3gn, Feb 25
  • RT @eveeeeeeey: A final hope of trying to locate my darling precious rescue kitten Daisy (7-9 months old) who went missing from our home in Stretton, Warrington, UK. Please retweet if you can. She is so dearly missed. Last seen Saturday 13/02. Thank you. @PetsLocated https://t.co/EnE3zkQvuO, Feb 19
Follow The Casket on Twitter

Podcasts

Prefer to listen? - from the beginning The Casket of Fictional Delights has specialised in producing high quality podcasts of short stories and flash fiction compilations. The podcasts are recorded by actors and voiceover artists and produced by a professional studio manager ensuring we maintain a consistent high standard. I’ve chosen three to highlight the variety and quality of work we have to offer - visit our Podcast page for more. I hope you enjoy listening to them.

Casket podcast highlights

Listen!

  • Apple Podcasts
  • Android Podcasts
  • Spotify
  • Stitcher
  • Tunein

Sign up for our Newsletter

The Casket of Fictional Delights newsletter delivers the latest story or brooch of the month fresh off the press, and keeps you informed about our competitions and other Casket news periodically.

No spam, ever - and we never use your details for anything but sending your newsletter. You can change your mind at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the footer of any email you receive from us.

View our Privacy Policy

  • Stories
  • Authors
  • Podcasts
  • Brooches
  • Birth of a collection
  • About The Casket
  • About Joanna
  • Liu Xiaobo
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • The Casket on Facebook
  • The Casket on Twitter
  • The Casket on Pinterest

Text & stories © Joanna Sterling 2021
Stories © various authors
Audio by Menna Bonsels
Brooch photography by Mark Colliton
Other photography by Rosie Marks
Maintained by Brighton WebTech