Piss and Patchouli

Inspiration

Piss and Patchouli was originally written for Round Three of the 2008 Whittaker Prize. The prompt used was the phrase orange wellies. It was given a score of 71/100 by the judge, Rachel Green, putting it in 5th equal place out of 19. The judge "liked this but it meandered. I would have liked the MC and the fireman to piece together Astrid's life. Nice ending, though."

Placings

After a minor edit, Piss and Patchouli was longlisted for the September 2008 Cadenza competition.

Publications

After a further minor edit, Piss and Patchouli was published in Issue 95 of Litro in May 2010.

Notes

John Martyn gets a namecheck in this story, but it's actually Richard Thompson's song Beeswing' that was the primary influence for the character of Astrid. I liked the idea of the main character having made his choice between a conventional career and life on the edge, yet still vicariously hankering after the latter even though his former lover's life had demonstrated to him the risks. I guess it's about wanting to have it both ways.

I didn't take Rachel Green's advice, partly through sheer laziness and partly because it would have made it a different story. I think the main character has to work it all out for himself, or at least convince himself that he has.