Skip to main content
Donate to the 95 years appeal
Bubble Man by Jonathan Taylor
When Cassy’s father fails to connect with his daughter — and misses out on  an evening in the Bitter End — a stranger’s self-mocking charm brings seething resentment. 
[Illustration by Lewis Marsden]

THE square is full of bubbles. Bubbles everywhere. His daughter is dancing among them, as are twenty or so other children.

The children swarm round the man making the bubbles, who’s using a bent coat-hanger on a stick as a wand. He dips the wand into a bucket of suds, then waves it in an arc over their heads, conjuring a bubble-cosmos that swirls, spirals around them. They scatter outwards, the toddlers trying to catch the bubbles, the older children trying to pop them. Some bubbles sail far above their heads, over the shops and town hall, but most are gleefully exterminated.

Then the children are sucked inwards again, round the bubble man, mesmerised as he dips the coat hanger in the bucket, and waves it over their heads. Again they scatter, dance, giggle — kids and bubbles, all mixed up.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Features / 11 December 2024
11 December 2024
LOUISE RAW speaks to Long Covid sufferer Sam Williams and others who feel let down by a state that ignores their debilitating illness
Short Story / 8 November 2024
8 November 2024
by John Kendall Hawkins
Dr Soma Baroud
Features / 15 October 2024
15 October 2024
Dr Soma Baroud’s life and death embody the tragedy facing the people of Gaza, writes her brother RAMZY BAROUD, sharing her last words of resilience and love in the face of unimaginable loss
Short Story / 11 October 2024
11 October 2024
by Cheryl Sonnier