Daniel Guy's Blog

“Curlz” is a mixed hairdressing salon in the high street, with purple walls and fairy lights around the window.  It’s a shabby street, with many shops closed, and the salon provides the only bit of colour and sparkle.  Suzi, the manager is a tall, confident redhead with a cheeky smile.  Michelle is the new girl. She’s younger, more petite and she works as a nurse during the week and at the salon at week-ends because she’s saving up to buy an apartment. It’s late on a Saturday afternoon and the salon will close in an hour.  After sweeping up from the last customer, Michelle walks into the back room. ’That bloke is outside again.’ she says.  ‘What, the bloke in the BMW?’ ‘Yeah. He’s parked on the other side of the street. Keeps looking across at the salon.’ Suzi opens up a packet of biscuits and offers one to Michelle.  ‘He can’t be wanting another haircut. He had two last week.’  Suzi gets up, walks out into the salon and stands by the cash desk, to get...

  Billy Mudge and Sidney Croft are small time thieves, working together, making a modestly dishonest living. Billy is in charge since he is slightly more intelligent, but that’s not saying much. Sid is by nature a follower. They’ve managed to stay out of prison for the last couple of years, more through luck than guile. Tonight they are about to break into a large townhouse, in a quiet suburban street. They’ve been watching it for several days and have concluded that the owner is away. This is not in fact true, as they are about to find out.  They also have no idea the owner of the house is Larry Root, once a very successful producer of pornographic films, now a bitter recluse. He’s not making money any more because the one lucrative commercial porn market has been destroyed by the creation  of You Tube, and the general preference these days for clips of home made porn. Men once had to cough up a credit card to jerk off to erotica, but now it’s all free. Poor Larry i...

by Daniel Guy 1. Three in the morning and two young men arrive at the gate to Lincoln Mansions, a remote victorian country house, surrounded by a high stone wall. One parks the motorbike behind a bush, a few meters away from the main gate, while the other checks the wire cutters, torch and small crow bar are in the rucksack. They walk around the perimeter fence till they get to a section which has been replaced by a high wire fence. A hole is cut and they slip though. They make their way across the lawns to the house. There’s a bit of moonlight to guide them. They reach a basement window at the back of the house and crouch down beside it.  One holds the torch while the other tries to force the window to open as silently as he can. They hear a sound. They turn and see two men standing behind them. One points a gun.  ‘You bastards vill never learn.’ The gun is raised and two shots are fired. The two men collapse lifeless on the ground.  2. Frank Richards is a retired police...

  by Daniel Guy Three puppeteers carry the wooden crate from Seb’s van, into the rehearsal space. It’s a large old warehouse that Seb has visited many times before. The main hall is cluttered with puppets, costumes and props and there’s a space in the middle, where the puppeteers have been rehearsing shows for many years.  Thomas, the oldest of the three puppeteers, lifts off the canvass sheet draped over the top of the crate, and the head of Seb’s puppet is revealed. Seb stands watching nervously. He’s spent months making this puppet and now he’s hoping these experienced performers will be able to bring it to life. Thomas slips his right hand into the small hole at the back of the puppet’s head, and then slowly makes it turn from side to side, as if the puppet is looking around at his new surroundings. Thomas reaches into the box with his other hand, and slowly reveals the puppet’s hand and then his arm. This puppet is not manipulated by strings, but by the synchronised ...