Enigma Paul T Kidd ISBN 978-1-901864-20-5 (Paperback) Price: See buy on-line link

 

 

Enigman - Extract

 

Enigma

 

And this is the story that I give, to be taken and seen for that which it tells, which is more than unusual and perhaps also slightly crazy, but being so carries with it a warning and a hope, which also is a hallmark of note – here be more words spoken in silence.

 

“That they danced – this I am sure of, even now after the passage of many years, which has given me time to reflect and to find within me the rationality that enables that which cannot be explained by science, that which does not fit with what is accepted, that which has no place in the modern world, to be pushed out of mind, out of sight. And yet I have not done so!”

 

The stranger’s outburst was unexpected. Many would immediately have concluded that the man was more than just weird, for what he said sounded like gibberish – the beginnings of some ridiculous fantasy story that would leave the listener in no doubt about the lack of the storyteller’s sanity and that he was just another crazy person. But that was not my reaction.
He just spoke these words to me, after hours of silence. We were sitting opposite each other as our train proceeded on its way to its final destination as though it had a single-minded determination to do so, taking the only path possible, bound by the limitations of its design to follow the route laid out for it so many years ago, when the railway pioneers, men of business and engineering, built the rail network far back in the nineteenth century. Here for sure was a rare instance of a path not so easily changed.

 

Some minds are like this as well, but in such cases there is often no good reason not to modify that which is no more than the manifestation of outdated beliefs and values – the invisible chains that bind people to the rock of the past and continue to do so long after what they hold most dear has ceased to be relevant. And thus people become like Prometheus, as do the societies and civilisations in which they dwell, and because of this there are often dire consequences.

 

I am stating things that might seem to you, dear reader, irrelevant. I am, you perhaps think, wandering off the subject, but I am a writer, an author, so perhaps I am not! And it was because I am a writer that I was inclined to listen as this peculiar man began speaking to me.
In such encounters lies a great potential for the beginning of a new tale or, at least, material to be stored away in the brain, to be brought out when needed in some future storytelling voyage, which is as much a journey of discovery and adventure for me as the author as it is for the reader. I am, one might say, a journey of discovery and adventure.

 

I did not tell him who I was. I prefer anonymity, and, strangely, we never exchanged names, for we did not speak, so I did not tell him about my roots, my origins, or how I was not a person who wrote, but was, within the fibre of my being, a writer. There is a difference!
I spoke to him without speaking to him, without uttering a single word. One might say that I communicated in silence for I just looked at him and expressed my desire for him to continue through my posture and facial expressions. He read them well.

And this is the story that I give …

 

“Still it remains with me, a memory of a most enchanting night, when, as a child of seven, I was drawn into a journey of discovery and adventure that was to lead to …

Please pick an item from the menu below and explore this book.

Preface

Extract

Availability

Publication Details

Buy Online

Read Online for Free

eBook Edition

Kindle eBook Edition

Relevance to Contemporary Society

The Writing of Enigma

Copyright, Publishing and Other Rights

About the Author