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	<title>The Duck Side of the Moo</title>
	<link>http://theduckside.com</link>
	<description>poetry and fiction by Helen Whittaker</description>
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		<title>The trouble with Adam</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I wrote this story for Round 8 of SPARK. To see the photograph that inspired it, go to http://www.getsparked.org/spark8/helen-whittaker-and-edite-haberman This story won second place in the June 2010 Global Short Story Competition at http://www.globalshortstories.net/index.html The trouble with Adam I’m waiting in the reception area at Happy Bunnies day care. In one corner of the room [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://theduckside.com/?p=492</link>
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		<title>SPARK Round 7</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Yes, it&#8217;s that time of the year again already: SPARK time. My partner this round was Cheryl Leibovitz. Being a total ignoramus as far as art is concerned, I feel most comfortable with &#8216;easy to understand&#8217; representational art, so Cheryl&#8217;s abstract images pushed me out of my comfort zone &#8211; which is always the best place to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://theduckside.com/?p=482</link>
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		<title>Back at the lake</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The frozen water’s perfect skin is flawed. An arm’s length from the jetty a jagged scar has knitted up the wound I made when I pushed you in. © Helen Whittaker http://theduckside.com]]></description>
		<link>http://theduckside.com/?p=480</link>
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		<title>Stained lips</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I remember when you were a bridesmaid at Aunt Evie’s wedding. Someone gave you a blackcurrant whistle pop and your lips turned purple. It took me half an hour to scrub the stain off. That green sheet doesn’t look anything like your bridesmaid’s dress and the purple stain on your lips won’t come off no [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://theduckside.com/?p=478</link>
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		<title>Pocket money, December 1972</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Tom stands on tiptoe his forearms resting on the counter. He slides one sweaty palm aside to reveal the full moon of a ten pence piece against a black Formica sky. On the shelves in front of him constellations of sweets twinkle invitingly: gobstoppers as big as Jupiter, liquorice Catherine wheels that suck in light [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://theduckside.com/?p=476</link>
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		<title>My flatmate</title>
		<description><![CDATA[She’s not an easy person to live with. At home she follows me from room to room. When I go out she tags along: to the college where I work as a library assistant, to the supermarket where I buy my single serve ready meals, to the cemetery where I put flowers on my mother’s [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://theduckside.com/?p=472</link>
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		<title>Connections</title>
		<description><![CDATA[One August afternoon two children play a game Of knuckle bones against a shady garden wall. The older, Claudia, berates her little brother For cheating all the time. ‘Now Max, you must play fair!’ Young Max’s eyes well up, his bottom lip sticks out. Beneath his breath he calls his sister by a name. A [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://theduckside.com/?p=470</link>
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		<title>Professor Itty&#8217;s Last Lecture</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Professor Dagmar Itty mopped his brow And squinted at his notes – a cryptic scrawl. He cleared his throat and in a nervous voice Addressed the overflowing lecture hall. ‘This morning’s talk should really be about Cycloidal drives and epicyclic gears, But since I’ll be retiring Friday week I thought I’d stray off topic.’ (Raucous [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://theduckside.com/?p=467</link>
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		<title>Christmas haiku</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Mary is holding the newborn baby Jesus by a plastic foot. © Helen Whittaker http://theduckside.com]]></description>
		<link>http://theduckside.com/?p=463</link>
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		<title>Ode to an Idol</title>
		<description><![CDATA[There he hangs on the wall of my bedroom, Incomplete, just his torso and head. And in case one dark night magic brings him to life, He&#8217;s strategically placed by the bed! Up &#8217;til now he&#8217;s remained unresponsive To the kiss he receives every day, Yet I still find him strangely attractive, In a flat, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://theduckside.com/?p=459</link>
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