The Periodic Thoughts of Henry Arrow
— an excerpt, by Jo Thomas
I saw an article in Traditional Flooring Quarterly a few years back about an artist fellow, Welsh I think he was, who found a whole parquet floor lying unwanted in a reclamation yard. So he shipped it all the way across the Atlantic and laid it down slap bang in the middle of the jungle in Belize in Central America. He said that’s where it was born and that’s where it should go to die. I mean it wasn’t exactly in those words, you know what these artist types are like, but that’s what I took him to mean. Well, that’s one way of doing things I suppose.
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You’d think it’d be the young ‘uns that make the most mess of my floor wouldn’t you? All that running around and getting giddy. Mrs Arrow and I were never fortunate enough to be blessed with children, so I don’t know much about it myself. But from what you read in the papers you’d think they’re all the spawn of the devil. Well, not when it comes to my floor. It’s the oldies that cause me the most headaches. They love my floor for dancing on, and quite rightly, there’s none finer in the county. But they do shuffle and scuff so. I just wish they’d pick their feet up. I get such a shine on my floor you could see yourself in it well enough to do a close shave, but after one of their tea dances you’d think they’d all spent the afternoon on their hands and knees going at it with the wire wool. And as for the tap dancers, well, don’t get me started.
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The only person who knows as much about my floor as I do is the little dark haired girl who I found hiding behind the curtain one morning.
Why Choose Jo Thomas?
"I’m scared of big audiences. Ever since I had to tap dance in front of what felt like thousands of people (but was probably only about 100) when I was little, I don’t like going on stage. I want to like it and I even think I might sometimes, but every time I try, it’s inescapably petrifying. I’m getting butterflies just thinking about it. But I do want people to hear my stories. When I’ve read them out at Telltales, there’s been quite a bit of enjoyment mixed in with the fear. Maybe Port Eliot will work its magic on my butterflies."
June 16th, 2011 at 6:22 am (#)
I found this story fascinating and want to hear more. So many stories are totally predictable but this could go in any direction.
June 19th, 2011 at 12:33 pm (#)
Need to know what happens next! What an intriguing opening! Love it!
June 22nd, 2011 at 10:33 am (#)
I love natural flooring ! and was immediately caught by your original topic and style .. good luck
June 28th, 2011 at 11:27 am (#)
The idea of all the stories a floor could tell and all the floors that were there in all the stories is a fascinating starting point! I want to hear more!! Good Luck
June 29th, 2011 at 12:13 pm (#)
I’m so intrigued by the dark-haired girl behind the curtain, great story.
June 30th, 2011 at 4:16 pm (#)
loving the writing, fab concept and in such a short space you’ve made Henry so credible and real.
July 1st, 2011 at 1:05 pm (#)
Yes, intriguing and as paul simon sang last week in Cork, ” one man’s ceiling is another man’s flooor”. If I were Henry, I would be worried about all those carbon footprints on that parquet floor !
October 7th, 2012 at 7:30 pm (#)
[…] was selected by online public vote to read my short story The Periodic Thoughts of Henry Arrow at Port Eliot Festival in July 2011. […]