Having enjoyed researching Isambard Kingdom Brunel for The People’s Republic of Love, I thought I’d take a rare venture into micro fiction, just to capture this fleeting yet fascinating episode in his life (a true story).

Gulp

In the process of entertaining the children with a magic trick that made it appear as though I was consuming a gold sovereign, I had, in error, actually swallowed the coin. It was lodged in my trachea, and I was aghast to hear that it posed a very real danger to my life. So it was that I had to swallow my pride and visit a physician.

Much to my surprise, the doctors could propose no effective treatment. Feeling rather foolish about the whole thing, and since I had created this problem, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

Thus I had myself strapped to a board and mechanism which would allow me to be rotated at great speed. I spun like the needle of a broken compass, the centrifugal forces doing their best to pull my stomach up through my throat. But I felt that sharpness in my windpipe shift, and moments later the sovereign was shaken free, upwards into my mouth until, with great relish, I spat it onto the floor. Never has gold shone so brightly.

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