Buster Smallidge

“Most cities are like deserts: concrete and steel, dust and ash, rusty detritus in the outskirts, the occasional oasis.”
― Gary Clemenceau, Banker's Holiday: A Novel of Fiscal Irregularity

“Crete, May 1941. It was nearly five o’clock when the three soldiers reached the end of the olive grove. The dust-filled air shimmered in the late-afternoon heat. Their bodies ached, their uniforms were caked with dirt and sweat and they were hungry, thirsty and exhausted. The sensible thing now would be to lay up where they were for a few hours’ rest, then finish the journey under cover of darkness. But there was a tight deadline to meet. The evacuation vessel was scheduled to leave at midnight and they had been warned the captain wouldn’t wait for stragglers.”
― Mark Ellis, The French Spy

“My Lady, turn away; do not look into the wagon, it is too frightening for a lady to view.”
― Dorlies von Kaphengst Meissner Rasmussen, Escaping the Russian Onslaught: A Family’s Story of Fleeing the Russian Army after Hitler’s Nazi Regime

“Like snow melt
and passing leaves,
we show our faces
then are gone,
and like rivers we pour.”
― Don Hynes