POP-UP is a short story, illustrated by Paul J. Ryding and Neil McGuire, self published in Dec 2016. Download full text here

‘Pop-Up’, illustration by Paul J Ryding and Neil McGuire

Extract:

“The Pop-Up”. Xavier placed his hands on the table and leaned forward. This was the body language of leaders. As the youngest guy in the room, he skirted the right kind of informality with his ‘meet the clients’ outfit. He was wearing a narrow black tie with the top button on his white shirt undone. His sleeves were rolled up a little to hint that he wasn’t afraid of hard work, when actually his line manager would have said he was.  ‘Right guys, we are designing this space in the building for pop-ups. You are going to have a key flow of people through here and you want to grab their attention. This is a flexible, dynamic space which can powerfully encourage repeat visits’.

Bill Staton didn’t like being called ‘guys’ by a junior, not one little bit, but he dimly recognised the phrase ‘pop-up’. Had he seen a pop-up on the recent visit to Gateshead where a mixed delegation had been sent to research different kinds of loose seating for auditoriums? He knew that as the Local Authority’s Head of Culture, Sport and Engineering he needed to express some words right now to show he was boss. He rocked forward gently in his seat to signal he was ready to engage…..”