(Author’s note: Things have been quite busy this week. Bad experiences abounded, but good things are to come. Week 6 of uni has almost come to a close, and there’s another 7-8 weeks left to go. But, some big stories will be done soon, as I will need time to just sit and write and detox from writing essays. You all may be recipients of the work. Anyhow, here’s today’s Friday Fictioneers, with a bit of Australian flair involved.)

© Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
Walls
by Miles H. Rost
“What’s the number on this one?” Senior Constable Alistair MacKaye asked.
“Looks like this is the fifth one,” his partner, Constable Jacklyn Brandt replied.
“And I’ve been called out here six times in the past month.”
“I don’t understand, is there something about this place?”
Alistair just gazed at his young charge.
“Jackie, do you know anything about icehouses?”
“Nah. Never heard of them back in the bush.”
“It’s a nuthouse. They like the walls. Sometimes they climb them.”
“And then?”
“Some of them fall off.”
“Isn’t that a travesty?”
“Eh, I don’t mind the walls. They keep us safe.”
They seem to speak in different directions and not quite meet in the middle. Or maybe I misunderstand something, I can’t connect icehouse to nuthouse. Is icehouse slang for mental institutions?
Yes. Australian for insane asylum.
Ah, thanks. Sometimes dictionaries are limited and google didn’t tell me either.
Very Oz. I don’t understand this. Safe from who/what?
The crazies. 🙂
I always have trouble with Oz-speak. Guess I’ll hit the turps ,grab some tucker, then as long as I aint got a wobbly boot on I’ll come back and try again!
Rosey Pinkerton’s blog
I am now laughing. XD