{"id":700,"date":"2021-01-13T16:06:07","date_gmt":"2021-01-13T16:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/?p=700"},"modified":"2021-01-13T16:06:13","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T16:06:13","slug":"sodom-and-gomorrah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/sodom-and-gomorrah\/700\/","title":{"rendered":"Sodom and Gomorrah"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Dylan<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An eighteen-year-old male, short, face of a cherub that was partial to a drink, kiss curl, and large succulent lips employed no doubt for kissing the damsels and smacking pleasurably after imbibing. He fancied himself as a journalist, did he? The editor studied the new employee unenthusiastically. Another cub reporter who head-to-toe would prove to be unsuitable for the Evening Post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

            \u2018What do you know about crime, Thomas?\u2019 he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018I try to avoid it.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018There\u2019s a crime wave about to hit Swansea.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018Oh? Best tell it to wipe its shoes before entering town then.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018Go to the four corners of our city and sniff out a report. Skewer it. And have it on my desk tomorrow morning.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The cub exited and soon was entering a mucky pub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018Jack,\u2019 he called to an elderly tippler. \u2018Give me the goods on Swansea\u2019s crime wave.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Pudgy Pugh, a retired copper drinking off his pension, belched, then said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018Nothing happens in this cemetery of a city. Fights on Friday and Saturday nights, a spot of jay-walking if you keep your eyes pinned, and the odd spat of clothes-line pilfering by persons of a perverted persuasion. Swansea is off-limits to crime. Closed. Ar gau.<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018Our \u2013 magnificent \u2013 boys \u2013 in \u2013 blue – \u2019 said the cub, composing his story aloud, \u2018have \u2013 such \u2013 a  remarkable \u2013 clean-up \u2013 rate \u2013 that \u2013 crime \u2013 has \u2013 been \u2013 virtually \u2013 eliminated \u2013 in \u2013 Swansea. Hats \u2013 off \u2013 to \u2013 our \u2013 officers!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018There\u2019s no<\/em> crime. None. But if you write that, know what\u2019ll happen? You\u2019ll be arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018The \u2013 first \u2013 arrest \u2013 in \u2013 Swansea \u2013 this \u2013 year – \u2019 the cub said, still composing his report, \u2018was \u2013 witnessed \u2013 by \u2013 this<\/em> \u2013 reporter.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018Are you listening? They\u2019ll arrest you<\/em> for disturbing the peace: the peace of the boys in blue. They\u2019ve nothing<\/em> to do. From Mumbles to Morriston not a hope of larceny, voter personation, sheep stealing, sexual shenanigans, illegal hooch, grand fraud, bigamy, trespass. Zilch.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018What am I going to write then?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018Know what I\u2019d do in your position? Describe a typical night-out for you and your boozy literary mates. It\u2019s wild, so you claim.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The next morning the editor picked up the cub\u2019s report from his desk and read:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swansea\u2019s sordid, shameful, Sodom and Gomorrah streets are awash with drunks. A wave of alcoholic behaviour is about. Last night this reporter observed a bacchanalian orgy of drinking by a group of young men in Wind Street. They trailed from pub to pub for \u2018kicks\u2019. After leaving bars, they shouted smut at innocent young females, and one was violently sick in the gutter. Another crawled on his hands and knees on the pavement, imitating a dog. His companion, in an act of blasphemy, pretended to be a priest blessing him. This reporter is forced to ask a difficult question: are we living in a sinful city?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flowery but promising, the editor thought. Might make a writer of him yet. Get him to rewrite it.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Send Thomas in here,\u2019 he said down the phone. \u2018Which Thomas? The new one. First name\u2019s Dylan, I think.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An eighteen-year-old male, short, face of a cherub that was partial to a drink, kiss curl, and large succulent lips employed no doubt for kissing the damsels and smacking pleasurably after imbibing. He fancied himself as a journalist, did he? The editor studied the new employee unenthusiastically. Another cub reporter who head-to-toe would prove to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"A fantastic new story from SWANSEA WRITERS.\n\"Sodom and Gomorrah\"\n#FLASHFICTION #DylanThomas","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[121,380],"tags":[391,390],"class_list":["post-700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-121","category-january-2021-crime-wave","tag-gomorrah","tag-sodom"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-bi","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":702,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700\/revisions\/702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}