Yorkshire Writers' Lunch

  This is a test of the fire alarm system. Are you ready to leave?   This is a test of the fire alarm system. Are all your exits free?   This is a test of the fire alarm system. Feel the floor warming yet?   This is a test of the fire alarm system. Is there flame up ahead?   This is a test of the fire alarm system. Is your panic blind?   This is a test of the fire alarm system. Did you fall behind?   This is a test of the fire alarm system. Have you enjoyed your burning?   This is a test of the fire alarm system. Scorch marks show you’re learning. The test of the fire alarm system is now complete. " Fire alarm pull station at Walmart in Laurel, Maryland " by  SchuminWeb  is licensed under  CC BY-SA 2.0 .

  She took a deep breath, stretched all her limbs and assumed the pose. Left foot planted squarely on level ground, a good solid base. Right leg raised and bent, as if she were running – as, in a way, she was, though her performance would be over before that foot touched the ground. Its role of providing a second point of support was fulfilled instead by a staff of gnarled oak, painted silver and gripped firmly in her right hand. Cupped in a tangle of wood at its tip was a glass sphere, glowing faintly white from an LED beneath it. Her left arm stretched upwards and backwards, its hand holding an eight-pointed sun disc the size of a dinner plate, painted gold. Between the two hands and over her shoulders hung her robe, of which she was particularly proud. It gleamed in alternate pleats of gold and silver which swung down in twin parabolas from her arms, reaching to just below her knees, themselves clad in silver leggings. Her face, too, was all silver and above it was a cotton wool...