A Pair of Shorts — Andrea Frazer

From the sublime to the ridiculous! This pairing of stories certainly seems to cover that statement, with a story set in Hades and steeped in sin, alongside one about the season of goodwill to all and general happiness. I like the contrast. I hope you do too. The Best Christmas Ever Christmas Eve has arrived and the whole world, it seems, is intent on doing the very last of the last-minute Christmas shopping. In some, the day brings out unexpected acts of kindness, where others are left unmoved. This story views the day through the eyes of a 'gentleman of the road', shuffling his way from an early morning rude awakening to a magical end as the day draws to a close. Miss Goody Two-Shoes and the Devil Tongue firmly in cheek, and sprinkling spilt salt over her left shoulder to ward off evil, Andrea Frazer takes us on a trip to Hell, where the daily grind (and groan) is about to be interrupted by a very rare event. A pebble plinks on the vast black glass dome that serves Hell and it's environs as a sky, a precursor that there is trouble in the earthly realm. The Devil is incensed as he realises that there is 'one without sin' abroad: a situation that calls for immediate action of the most radical kind, if he is to save that soul from purity and sully it with hellish deeds!