BIG NEWS!!
Now out- a paperback version of 325 ALEX, including all 32 episodes, additional episodes, and bonus material. A perfect gift with Salmon Arm colour!
In Salmon Arm, paperbacks are available at 331 Alex— aka Hidden Gems Bookstore!
Keep your eyes open in the Friday AM for Season 2 of 325 Alex, coming soon!
The serial set in Salmon Arm
325 Alex is a 32 episode flash fiction serial appearing in Salmon Arm’s Friday A.M. paper from March 15 to December 20, 2024. It is written by Shawn L. Bird. You can read the episodes in the physical paper or in the Friday A.M. online edition. Once episodes are off the Friday A.M. site, they’re gone, except for a few posted below. Watch for the whole series coming to you in December in print or ebook!
325 Alex is a fictional apartment building on Alexander Street in downtown Salmon Arm. (The actual place where 325 would be is an alley way). The residents and the plot events are fictional, though Salmon Arm residents may recognize places, events, and the occasional familiar face walking into a scene. In all cases these are used ficticiously.
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Residents of 325 Alex Street
#101– vacant store front
#201– The college students:
- Chris
- Mabel
- Dimity
- Marcus
#202– Shirley John
- her small, stealthy, tawny cat “Cougar”
#301– Henry Block
#302– dela Cruz family
- Angelo
- Sofia
- Margarita (Maggie)
#401– Susanne Winters
- the neighbourhood sentinel and guard tuxedo cat, “Artemis”
#402– The Empty Apartment
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Want to support 325 Alex?
If you’re enjoying 325 Alex, why not ‘buy me a coffee’ to let me know? (No expensive Starbucks taste here. Just a $2 Tims would make my day!) 🙂 Donations will support the Rotary Foundation.
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How it all began:
#1 March 15, 2024
Artemis gazed from her cat tree in suite 401 of 325 Alex Street. From here, she could see all.
Lorne was walking with a stack of his weekly newspaper, his wheaton-poodle cross Lexi following at his heels. He entered the pie shop.
The apartment door rattled. “Susanne! You won’t believe it!”
Artemis ignored it.
Lorne emerged and glanced up. He saw Artemis watching and waved. She appreciated those who knew how to honour the superiority of cats.
Lexi did not look up. Dogs rarely did, unless they were trying to catch a ball.
The apartment door rattled again. Artemis jumped off her perch, hissing.
“Come on, Susanne! Open up! I’ve got news!”
It was Henry, who lived below them in 301.
He knocked, waited, and then muttered. “Damn. I guess you’re not there.”
Artemis heard steps in the hall, and then, “Oh! There you are!”
“Hi, Henry. Let me get my groceries in.”
Susanne pushed open the door, puffing from the stairs. “The landlord needs to fix that elevator,” she said.
Artemis began to weave between her legs, covering Susanne with the scent of belonging.
Susanne stumbled into the kitchen. She set her cloth Askews bags on the counter and leaned down to pick up the cat. “Silly girl,” she murmured into her fur. “What did you want Henry?”
“They’ve rented #402!”
Susanne blinked. “They can’t rent #402. It’s unethical.”
Apparently they disclosed everything. They’re giving him a rent deduction.”
“I wouldn’t live there for free.” She shuddered.
“How long do you think they’ll last?”
“A month?” suggested Susanne
“Ten bucks says not even two weeks.”
“Deal.” They shook.
“Poor sap,” said Henry.
Artemis yowled her agreement.
#2 March 22, 2024
Susanne yawned as she stood in the café line alternately admiring the pies in the case and contemplating the menu board above the counter. The baby on the third floor had been crying all night.
“The usual?” Nic said, when she was finally at the front. “Quiche and coffee, two cream, one sugar?”
Susanne laughed. “Yeah, perfect.”
“I hear you have a new neighbour coming,” he said as he punched in the order. “I thought they’d never be able to rent that unit.”
“Me, neither,” she said, taking the coffee.
She sat at a table, facing the street, sipping. A tall young man with a pencil thin moustache swept the street with earnest focus. She saw Henry, her downstairs neighbour, and pulled into the corner, hoping he wouldn’t look this way.
The marquee across the road announced the film society showings. She checked her phone to read about the options, thinking she could use a distraction.
Nic set the quiche on the table. “Listen, I wonder if you’d like to see a movie?” He gave a nod to the marquee. Tonight’s looks good.”
Susanne nodded, “I was thinking I’d like to see it. Yes.”
As she ate her quiche, a text came in: Henry inviting her to the same movie.
“Sorry Got a date,” she typed back.
She shut off the phone and put it in her pocket. She didn’t want to know Henry’s reaction. She stood up.
Nic looked up from washing a table. “I”ll meet you out front at 6:30!” .
She nodded and stepped onto Alex Street, wondering how long she could hide before she had to deal with this trouble.
#3 April 3, 2024
Henry Block woke groaning to his alarm blaring the Star Wars theme. He’d had two hours of sleep. Little Maggie next door was teething and she was not happy about it. Consequently, no one else at 325 Alex Street was happy about it either. Were that not bad enough, before Maggie’s howls had pierced the night, he’d been tossing and turning over Susanne.
He wasn’t ashamed to admit he’d spied on her. He’d turned the lights out in his apartment and sat staring out his window to see who picked her up for that date. He was delighted when, at 6:25 she walked out of the building alone. Unfortunately, at 6:29 he saw her in front of the Salmar embracing Nic from the pie place. It was just a friendly hug, Henry’d decided, but when the movie let out, they’d emerged holding hands and five minutes later Henry had heard their laughter on the stairs.
As he poured hot water into his French press, there was a thump on his ceiling, likely Artemis the cat knocking things over. He ate breakfast wondering when Susanne’s new neighbour would be moving in, and pondered whether they were brave or just stupid to rent that suite.
When he left for work, a jovial voice called from the stairwell, “Hello, Henry!”
Henry scowled at Nic. He didn’t want to think about why he was still in their building nor why he was in such a good mood.
Nic grinned as they descended together, “You!”
“Excuse me?”
Nic waved down the hall to the second floor suites. “Susanne was telling me last night about how entertaining she find you! I had no idea. ”
Henry froze on the step as Nic pushed cheerily out onto Alex Street.
He wantedSusanne to find him attractive, considerate, fascinating.
Entertaining.
That didn’t sound good at all.
#4 April 12, 2024
When Chris had told Marcus they had room for him to stay while he did his welding course at Okanagan College, he’d thought they’d meant an extra bedroom. When Chris had pointed to the couch, Marcus presumed it was a hide-a-bed, but no. He was to sleep on Chris’s six foot long couch, which might have been fine if Marcus were five feet tall, but Marcus was six foot three.
Mabel and Dimity were tiny, but they had beds. There were three beds in the tiny bedroom. He tried not to be jealous. Beggers didn’t choose, after all.
Chris had assured him there was a bus that would take him from downtown to the college.
Imagine his surprise when the route labeled ‘Okanagan College’ only went to the academic campus, not to the trades campus in the industrial park. The closest transit could get him was thirty-three blocks away. A good hour’s walk. Thankfully, he’d found a folding bike at Churches’ Thrift Store, so when the roads were clear, he could cycle the final five kilometres. In February, he’d had a long, cold, and snowy walk. But now it was April and he was thankful for the rickety bike.
At least it wasn’t Vancouver.
As he tried to get comfortable enough to sleep, he told himself he was lucky to have a place to stay. Still. Tthere was something strange going on in this building. The screaming baby in the suite above gave him the creeps, and he kept hearing murmurs about suite #402.
The landlord had emailed to ask if he were handy, because there were some repairs to be done before the new tenant arrived. Marcus said he’d look.
Maybe he’d solve his money problems and the mystery of #402.
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This website and its content are protected by Canadian copyright law. Except as otherwise provided for under Canadian copyright law, this website and its content may not be copied, published, distributed, downloaded or otherwise stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or converted, in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
325 ALEX is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this book are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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Shawn L. Bird 