What's It All About Alfie?

*SHORT STORY* A poignant and gripping short story about the unlikely bond between those on the fringes of society and the dark secrets buried just out of sight. To the locals in the park, he is just "Mr. Smelly"—a homeless man with "Hobo Chic" style, a military parka full of secrets, and a silver hip flask of Lamb's Navy rum that keeps the memories of his former life as a Cambridge physics professor at bay. He spends his days dodging "Butterface," a vitriolic dog-walker who treats the public park like her private kingdom, and playing a quiet game of survival. But the rhythm of his solitary existence is shattered by Lucy, an eight-year-old girl in a school blazer who insists on sharing his bench. Lucy is waiting for her mother, following the strict instruction: "If we ever lose each other, sit on this bench and I will find you". As the sun begins to set, the truth behind Lucy's situation emerges—a missing mother, a frustrated foster carer, and a family fractured by a father who walked away. When a chilling scream echoes from the nearby "Lost Souls Copse," the old professor is forced to abandon his anonymity. What Alfie the dog uncovers beneath the decomposing leaves is a discovery that will link the innocence of a child's promise to a haunting tragedy that nature could no longer hide.