SHORT STORY | Meet Lexington Crump

Unless you’re a trivia nerd, there’s no way known I would expect the name ‘Lexington Crump’ to be familiar to anyone but me. That name has been nagging at me ever since I left Winchester.

One aspect of my writing I’ve always been aware of is that I'm usually at my best when I feel I have some theme to explore. Something to say. What I learnt at Oxford is that if things are kept really simple, I can write high quality material about anything on the spot with just a couple of words to kick me off.

I met Lexington Crump in Winchester. I came across his name in a memorial book to fallen World War I soldiers in a glass case in the cathedral. ‘Crump’. That’s a pretty odd name. On another page I saw ‘Lexington’. Put together, it sounded cool. And pretty damn English!

Image: Winchester Cathedral

Later I took the tour of the roof of the cathedral. When we finally reached the further most point, we paused to take in the outside view from the windy parapet. Inside in front of a set of windows was a cane chair covered in cobwebs. The tour guide recounted an anecdote that soldiers used to watch for German bombers at night during the blitz.

Not a bad basis for a story, but I couldn’t really work out ‘well….what is the story’? During my morning and evening Melbourne train commute, I took the bit between the teeth and made myself find one. I figured best just to write in the manner that Tim Pears opened my eyes up to. Let the Ink flow. So after six train trips during October I had a story that fell out much in the way it did in his class.

What I’ve really enjoyed about this exercise is that I’ve really had to work hard to rewrite and edit this one. It hasn’t come out naturally like a lot of others. I wanted to practice my prose too. I decided to set myself the challenge of trying to show what went on inside this characters head as he approached his post for guard duty.

Image: 'taciturn bell ropes hung draped
in an unmoving ballet'

I think I have achieved this. By the time the deadline for the next 'Turl’ comes around, I reckon I’ll be ready. Hopefully so will Lexington Crump.

READ MORE

• CLASS | Chasing The Muse For Lexington Crump
• POSTCARD | Eight Mile
• POSTCARD | Winchester - It's All Cathedrals and Legend, Baby (Part II)