Roberta Eaton Cheadle’s “Just Desserts” in Midnight Oil

I asked fellow Midnight Oil anthology contributors to share some things about themselves prior to publication and those generous enough to do so will be appearing here for the next week or so.

Each entry gives a taste of their contribution, a little about them, how to contact them, how their story came about, and definitely a link to Midnight Oil (which you should purchase because it would make each and every one of us happy.
you do want to make us happy, don’t you?
i mean, considering what we wrote, you want us to know you’re a good person, right?).

And now, Roberta Eaton Cheadle’s Just Desserts:

If walls could talk and tell the world what they saw, humans would behave with more transparency, and crime and corruption would disappear.
We, the walls of the Castle of Good Hope, surveyed him day and night while he lived here. We knew he was a diabolical man. The cruellest and most inhuman despot to have ever governed the beautiful Cape Colony.
His physical body was the canvas that depicted his life of deceit and debauchery. We watched him committing some of the sins and dark deeds that etched heavy lines across his forehead and distorted his once sensuously thick-lipped mouth. Under our all-seeing gaze, he indulged in excessive alcohol, adding to the fine, spider webs of red that crisscrossed his bulbous nose and sagging cheeks. He indulged in the best foods, rich and decadent, and we observed how they thickened and bloated his once lithe body.

How the story came about:
Just Desserts came about as a result of three different inspirational sources.
The first was the idea of writing a ghost story about the Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town. South Africa’s oldest building, this 17th century bastion fort was built by the Dutch East India Company. This building replaced the earlier fort called Fort de Goede Hoop which was constructed by clay and timer and bult by Jan van Riebeeck when he arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652. I have a fascination with history and wanted to write a story including this historical landmark.
Secondly, I read a book review about a book that was written from the perspectives of various items in a museum. I liked that idea and decided to write this story from the perspective of the walls of the castle which have seen much throughout the buildings history, including secret meetings.
Thirdly, I was inspired by the idea presented in The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, where your life decisions and behaviours reflect in your aged face and body.

About Roberta Eaton Cheadle: Roberta Eaton Cheadle, is a South African writer and poet specialising in historical, paranormal, and horror novels and short stories. She is an avid reader in these genres and her writing has been influenced by famous authors including Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, Amor Towles, Stephen Crane, Enrich Maria Remarque, George Orwell, Stephen King, and Colleen McCullough. Roberta has two published novels and a collection of short stories and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories included in several anthologies. She is also a contributor to the Ask the Authors 2022 (WordCrafter Writing Reference series). Roberta is also the author and illustrator of sixteen children’s books, illustrator to a further three children’s books, and the author and illustrator of four poetry books published under the name of Robbie Cheadle, and has poems and short stories featured in several anthologies under this name. Find Roberta at her website, her blog, on Goodreads, Facebook, TSL Publications, and Amazon.

See all Midnight Oil stories here.