Every month I put a FREE short story on here. Here’s the story for February 2026.

Brass Drubbings

Daisy had never seen so much gold braid in one place. It decorated hats, shoulders and chests. Of course they wore their medals too, quite fitting for the Remembrance Day Parade.  All the top brass were there from the Army, Navy and Royal Air Force. Then she got to wondering: why were they called ‘top brass’? Was it down to the gold braid or was it something else?

‘Where’s there’s muck there’s brass’, her old mum used to say but that couldn’t be it. She also used to say that her friend Shirley had ‘more brass than a military band’. But that didn’t answer the question either. Daisy tutted. She was prone to random thoughts and questions that came out of nowhere these days, but it was something worth thinking about. Perhaps she’d ask old Tom. He knew a lot about all sorts of things. ‘Master of trivialities’ he called himself when he ran the afternoon quizzes at the Evergreen Club.  If he found out perhaps, he could add it to his list of questions and, if he told Daisy then at least she’d be able to answer one of his questions, which would make a change.

Daisy enjoyed the quizzes on alternate Wednesdays at the club. She preferred it to the Bingo on Tuesday’s, although she was often luckier at Bingo. She always sat with Annie, Jean and Lyndsey enjoying their company. They had a giggle on Tuesdays, but the Wednesday Quizzes were taken much more seriously. They liked to do well, but were nowhere near as competitive as the men, who were ‘in it to win it’.

Daisy sighed. Maybe it was time to do something about that too, she thought. Perhaps they should each gen up on a particular subject. She chuckled. She could do the origin of sayings – like ‘top brass’.

The next day she baked an apple pie, Tom’s particular favourite, and went to see him.

“Good morning, Tom,” she said, triumphantly carrying the pie through to his kitchen. “I had apples left over so I thought of you.”

Tom’s eyes lit up and he breathed in the aroma of the fresh baked pastry. “That was kind of you, Daisy,” he said.

Over a cup of tea Daisy decided it was time to get down to brass tacks. “Did you watch the Remembrance Parade on Sunday?” she asked, knowing full well that he wouldn’t miss it for the world. “All the top brass were there, in their gold braid and shiny buttons. She sipped her tea. “So why do they call ’em Top Brass?” she shot a puzzled frown over to Tom. “I bet you know.”

Tom grimaced. “Erm, not sure I do,” he said. He shook his head. “Probably something to do with the gold braid or brass hats,” he said. “I’ll look it up,” he said.

Daisy followed him into his back room which was lined with books. “What a wealth of knowledge you have in here,” she said. “Is this where you get all those questions for the quizzes? So many books to choose from.” She glanced around the room.

Tom chuckled. “Not all of them.” He grinned. “To tell you the truth Daisy I pick out the questions weeks in advance. I get most of ’em from a couple of quiz books I bought years ago. Once I’ve written them out I put ’em in separate envelopes over here and choose one at random the day before the quiz so I can go through it and make sure I’ve got the right answers.” He tapped the side of his nose. “Between you and me!” he said.

Daisy smiled. “Your secret’s safe with me,” she said, a twinkle in her eye.

It turned out that there were differing explanations for Top Brass, but it originated from brass hats, the expression used when referring to the gold leaf, often called ‘scrambled egg’, on high-ranking officers’ hats which shone like brass in the sunlight.

“Hmm,” Tom said glancing through his book on the origin of idioms, “Some of these are quite fascinating.”

Daisy smiled. She was just leaving when she ran into Bill from the men’s quiz team, called The Oracles, as they prided themselves on their vast knowledge. True they usually won the quizzes. Now perhaps Daisy was about to find out why.

“Hello, Daisy,” Bill said, cheerily. “Been to see old Tom? How is the old devil?”

“He’s fine,” Daisy said. “I didn’t know you were particular friends.”

Bill grinned. “Just taking him down the pub,” he said. “Tuesday night’s darts’ night. Keen on darts is old Tom.”

Daisy raised her eyebrows. So, Tuesday nights you all go down the pub, buy him a few drinks and I wouldn’t mind betting you take him home afterwards, she thought. The lads would see him safe indoors too, no doubt, especially if he’s got the questions out on his desk. Someone would only need a quick shufty, she thought…or a quick snap with their phone… She shook her head. No, they wouldn’t do that – would they? ‘Cheats never prosper’ was another of her mum’s oft repeated sayings.

Over the next few days Daisy, Annie, Jean and Lyndsey met in the library, each taking out a book on a different subject to study. Daisy chose sport and local history. When Kevin, one of the Oracles, saw them he laughed. “Not trying to win the quiz, are you?” he said, taking a close look at the books they were studying. “You’ve got no chance.”

Hmm, Daisy thought. As much chance as you’ll have anyway.

Tuesday afternoon Daisy took another pie, cherry and black current, this time, round to Tom’s. She also had another idiom for him to look up for her. She followed him into the room where his books were kept together with the quiz question envelopes. Bold as brass she picked one up and slipped it into her bag when Tom wasn’t looking.

On Wednesday evening she was just going out of the door with Lyndsey as Tom was coming in. Not looking where she was going, she bumped into him, knocking him off balance and sending his papers cascading to the floor. Lyndsey helped him regain his balance while Daisy picked up his papers. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I didn’t see you there. Still, no harm done.”

That evening the lady’s team, The Devine Divas, did a lot better than usual, coming second, which Daisy put down to the studying they’d done each day in the library. To everyone’s surprise The Oracles came last.

“Sometimes you just don’t get the right questions,” Daisy said to Bill, who looked quite ‘brassed off’.

She chuckled. Swapping the envelope Tom had dropped with the one she took from his study had worked out well. She hadn’t opened the envelope, that would be cheating, and their second place was well earned, but The Oracles had somehow lost their advantage that week. “I wonder how that happened,” Lyndsey said with a grin.

If you enjoyed this story there are many more in my Short Story collections here.