As a child you look at grown-ups and tend to think they’re lost. They drink too much and say strange things to you. Some will put on a baby-voice or raise eyebrows in a “look how interested I am in you” kind of way. When essentially they’re too wrapped up in problems you know you’ll […]
moreThere is a condom on the pavement. I first saw the condom a few weeks ago. It was a bright and beautiful day. Summer. It lay there on the pavement in an upscale area, quite close to Christie’s. Almost next to Christie’s. As the houses there all have front-gardens and bigger pavements, it was hard […]
moreThere they were. The girls in pairs. Two tall women stood next to me. They had strong jawbones, deepset blue eyes, dark hair. Their hair. Long and thick and curly. Reddish hues. Healthy hair, despite their age. Fourty, is what I guessed. I kept looking at them, they must have been sisters. Yet they were […]
moreLice control at my son’s school this morning. I was one of three designated lice-controllers. I had no idea what to expect. We never had lice control when I was young. But I had lice. All the time.Everytime I engage in a school activity, I am impressed by how many parents have a natural talent […]
moreHe came and sat next to me. In the train, the rain. The rain. So much rain. He said. I think he said that. The rain is a pain. Or was it the train? His coming to sit next to me was more like a drop than a sitting down. It was a buckling of […]
moreI ask “who’s there?” and a voice explains that he is from the Bakery School and he has baked cookies with caramel in them for a test. Would I like to try some? Oh goody, I think as images spill into my mind’s eye of a young, rozy-cheeked boy wearing a white cook’s hat and […]
moreAll of them, the same faces. The ones I’d forgotten but immediately remembered. They buzzed around the foyer, like bees protecting their honey, the pot of gold. Which one of them flew closest to the Queen Bee? By her side? Which bee knew to stroke her the right way, the right time? Excite her, woo […]
moreShe steps off her bike, just as I had turned back to admire a house. She pushes her bike through the gates. She has short hair which has never been dyed, yet has somehow maintained its brown hue. She wears a seamed skirt. A blouse and a short blazer. A small leather purse across her […]
moreAs we entered, the two young girls were drawing on the coffin. We couldn’t see what exactly, just that they were using bright colours, shaking the pens. Glitter pens maybe? We could hear the ring of gypsy-style ankle bracelets as they moved around the coffin, seemingly unaware of our entrance, entirely absorbed. The younger of […]
moreFat little girl. You wear your Sunday cotton dress. It has black and white flowers on it. The kind of flowers you would draw. You have forgotten your colours, shed your petals. You have curly hair and freckles. You wear a silver hairband and earrings. The horizon is grey. The skies dark. It looks like rain. […]
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