Spelling Things Out Leaving dusk behind, I slip into the library’s light. Coat on the peg, I slink into the corner. Slumped on the floor, back against the radiator, is my spot. Miss Robin, the librarian, comes over with hot chocolate and a biscuit. I leave crumbs on the carpet, but she smiles. ‘Put the […]
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Desi’s Doctor The metal gates rang like crazed gamelan under the fists of the mob. The chorus shouted and clapped. My clients were unsettled by the ruckus; the old man with a lump in his throat and the woman with a bloated tongue. They whispered, sharing doubts, and that I could not allow. I had
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Occupational Hazard Session 1 ‘Your patient is here, Ruby.’ Maddie, the temp who smelled like lilies, handed me the paperwork. June Allen, 46, marital issue. Maddie giggled. ‘She’s a chatty one.’ ‘She’s in the right place. Chatting is my jam. Send her in.’ Before I got to my feet, June marched into therapy issuing cautions.
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Removal The room seems to have more shadows with it bare. Empty shelves. There had been vases and books and objects, articles of life. Modern art in oak frames; how cultured they were, their easy touch of class. He runs his hand on the wood: feeling fragments, smelling dust. Remembers a wonky selfie shot on
Reenactment The history books said that it must take place on the twenty-second of January. Lying in bed, dressed in a plain white gown, head covered by a lace veil decorated with myrtle leaves, Alex Osborne wondered if people would be angry. At the head of the bed, Malcolm had hung a circular black and
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Dead Man talking Old Szymon Parker died while flower petals whirled themselves into soft gray pools of rain. I called him Creaky. He only left his apartment Sunday mornings to drink coffee and smoke on the patio at the diner on 2nd Avenue. In the winters, when he couldn’t smoke indoors, he’d take his coffee
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Surface 1. The Blue-ringed Octopus lives in colourful coral reefs. It relies on the rocks and crevices in its environment for refuge. A customer wants to speak to the manager, but I’m trying to write my essay on cephalopods and their dedication to procreation behind the counter. A girl in a turquoise-striped jumper