What she said
Didn’t have any pain. More an ache
across my shoulders, down my left arm.
Dad wanted me so I joined the Rechabites.
Mind, I didn’t fancy life without a drink.
Knew what it was. I’d read all about it,
and seen it. True posterior infarct, that’s
what they wrote. I met Eunice through
them: we used to swap each other’s clothes.
You could have wrung me out with a dishcloth.
Never knew I’d so much sweat. Anyway, it
weren’t as if I ever drank much. Still, I once
won a poetry book, the sort I like that
rhymed.
I always have to be different. Your dad
was in agony, not me: nothing. Well anyway,
now Eunice walks sideways down stairs, fat,
can hardly get out the door. I don’t like
salad,
and she does. I’ve got bruises all up my legs,
one right up here. Don’t know what from.
Did I tell you I fainted once on the coach
from Blackpool? They said I couldn’t even
have a medicinal rum. Just one of those
things,
it happens. It’s not as if I ever ate. I mean,
you’re just going along and... not even a nip.
So anyway, I decided to leave the Rechabites.
Page(s) 29
magazine list
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