No Place for Sissies
The
mob hushes to a chill silence. A lit match is thrown, the whoosh- bang of
boiler pilot light, then the roar of flame that engulfs him. He doesn’t scream?
Her legs shake and she loses her footing on the car roof, spins around, but too late; the image is already
branded into her soul. She falls to the dirt track, covering her mouth and
nose; the urge to help -do something- and the need to escape, pound, pulling her
nowhere except down, down into a crouching ball. In her head moments unravel.
Someone saying ‘They caught him lying with another man - like with a
woman. God’s punishment!’
She
scrambles to get a view.
Tall,
bloodied youth, trussed in a rubber tire, being bumped between three men like
he’s inside a pinball machine.
Can
of gasoline held aloft.
She
runs as fast as she’s ever run, faster even than when she won the university
relay, away from that place by the river where women did their washing and sang
together.
She
double locks the door of her hotel room and turns the air con up to max. Her reflection in the mirror is of
someone suddenly aged. She doesn’t know how she will collect herself : put together her report for the glossy magazine, already well overdue.
She takes a long shower, lathering the complimentary
jasmine scented gel which promises to exfoliate and rejuvenate. But when she closes
her eyes all she sees is his melting face - skin bursting, red flesh
splitting like ripe fig. And she
recalls the parting advice of her father - a quiet man who’d once served his
country, to be careful, advice
against which she always railed. ‘Where you’re going... no place for
sissies.’
By
Bren Gosling
'No Place for Sissies' first appeared in Fifty Flashes of Fiction, The Worcestershire Literary Festival 2014.
'No Place for Sissies' first appeared in Fifty Flashes of Fiction, The Worcestershire Literary Festival 2014.
Powerfull stuff and it kind of stopped me in my tracks. Well done.
ReplyDeleteThanks - it had the desired effect, then ;)
ReplyDeleteBren
www.brengosling.com
Powerful and appropriate for the day. Well done.
ReplyDelete