153 292
All the voices
153
in for a coffee. He was all
distracted and on edge,
the way he sometimes
is. I asked him right out
if he wanted to stay and
he ummed and ahhed a
bit and then said could
he come next week? And
I’d agreed to it. Not that
I owed him anything. He
was a bully and out of his
head in my opinion.
Ciaran was one of the
reasons my smile had to
do overtime recently. And
part of me was amused to
think I was taking him in
along with the rest. But it
was a challenge showing
a smooth exterior and
I can’t deny it left me
feeling depleted. I tried
to encourage myself by
thinking positively about
the notion of surface
gloss, telling myself that
the more natural the
appearance the greater
the opportunity for being
yourself underneath.
It was fairly certain
territory because let’s
face it, all these types like
Ciaran and Glea, and Noisy
and flaky Blake, and even
simple minded Aggie and
her best mate Steven had
no probs knowing what
natural was. They thought
they knew it through and
through. So much so they
didn’t even need to think
of it at all. Natural just
was
and any fool would
recognise that. Those
idiots made me sick.
Well, Ciaran is right barmy
if you ask me. He was the
poor baby if anybody was
and I well remembered
the day he set fire to
the
kitchen
curtains
because he didn’t like
the look of the pattern.
The innocuous pattern