After You'd Gone by Maggie O'farrell

Author:Maggie O'farrell [O'farrell, Maggie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary, Sagas, Fiction, Romance
ISBN: 9781440621116
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2002-02-25T16:00:00+00:00

it: around its head is a spray of fragile, delicately fronded pink gills, which pulsate slightly. Its feet fascinate her: they are like dolls' hands - dainty and pale with tiny meticulous fingers. It looks inexpressibly melancholy. What strikes her most of all is its stillness: it doesn't move even when she bends right down next to it. She wonders how it stays afloat in mid-tank without appearing to move its legs or thick tail. Surely it should sink to the gravelled bottom? As she watches, it moves painstakingly slowly to the edge of the tank, its muscular tail flicking it through the water; when it reaches the side of the tank, its nose bumps the glass and it sinks a few inches in the water, then stops, gazing at her soulfully. She presses her fingertips against the glass. 'What are you doing in there?' she whispers.

It gazes at her with its mournful pinprick eyes. She straightens up and turns to go downstairs.

In the kitchen, John is standing shirtless at the cooker, vigorously stirring something in a pan. 'Hello,' he says, as she enters, 'it's not completely ruined, don't worry.' He leans over and kisses her. 'Have you been having a look round?'

'John, what's that thing?' 'What thing?'

'That thing in the tank upstairs. ' 'Oh,' he laughs, 'it's an axolotl.' 'A what?'

'An axolotl. They originate from South America. One of my cousins breeds them. It's amazing, isn't it?'

'But is it a reptile or an amphibian or what?'

'They're the larval form of salamanders. If I let him get used to being out of water, he'd become a salamander. They're the only larval form in existence that can breed.'

'So he's stuck in constant adolescence?' She shudders. 'What a horrific thought. That's so cruel. You should let

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