Crocodile by Daniel Shand

Author:Daniel Shand
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sandstone Press Ltd
Published: 2018-10-05T00:00:00+00:00

Gran says she needs to close her eyes before she can go into the bedroom and she’s smiling in that way. The girl complies and listens for the door being opened before inching forwards mummy-fashion, Gran’s fingers on her wrist. With eyes closed she can feel those fingers strong and bony and they grip like a bird clenching its claws on a branch.

‘Open.’

On the bed’s a dress. It’s sky blue and it’s got these pale cream paisleyish patterns all over and it’s grown up. She can’t touch it from prettiness.

‘Can I?’ she says.

Gran laughs. ‘Aye, course you can – daft lassie.’

She holds it up against her front and the material’s so soft it slides over itself and her body. You can tell it’s going to fit in just that right way, like all of Karen’s clothes.

‘Thanks Gran,’ she says.

Gran says she can wear the dress tonight, if she likes.

‘No,’ she says. ‘I want to keep it nice.’

She spends time folding it on the bed, then slips it into one of the room’s drawers. As she closes it inside, she sees cars passing on the carriageway . . .

It wasn’t until they were dashing across the road that she caught the last trace of the wee boy – in two pieces, one in each lane, was his aerial, bent and twisted from tyres.

How can she deserve something so precious after that? How could you dress something as savage as her in something so delicate?

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