Daniel Isn't Talking by Marti Leimbach

Author:Marti Leimbach [Marti Leimbach]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780007279272
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2006-04-05T04:00:00+00:00

In my dream I am walking down a street on a wet night. Winter leaves form clumps at the kerb; the trees have that skeletal look, as though they could never again bud flowers. Suddenly I remember that I have left the children in the house alone. It is impossible that I would ever do such a thing, but in my dream I have suddenly remembered that they are all alone in that house. I rush through the city now, panic rising in my chest. It seems the streets are all tangled up; I cannot find my home. Then all at once I am there, running for the door.

Inside there is a man I think I recognise. Bettelheim. He’s small, weasel-like, with heavy glasses. He sits in the armchair – Stephen’s favourite chair – and points to Daniel, who stands in a corner turning round and round, focusing on nothing. Daniel doesn’t even look fully alive as he spins slowly in a circle.

‘Look what you’ve done!’ shouts Bettelheim. His face is the mask of an accuser. I recognise him more by this fact about him than any other, and the thought that I am to blame stuns me, silences me.

I rush for Daniel, the blood pounding in my ears, but when I reach him he feels like wood in my arms.

‘Look what you’ve done!’ Bettelheim taunts once more.

When I wake there is orange light flooding through the window. I have forgotten to draw the curtain, so the street lamp shines through the window in the manner of the glowing bulbs of certain terrariums and fish tanks. I feel I am being observed. Outside, the morning sun is hovering low in the sky. When I open the window, the air smells like coal and it smells like rain. The man in my dream is gone now, as is the man in my life.

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