Iron Annie by Luke Cassidy

Author:Luke Cassidy [Cassidy, Luke]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2022-01-11T00:00:00+00:00

ANTS

Y’ever seen a colony’a ants? Isn that what it’s called sure? A colony? Must be. Wee colonialist bastards. That’s what th’are, with those thousands, tens’a thousands, probably hundreds’a thousands’a legs all marchin, walkin one after another. Offta colonise somethin, t’ate it, take it over completely. They move by smell I think it is, an they don’t even have noses. Mad. Anyway, it’s somethin like that, the chemicals n’all. I remember it, see I usedta watch these shows on telly. Bug shows me da usedta call them, laughin, tauntin like a hyena, he-he-he, thinkin he was dead funny. But they mostly weren bowt bugs, they were mostly bowt animals an that an I loved them. I loved watchin them. I could spend whole days on the couch with meself watchin them.

Watchin the shows bowt animals, that was how I triedta understand people. See people are juss like animals really, I mean we are animals. Pure instinct an that, juss hid behind other shite. So if I could understand animals I’d be ableta understand people, an maybe manageta fit meself in with them. Be a little less lonely. But it was a pretty superficial kindofa way not to be lonely, cause I didn really get them, even with David Attenborough explainin everythin all bowt them an that, an he’s class at explainin. I mean it’s his job like.

Me thoughts were like ants sometimes. Like a fuckin load’a them, marchin along like a big troop, out lookin for food or spoilin for a fight or whatever. Sure that’s the same way thoughts work. At least it’s how my thoughts work. Like a big column’a ants, marchin away, wee colonial cunts cominta take me over.

Bein with Annie, I got plenty’a these big circles in me brain. Deeper an deeper they went, every day. An mostly it was good like. Juss the repetition’a havin her round, y’know? The fact’a talkinta the same person every day. A’wakin up beside them. Gettin usedta their moods, their habits. Knowin howta smooth somethin over, an howta piss them off if ye needta. It was like a path gettin more familiar. In the beginnin it was a forest or some wild place, all overgrown in a big mess. But the more th’ants passed through it, the more the feet pressed down again an again an again, the more regular it got. The more used ye get to it. Yer own feet follow it. So even the jagged bits, the things that frightened y’at first, ye get usedta them. Part’a the path sure. Like Annie gettin in a strop or fightin with people—I was usedta that before too long sure. An sure the good parts made up for the bad. Even when I’d get upset meself, say if she went an spent a couple’a nights with some fella, that might make me trip up a bit, but I’d get right back up an keep walkin. An with paths like those, the deeper they go, the longer ye think they’re gonna keep goin for.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.