Reasons She Goes to the Woods by Deborah Kay Davies

Author:Deborah Kay Davies [Davies, Deborah Kay]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: mystery, nervy, horrid, sinister, normality, lyrical, dark, Pearl, childhood, sensual
Publisher: Oneworld Publications
Published: 2014-02-06T08:00:00+00:00

Choke

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In the lounge The Blob sits at their mother’s feet while she feeds him dripping chunks from a huge orange. The evening light is shot through with bursts of zest. Saliva drenches Pearl’s mouth, but she hugs her knees in a corner of the settee, unable to shake off the feeling that something is going to happen. Each time she checks, the two of them seem happy enough, chomping their orange, so Pearl closes her eyes and decides to count; maybe her father will come home before she has even got to fifty. Suddenly there’s a noise that doesn’t sound right. Pearl sees her mother stuffing pieces of orange into her brother’s mouth, steadying his struggling head with her free hand. For a moment Pearl can’t move. Her mother drops both hands and watches, fascinated, as The Blob’s face turns scarlet and his lips swell. Pearl knows he is struggling to breathe. Do something, Mother, she manages to say. But her mother does nothing. Her brother’s grunts are the only sounds in the room. He collapses onto his hands and knees while her mother, still transfixed, says tonelessly, no Pearl, you should do something. Suddenly, Pearl feels her muscles release. She dashes across the lounge and shoves her finger and thumb into his throat, pulling out a lumpy membrane of semi-chewed orange. The Blob sits up, sobbing, and Pearl makes her way unsteadily back to the settee. They both stare at their mother. Her lap is full of curves of peel. Well, she says, gathering them up in her apron, I can’t just sit here, I have things to do. Then she leaves the room.

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