The Gallows Bird by Barbara Sumner

Author:Barbara Sumner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pantera Press
Published: 2024-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Birdie stands on tiptoe as she tries to see the distant shore. The cold air is invigorating. She closes her eyes, the breeze lifting her pale hair as she licks at the faint taste of salt on her lips. She puts a hand to her neck, imagining the feel of the noose. Smiler is behind her. His breath is rotten, his uniform held together with the stink of his body. He digs his fingers into her arm, leading her to the railing. Birdie tries to pull away.

‘Come now. No need to be afraid: it’s the lesson of the sea Smiler’s giving you.’ He lets her go and Birdie grips the railing, her eyes screwed shut. She is terrified and yet drawn as though the sea is calling to her.

‘Aye, you feel it too. Smiler can always pick ’em. Never look down, young bobtail. Those who look into her depths are prone to throw themselves in for fear of their own nothingness.’ He shakes himself as though the ocean is a demon, and she follows him across the deck.

Now fed and clean, the women shout and shove as they wait by the hold. Smiler blows his whistle for calm. ‘A fine circus, Smiler’s fun just beginning,’ He laughs and pulls back the hatch and they file down. Only Lizzie seems unaffected by the sway of the ship, while Catherine grips the rope to stop herself from falling, and Adelia needs Birdie’s hand on her arm to steady her.

Birdie slips into her shelf, her eyes watering from the ballast, her stomach so empty she wonders if she will die of hunger. She holds the new apron to her nose, hoping for something caught within the weave, a hint of lavender, a sense of tussocks in a windswept place. Instead, all she can smell is a foul reek, as though in this profane place devoid of beauty nothing else survives. Through the thicket of hammocks, she watches Lizzie at the gate with Smiler, who flips the ring of keys up his arm like a bracelet. He reaches through the bars and grabs Lizzie’s breast. She does not resist, and Smiler smiles and pats her behind and gives her a candle and matches.

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