Tirzah and the Prince of Crows by Deborah Kay Davies

Author:Deborah Kay Davies [Deborah Kay Davies]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781786074454
Publisher: Oneworld Publications

Thy Visitation Cometh; Now Shall Be Their Perplexity

(Micah 7:4)

When Tirzah gets home, her parents are out, thankfully. She pulls herself up the stairs, using the banister like a rope. In her room, she shrugs off her summer dress and lets her pants drop around her ankles. Her bra is constricting, and under her breasts there is an inflamed-looking line. She rubs it with her fingers. It must be this heat making me come over all funny, she thinks, looking at her reflection in the semi-dark. The air of the bedroom is muffled. Struggling to breathe, she throws the window open, panicking slightly. She splashes water from a glass on the bedside table on to her body and tries to calm down by thinking of her time in the countryside. She remembers the huge white bird moving towards her like an unfurling flower, and how it gazed at her in the twilight. I am discovering more about the world all the time, she realises, unplaiting her hair. And I believe there is nothing to be afraid of. Her long hair is cool as milk against her naked back. Without washing or cleaning her teeth she falls asleep.

In the morning she lies on her bed trying to remember a dream. All she can picture are shining wings and the perfume of sun-baked leaves. Through the slit in the curtains a hard slice of sunlight comes and goes. In the bottom drawer of her chest she finds half-familiar things to put on. The hot weather has come so suddenly there has been little chance to prepare. She climbs into last year’s shorts and struggles to do them up. Over the top she wears a roomy but too-short shirt. By the desk her mother has left a battered suitcase for her to fill. Today, she remembers, with a little jolt of joy, she and Biddy are going for a two-week holiday to their grandparents. And the grown-ups are going away too. Quickly she stuffs things in her case and rushes downstairs. In the kitchen her mother has left a glass of orange juice and half a grapefruit. She gulps down the juice and runs out.

When she comes round the corner into Biddy’s garden, there she is, lying on a lounger. Well, well, at last, Biddy says calmly, without opening her eyes. The Queen of blinking Sheba has arrived. It’s almost dinner time. Tirzah sits on the end of the lounger and it tips them both off. Biddy lies on the grass with her legs hooked over the chair and doesn’t move. Already the day is hot. Tirzah struggles to get up. Are you packed? she asks. Dunno, Biddy says. Let’s ask my mam. Tirzah remembers her own unfinished case and dashes home. Her mother is checking its contents. And where, may I enquire, are your undies? she asks. Are you planning to run around with no knickers? And where is your nightdress? Tirzah shrugs. Honestly, her mother says. You haven’t got a clue, have you? No, I haven’t, Tirzah agrees.

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