Twenty Thousand Saints by Fflur Dafydd
Author:Fflur Dafydd [Fflur Dafydd]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Mwynwen reasoned with her at the kitchen counter, resuming her kneading of a deflated lump of floury matter as she spoke. The baby sat perched on its high stool, face caked in clumps, its too-blue eyes bullying her.
âItâs that blasted Leri,â Mwynwen said, âlooking for a story. I knew there was something funny about that girl. Sheâs obviously been planning it for months.â Her words were barely audible above the pounding of fists in the soft dough. Viv thought about Leriâs oval-shaped face, so unlike the babyâs perfectly round, ball-shaped stare. Sheâd liked the earnestness of Leriâs eyes in her dimly-lit kitchen, sheâd liked the way she wrote down everything sheâd said, and more, in looping cadences so unlike Sister Mary Catherineâs. Theyâd both sat there one evening watching the sun sinking into the sea, stripping the light from their faces, until they could see nothing but the glimmer of eyes. For one moment, sheâd allowed herself to think it was Delyth who was sat there. Nobody had listened to her like that since Delyth had gone. âIf it wasnât for the blasted Sound,â Mwynwen continued, white flakes flying off her wrists, âwe could have got them off the island by now. You know, Howard thinks it could be days before we get another boat. Viv. Viv? Say something, Viv, will you?â
âThey released him,â she said suddenly, looking up at Mwynwenâs face. âThey released him, Mwynwen. That means something, surely?â
âWeâve been over this,â said Mwynwen.
âItâs different now,â she said, sulkily, feeling the weight of her eyes.
âHow is it different?â she said, sternly, carving grooves into her unbaked loaf. âLack of evidence doesnât mean a thing. They always had a lack of evidence. You and I both know he did it.â
âHow do we know?â Viv said. She truly wanted to know how she knew. Sheâd spent so long on this place that it had become fact, hard and real. Iestyn had killed Delyth. Itâs what Mwynwen had told her; itâs what she had told herself over and over as she had testified in court. There had been the cardigan; the blood stain. There had been the eyes of dead birds under Iestynâs bed. There had been his restlessness when the police had come. There had been his hurdle over Cae Uchafâs fence. There had been the fact that he was a difficult, violent boy.
But then again there had been very little else. She hadnât even told them about what sheâd seen him do, him and Delyth, over on those rocks on the south side. Maybe she should have. It seemed to incriminate him further, at the time, but now she sees it could have been useful. Essential, even. Then again, she wasnât even sure what sheâd seen now; it was all a blur of limbs and rock.
âWhat if sheâs not even dead, Mwynwen?â Viv said, trying to fine-tune the tremor in her voice. She heard Delythâs laugh in her head. Enchanting and lilting and sometimes, downright cruel.
âOh Viv,â Mwynwen had said. âViv fach.
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African American | Contemporary |
Divorce | Domestic Life |
Friendship | Mothers & Children |
Single Women | Sisters |
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