Morpho by Philip Palmer

Author:Philip Palmer
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781912950034
Publisher: NewCon Press
Published: 2019-02-08T22:00:00+00:00

Hayley stared at her mother as she approached the Hebden Bridge Town Hall, looking like a multi-coloured dirigible.

Acting upon very specific orders from her younger sister, Hayley forced a big smile on to her face.

‘Wake up, Mam. Wake up.’

Mam stirred. She snored. She shifted her bulk on the sofa. Hayley didn’t want to be late for school. But she didn’t want to leave her mother like this.

‘Are you okay, Mam?’

A snore, a grunt. Mam was always okay. She had amazing survival instincts.

Hayley went to the bathroom with a washing up bowl and filled it and stirred in some soap, then she came back and mopped her mother’s face with a flannel. She’d clearly fallen down drunk somewhere, there were scabs on her face and her hands. Hayley cleaned them and disinfected them with a wipe then dried them carefully with a hand towel. When she was finished she gave her mother a kiss on the cheek. Her little message to say, ‘I’m always here for you.’

But Mam didn’t feel it and if she’d felt it she wouldn’t have remembered it. And that afternoon when Hayley came home from school Mam was baking cakes and scones with Cheyney and the two of them were chattering and gossiping and it was as if Hayley didn’t exist.

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