Pearl by Melanie R. Springer

Author:Melanie R. Springer [Springer, Melanie R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781440122729
Publisher: iUniverse
Published: 2019-03-19T04:00:00+00:00

* PEARL *

11

The movie had ended. The station had already signed out. Nothing was left on the screen but the static and sound of the television. Annie and Davy, the only two visitors remaining, cleaned up the mess of plates and plastic cups that littered the Walcott home. Omar stared at a half-empty glass of his favourite ginger beer. His eyes fixated on a lone fly that wandered along its rim. The house looked as if it had been burgled. One end of the sitting room carpet lay cocked up, a chair leg hooked into it. Nothing was where it should have been. It was not the way his mother kept house. The sweet smell of rum from an uncapped bottle was strong in the room. The familiar smell, which in the past had brought him comfort, now suffocated him.

Omar sighed. The shrill chirp of a well-camouflaged cricket did nothing to help matters either. His eyes surveyed the shadowy corners of the room, searching for its hiding place. The pale blue glow from the TV screen was the only source of light where he sat. Loretta half-slouched, asleep in her chair with the television watching her. Omar watched his mother too. He sat to one side of the large sofa listening to the low tones of Annie and Davy in the kitchen. He’d sat there for ages in the semi-darkness unwilling to move. The sharp pain in his stomach had since passed, but now in its place was a dull ache. He felt heavy all over. Omar didn’t know which was worse. He looked at his mother again and sighed. It was his fault that she was still lying there at this time of night, exhausted. Omar sighed again, his grip on the sofa arm tightening as he fought the impulse to go over to her and confess everything. He knew he couldn’t...he’d made an oath; he’d sworn never to tell. Omar battled with himself silently, the only evidence of his torment, the little hand that clenched and unclenched the rough fabric of the chair arm. As Annie walked out of the kitchen all she could see was the dark silhouette of his rounded head and the two long shadows that were Loretta’s legs crossed at the ankles, the rest of her melding into the tall back of the chair.

Loretta’s only child got up and walked over to the window. He parted the curtains, letting the moonlight filter in. He stood there a while looking out into the street and at the sleeping houses. When he turned back around and walked over to his mother, not even he expected it. When he knelt by her chair and whispered in her ear, no one could have been more surprised than he by the words that spilled from his mouth. He whispered simply “I sorry Mummy, is my fault. I kill Pearl.”

Omar looked up when the clinking of two glasses alerted him to Annie’s return. She had almost finished clearing the table.

“Omar,

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