It was Claire’s turn to look after the class alligator. She walked it round on a lead and let it bite everyone.
Ted watched on in envy from afar. Claire was living his dream. The alligator was only small, and it didn’t have any teeth, but still, he had never been so in love.
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Notes:
1. Written on 7th June, 2021
2. Ted and his crocodile dreams are based on Humbert The Beautiful by Leonora Carrington
3. (as I said in the original Cast Of Characters post)
He wakes. He eats. He washes. He eats.
He goes for a walk He sits on a bench. He eats.
He comes back from his walk. He sits on his sofa. He eats.
He watches a film. He reads a book. He eats.
He sleeps. He dreams. And in those dreams, he eats.
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Notes:
1. Written in May 2020
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They never watered it. They hadn’t even planted it. Yet still it grew. It was fascinating.
“How many times have I told you all to bring your dirty teacups downstairs?” Agnes said, as the vines curled up out of the mug and moved slowly to an arrhythmic beat. “Now look what’s happened.”
“It was Tina’s fault!” Claire said. “I don’t even drink tea.”
“Tina drinks tea,” Daniel said.
“And Claire drinks clay!” Ethel added with a giggle.
“I do not drink clay,” said Claire. “And even if I did at least I take my cups down to the kitchen! Unlike Tina! She’s too busy writing poetry!”
“Look, it doesn’t matter now whose fault it is,” said Agnes. “As long as it doesn’t happen again.”
“It won’t, Mum, I promise,” said Tina. “But can I keep it? I’ll feed it every day!”
“Okay,” Agnes said reluctantly. “But you’ll have to look after it carefully. It takes a lot of time and patience to nurture living things.
“Thanks, Mum!” Tina said excitedly. “I’ll feed it every day! I promise!”
In front of them, a thousand tiny mouths opened on the tips of the houseplant’s fronds and began to sing plaintively to its audience in dissonant harmonies.
“I wonder what it eats,” Claire said. “I bet it’s something disgusting.”
“Like maggots!” Ethel said.
“Or bananas!” Daniel shuddered.
“Well, I’m only going to feed it nice things,” said Tina.
“At least Claire’s safe,” Agnes said quietly. But not anywhere near quietly enough.
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Notes:
1. Written on June 7th, 2021
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Hana woke up one morning to find she had grown wings in the night. Not from her backs, as in the images of fairies she had obsessed over as a child, but in place of her arms.
At least her clothes would still fit, Hana thought idly to herself, as she admired her delicate plumage in the mirror. But how she was going to do the buttons up on her shirts now she had feathers instead of fingers she really did not know.
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Notes:
1. Written on May 26th, 2021
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“Look at the silly old moon,” said Ethel, as she stared out through the window that had recently appeared in the ceiling of their room. “It’s so beautiful.”
“It’s so boring, more like,” said Claire. “It barely even moves. It’s the worst moon ever.”
“It’s not!”
“It is,” said Claire. “The best moon is the moon that’s always on fire.”
“That’s the sun, Claire,” said Ethel.
“Not it’s not.”
“It is.”
“It isn’t. If it was the sun you wouldn’t be able to see it at night but you can.”
“You can’t.”
“You can’t,” said Claire. “I can.”
“The actual best moon,” Daniel said. “Is the moon made of metal.”
“That’s not a real moon,” said Claire. “It’s made up.”
“You’re made up,” said Ethel.
“I’m not!”
“Nor’s the moon made of metal,” said Daniel. “It’s just you have to be in Australia to see it. They have different stars and everything!”
“You’ve never been to Australia, Daniel,” said Claire. “Or New Zealand.”
“Anna’s been to Australia,” said Ethel. “And New Zealand.”
“Well, good for her,” said Claire. “I still don’t think Daniel’s favourite moon should be a moon he’s never seen.”
“Your favourite moon is a moon we’ve never seen,” said Ethel.
“My favourite moon is the ghost moon,” said Tina. Everyone thought she was asleep but she wasn’t at all. “I’ve seen that. Twice.”
“I’ve seen it, too,” said Ethel.
“We’ve all seen it,” said Claire. “And anyway there’s no such thing as a ghost moon. It’s the apparition moon.”
“That’s just another word for ghost,” said Ethel.
“It’s not. It’s totally different,” Claire said. “And why would there be two words for one thing, anyway? It’d be completely confusing!”
“And bemusing,” said Tina, quietly.
“Most perplexing,” said Ethel.
“Confoundingly mystifying,” added Daniel. “Discombobulatingly flummoxational.”
“Everyone shut up,” said Claire. “Those aren’t even words.”
She flopped back down on the bed and banged her fists against the mattress.
“And we’re supposed to be watching the silly old moon, remember?” Claire shouted up at the sky. “Not talking.”
The four of them lay quietly on the bed and stared up at that mysterious new window of theirs. The moon shone through the glass like a beacon, huge and full and as bright as snow. It seemed to fill the entirety of the sky. If you looked into it long enough you could see almost anything you wanted.
“I told you the silly old moon was boring,” Claire sighed. “It’s even more boring than no moon at all.”
But by then everyone else was asleep, and when the moon that was always on fire finally made its appearance, Claire had to watch it all on her own.
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Notes:
1. Written between May 24th and May 30th, 2021
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