Into an airless house, which had been left shut up with the heating on throughout the winter, the man, who came from a small place in the middle of nowhere that didn’t have a Carrefour, a Starbucks, a Spar even, just a local shop with crumbs on the floor which the owner never bothered to sweep up; who knew that this was the first time in his life he had the chance to make a home for himself; who travelled six weeks by bus from one continent to another; who survived on crisps from packets bought by other travellers, whose generosity he abused, since they were wealthy university students on extended holidays funded by their parents; who, when they did not offer to share, waited for them to sleep; who took food from their bags; who justified this by reminding himself that this was the way of the world, that people take things from people all the time, that these children could afford what he could not; who had to trust those same rich, foreign students; who asked them to cover for him at borders, at checkpoints; who hid in the bus bathroom, where he would hold his breath, fearing his journey was at an end; the same man who, when he arrived in the city, went straight to the place he had been directed to, wanting to pay what he owed; who met the man that had arranged his transport; who tried to pay his debt only to discover that it had grown during his transit beyond what he could afford; who grew angry; who quarrelled with the man; who hit him; who found a dark, shuttered mansion in a quiet suburb; who threw a brick; who entered the occasional home of a wealthy man through a broken window; this same man let fall to the floor the black bag he had carried with him from his home, in which were his possessions, the things he knew how to make, how to sell; but they were, all of them, stained, and good for nothing but fuel for the polished stone fireplace.

About Joshua Davis

Joshua studied Classics and has worked in film development and production. He has produced two short films, which have shown at film festivals internationally. He is working on his first novel.

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