Normally, I ignored calls from numbers I didn’t recognise but twenty-two missed calls in the span of an hour was worrisome.
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A flock of swallows has just flown overhead. This is their time of night, just as dusk is beginning to deepen.
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I’m not used to this kind of attention from men. I’ve only been a woman, noticeably so at least, for a year, after all.
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She seems unaffected by the midges now, her light clothes flapping them away. It needles you, her comfort in surroundings that make you feel so out of place.
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The blossom’s winged petals flapped and flailed and stuck to the little bare legs and the new blue dress and that glossy hair, she winced. Stop, she wanted to shout. ...
The sign was a few kilometres back, but I’d told myself I wouldn’t stop. That she isn’t there.
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I drop my son on the floor and he shatters.
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Is it kidnapping when it’s your own children? I hope not.
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I often think about the moon. I wonder how I may sail to her.
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Taken aback, she forgot to respond. Her hand hung limply in his palm, until he dislodged it.
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I opened their cage to test their loyalty. I was a fool. But they deserve their freedom … I guess.
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There were footsteps in the next room and Gail lay still, listening.
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Two weeks later Jesus winked at him again. It wasn’t sunlight playing silly buggers this time. Thunderclouds were blanketing the sky.
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None of the teachers know my name, You’re Laura’s sister aren’t you? I like borrowing her status but I’d like my own name.
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Shhh, shhh. I’m going to tell you my story, but not too loud, not too loud. Can’t let them hear; they won’t like that.
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According to family lore, when Nuri came back with the bandage on her nose, everyone was shocked. There was enough nose on her to make three new ones, said amme ...
Gritty truth sells nothing. This has to be the kind of sadness that afflicts interesting, successful people.
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He was old, his hair too long, too oily. He said he wanted my mum when he thought no one was looking, whispered it to her by the burgers and ...
But still he sends the needle down again, hesitates for a moment, letting it hover, making sure to get it in just the right spot.
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She keeps looking, searching for something that isn’t there anymore, but smiles at the same time, keeping a polite pace to the conversation.
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