A room of one’s own
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The first holiday
He’d never been on a holiday before, which is funny, seeing as he lives in a caravan. They moved about a lot, so nowhere was officially ‘home’, except for the two-roomed mobile house they always slept and ate in. His mum and dad were good at some particular things, and they tried to make a…
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The shopkeepers
In this basically adult-free world that I inhabit, for most of the day, I have become more aware of the grown-ups I do meet. I’m afraid to say, approximately 90% of them are shop-assistants. I don’t think any of them, apart from my beautician, know me by name, but they definitely know my face -they…
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Two companions
Since they were born, I have devoted most of my life to them. At the beginning, it was definitely a one-sided thing, and I foolishly wished it over. But after the first while of simply giving, feeding, getting up repeatedly through the night, kneeling down time after time to change nappies, it started to change. …
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Harry
It’s bin day on Tuesdays, but if you weren’t used to the ways of our street, or if you hadn’t watched Harry every week, you’d think it was on a Monday. On Monday mornings, out the blue or green bins trundle, at least eight of them, pulled along by Harry. He does his own house…
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Betty
The frequent sound of a hacking cough told her husband’s story. It was not a smoker’s cough, but the sound of lungs full of darkness, losing their fight for health. A chest that had inhaled too much asbestos, unaware of the death sentence it would bring with it. He only left the house to shuffle…
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Pop-up
It was the end of the holiday. Wasn’t planned to be, but she had had enough, and that was that. Apparently, he was exasperatingly obtuse for not realising that it was the end until she’d actually told him. It had been a trying week; the weather had been unchangeable, on the wet end of the…
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If anyone ever does
The young woman’s been living there for five years now. There have been some big changes, and some puzzling ones (to anyone watching the comings and goings, if anyone ever does). She arrived with a baby, who turned into a sweet little head standing up to the window, peering over the sill, grinning and waving…
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The wanderer
She’d moved at least six times now, and every place she found was more uncomfortable than the last. She never allowed herself to stop, and the exhausting routine of packing up her few possessions, and heading for somewhere different had become strangely normal. ‘On s’habitue a tout’, you can get used to anything, she kept…
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A lonely child
I’ve heard him quite a few nights, or early in the morning. Sometimes it’s a playful, chatty sound, but mostly, it’s crying. I think I’ve seen him once or twice, but he never has an adult I could attach him to – he is always toddling about by himself. He must belong to the garden…
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Every day, at least twice
I see him every day, at least twice, in more than one place. Sometimes I pass him risking his life walking on the footpath-less road away from our street. Once I spotted him cycling away from the newsagent’s. There are so many suspicious people, on mysterious missions around here. Today, for the first time, he…
Ruth Writes 