Little Crackers: Tales from the Edge
Beda Higgins
Language: English
Pages: 160
ISBN: B00NS3ZM18
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Longlisted for the Edge Hill and Frank O'Connor Short Story awards 2015. A mother struggles to bond with her newborn baby; a student obsesses about flies spreading their killer germs; an old man is at the mercy of his care home nurse. People can look ‘normal’, but appearances often mask a darker inner reality. Inspired by the author’s experiences as a nurse over the last thirty years, and written with compassion and a wild imagination, 'Little Crackers' opens a world of strange characters - the paranoid, the isolated, the exploited and the wicked - and raises questions about how we care for the most vulnerable members of our society. Obsession, dementia, post-natal depression, psychosis and even murder all feature in this quirky, surprising 'Tales of the Unexpected' for the 21st century.
couple she’d seen at breakfast and they nodded back; middle-aged and preoccupied. She watched them plodding, heads bowed, heavy-legged. They were carrying sadness. She wondered if they’d lost a child, or if someone in their family was ill. Everyone who did the Santiago de Compostela did it for a reason. There was comfort in that. Josie tried to see herself through their eyes: a thirty-year-old woman walking alone. If it wasn’t their first guess, it’d be their second. Break-up of a relationship
He held on tight to his candlewick bedspread as if clinging to a lifeboat. He scrunched it up into a knot and bit his fist. ‘Oh dear, I don’t want gangs.’ He stood and looked in the mirror. ‘You need to take care of yourself, Paul.’ He took a deep breath, reached for the scissors, and set out to face the Brotherhood. the feeling Vince lay awake staring at the net curtains. After a while, the patterns looked like plucked eye sockets. He got up and brought Linda a cup of tea in bed. He gently
bloke rummaged in his pocket. Vince sighed heavily. What a crap day. ‘Bad day?’ the bloke asked. ‘Not great,’ Vince replied, nodding. ‘Here, let me buy you a drink.’ Ignoring Vince’s protestations, he ordered. ‘Six cans of lager and a quart of whisky, please.’ He nudged Vince. ‘Nothing a few drinks can’t sort out, eh? Cheers.’ ‘Er, thanks.’ Vince drank; it was cold and sharp. He drank again. ‘There’s some good football on this weekend,’ the bloke said. ‘Yes, Arsenal v Chelsea should be
hard to play with her more. And, Carly, will you try and keep her with you at all times next week? That way you can make sure no one smokes near her.’ ‘I will, doctor, I promise I will.’ ‘Good girl.’ She gave her gap-toothed grin. ‘Thanks, Dr Simon.’ At home, Carly told her mum, ‘I saw Dr Brown; he’s given me more antibiotics.’ ‘Well, I’m glad you saw him and not that tosser. I hope these are the right pills to make her better this time.’ She looked at Charlene. ‘Poor little mite.’ She
catch a plane.’ ‘I think you’ll find you need a passport to get on a plane.’ The boy thought about this and clicked his fingers. ‘I know – I’ll get a boat. I could be a stowaway, couldn’t I?’ His eyes shone, embedded in mud. ‘I’ve decided this is the start of my new life.’ He lifted his arms triumphantly. ‘Stupid Steven’s ruined my life here, so I’m going to make a new one. I got the idea from a programme my mum watches. It’s about people having new lives in new countries because they’re fed up