MORNING SERIAL

SO he can look Gwyn in the eye, shake his hand, say “I’m sorry” like a good loser. He can tell everyone he was bad before, and now he’s good, and he’s sorry and he’s learnt his lesson.

I hate him.

I need to go down there and tell Gwyn it was me. I did it. I need to make Pigeon let me tell him. I grab my coat, open my bedroom door.

I hesitate though, because Efa and Dafydd are down there in the living room. I don’t want them to see me crying. I open my door to check they’re still there.

“What’ve you been doing?” Efa’s saying to Dafydd, down in the living room. “You’ve got bruises all up your arms.”

This stops me. I stand and listen. I’d noticed them too and wondered if he’d been fighting. They reminded me of Pigeon’s, years ago. I want to know about the bruises. The full story. They could be bad news for me and Efa, like He was bad news.

“Oh, you know,” says Dafydd. “Gardening.”

“Gardening?!” says Efa, not believing a word. She’s not thick, Efa.

“Have you thought that maybe Pigeon and Iola don’t think of each other just as friends any more?” says Dafydd quickly.

I hold still, push my door open a thin slice further. Through the door and through the pine banisters I can see Dafydd down in the lounge, sitting back easily on the sofa as if it’s his, his eyes tracing the headline of the front page like he’s following a fly walking across the paper. His slippers are half off his heels and his dressing gown is open some, showing the black hairs that walk like ants all over him. It’s funny, having a man in the house. The man of the house, Efa calls him. Efa was the man of the house before.

“Why d’you say that?” Efa bends to her stitching, gathering a fresh bit of cloth to the quilt and working her deft hands to pull the thread in out, in out, with the needle.

“Just an observation.” Dafydd stops in that way when you’re trying to decide if you should say something. Or maybe he already knows. It’s like he’s being dramatic.

> Pigeon is the winner of the Wales Book of the Year and the Rhys Davies Fiction Prize. Published by Parthian

CONTINUES TOMORROW