MORNING SERIAL

HE’S heavy, and I have to watch my back, which twinges more and more, like Efa’s does, ever since I’ve worked here. “Ned?” I ask him again. “Your grandfather.” He says it so simply. So simply. The name sinks into me. Ned. Ned my taid, who had another story. Maybe this man knows. Maybe he knows. That old hunger for a real story’s back. For a story at all.

“Did you know him? Ned?” There’s a long silence. Maybe I’ve lost him. Maybe this Huw’s gone back into that dreamworld they go to, which must be better than this place.

“We were best mates.” He half smiles again. “Yep. My best mate.” But then Huw’s too busy to talk what with trying to stand, and deal with Siân’s hasty, snatching hands as she pulls his clothes on, as if she’s packing shopping into bags not caring for an old man who was once my grandfather’s best mate. It’s not until me and Siân are on either side of him, supporting him, or forcing him to his feet, guiding or cajoling his hands around the bar of his frame, that Huw goes on.

“He wasn’t a bad man you know,” he says. He looks at me. His eyes are solid.

I bite my lip. In my head there’s Nain protesting. Not a bad man? Not a bad man? This Huw’d be no match for her.

But Nain’s not there to fight this now and so Huw’s words are shifting things around.

“Na,” says Huw. He smiles, and he puts his hand over mine on the frame. His hand is heavy, surprisingly firm. “He went to Spain, Ned. Volunteered. Brave, that was.” Huw’s shaking his head now. “Fought the fascist bastards,” he says. Then he goes quiet, and just looks at me. “He didn’t know Leusa was pregnant.” He shakes his head. “He was a brave man, Ned.”

It’s too much. I step away, Nain’s anger making my movements too sharp. It’s all Siân can do to hold the old man on his feet. She swears at me.

“What the bloody hell’re you doing, you stupid cow,” she says.

“Sorry, sorry,” I say. “I went a bit dizzy.”

“Well come on, help me get this one to the loo.”

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

CONTINUES TOMORROW