Skunk:
Oh Jesus I can’t believe it. I cannot believe it.
and
sighing, pauses.
Skunk:
I was, I’d just come out of the shop and eh, I was coming out of the shop and I
was carrying a bag, a full bag of groceries and ehm, you know, very very tired,
and that blister still on my palm from, when... If I have to support any weight
other than my own I tend to hold onto the stick too tightly and I get that
that, I’ve got that callous there and now a blister as well so I wasn’t, I just
wanted to come on home and then I saw this little child crying probably four or
five years old maybe, maybe not even that, and eh, a little boy just crying his
eyes out and there was nobody with him and I, I looked at him as I walked past
and I wasn’t really sure what to do, and then a woman came out of the shop, and
ehm, she grabbed him by the shoulder
with just one hand and shook him and said something like eh “I’m in no mood for
this today”, and the way, the way she grabbed him made him cry even harder. I
didn’t know, I just... I mean, involuntarily I said out loud “Jesus Christ” and
she looked at me, still with this hand clenched on this child’s shoulder and
said “Mind your own fucking business” in this horrible nasty eh tone. I can’t
believe it. I really, I wanted to tell her everything. I wanted to tell her
about ache1 and antler and... all these years, all these years of...
years and years and years of grief... and how having a child is a a privilege,
and how she should be grateful for what she has. I wanted to...
sighing.
Skunk:
I wanted to let her know... I don’t think she would have listened. But it
really, it upset me. I mean... She... Things have changed a lot. Things have
changed. I don’t ask for respect. Maybe she thought I was just some old man
poking my nose in, no life of my own so I have to involve myself in others’.
But it’s not like that she how could she know, how could she know... Oh Jesus.
