The Sea

The Sea

As I was heaving myself over in a tangle of sheets—I have never been able to cope with bedclothes—I caught a whiff of my own warm cheesy smell. Before Anna’s illness I had held my physical self in no more than fond disgust, as most people do—hold theirselves, I mean,...
The Sea

The Sea

Claire was waiting by the car, shoulders hunched, using the sleeves of her coat for a muff. ‘You should have asked me for the key,’ I said. ‘Did you think I wouldn’t give it to you?’ On the way home she insisted on taking the wheel, despite my vigorous resistance. It...
The Sea

The Sea

My father worked in Ballymore and came down in the evenings on the train, in a wordless fury, bearing the frustrations of his day like so much luggage clutched in his clenched fists. What did my mother do with her time when he was gone and I was not there? I picture...