*Summer*
"Years ago, my mum advertised to take in by-blows for a fee”. He says quietly, holding me against his side as we lay on his jacket in my family's gardens, near the corner brightened with the colorful pansies … not that he can see that, of course, because it is dark. But it is my favorite place to sit and ruminate, and now when I am here, I will think of him.
We stayed at the tavern until it closed. I have tried scotch … which burned my throat …and brandy ….which made the inside of my nose tickle but had a warmer feel to it as it went down, and I rather liked it.
All the while I had felt his brothers scrutinizing us and thought I might have a notion regarding how someone had felt being left in the stocks all day, back when people were shamed in such a manner. I had ignored them
