I’m trying to decide whether to buy
Miguel de Cervantes for kids
Or a book on the grammatical structure of Jamaican Creole
When-
.
“Gary, love, you know those twenty pound notes you gave me”
.
A tinny voice
Scratches their way out of a speaker phone
The hand that holds the phone
Nowhere to be seen.
.
“Well some of them are missing”
.
I hear mumbling …”Janet.”
Mumble Mumble Mumble.
I go past the French aisle, nothing
Return a book to Jamaica
.
“And some of them look like they’ve been chewed apart”
.
I think back to last week’s novel by Sara Collins
Her protagonist, Frannie
Forced to eat pages of a book she dared to read
Who dared to steal this money? Got caught and forced to chow down on
Ink, Sweat, Metallic and-
.
“Corner shop won’t take ’em”
.
I turn into the German aisle to spot
A giggling couple caressing their fingers
Over a copy of Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’
It takes both of them to hold the weight of 60 pages.
Even they are distracted by Janet down the phone.
.
“I’m not being funny love, but you’re the only person who’s given me £20 notes”
.
The audio and veneer of being “nice” begin to crack.
I quicken my pace, Gary makes no response back.
Past Russian, Italian, Urdu and Indonesian
Gary’s silence causes Janet’s intonation and blood pressure
To compete for dominion.
.
“Gary. Gary!”
.
Gary is crouched down on the carpet
Reading ‘The Little Prince’ in Welsh.