by Frances Gapper
Recently widowed Mum and partnerless me went on holiday together to her birthplace, where she carried on pining, despite fond memories of infant school by the harbour. She nicked a bit of moss from the garden wall of her childhood home. And stumbled while boarding the day ferry: “I’ve lost my sea feet,” she lamented.
But the ferryman remembered her old boyfriend, who’d gone to Africa and been eaten by a lion. “Eaten by a lion!” Mum brightened. We spread our towels and lay down among quiet rockpools, where the sun ate me from my toes up to my heart.
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Frances Gapper’s stories have appeared in Wigleaf, Twin Pies, Trampset, 100 Word Story, Splonk, Fictive Dream and other places.
