Thursday 6 March 2014

A Fifth Archival Element of the year.



Mary P is a zealous woman.

Sometimes stuff gets archived even before it's been thought.

Archival Remnant No 5 catalogue number MX745
Driving late, towards Lent.
Tired and hungry.
He stops.
He needs chocolate and the soft luxury of its melt.
But it’s almost lent.
Fruit?
He can smell the apples as he walks in front of the greengrocers.
They smell like apples, nothing more and this shop sells chocolate dipped slices of banana.
He walks past.
The baker’s on the corner has only croissants.
So he walks on.
At the top of the hill the deli is closed, it was probably the best chance.
He shouldn’t have stopped, he would be half way home by now where he could have made toast and..
And?
There is no chocolate in the house.
And he stopped.
There is one more shop.
He enters, they have new doors. He looks around, they have new everything.
The place next door used to be a toyshop, now it’s a bank. The old man who ran the toyshop had look sad. And tired.  No one shops here anymore.
In the new place there is a raspberry tart.
No chocolate. A promise of sweetness.
It looks perfect – the raspberries are fresh, a gentle dusting of icing sugar on their tops and they sit in raspberry glaze.
But it’s lent.
Everything else looks either burnt or depressed.
He waits.
It’s raining outside.
The man next to him is drunk.
He talks.
He talks back.
He waits.
This new place only employs one person, the old place three.
He waits.
He looks at the raspberries, he thinks of Lent, he leaves.
He doesn’t say goodbye.
He turns his collar up and walks down the hill.
He stops in front of the bookshop window.
There is a complete volume of a cartoon guide to the blues.
The cover is blue.
He has the blues.
He goes back to the car.
He drives on.




2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Could this Mary P. be related to the late Ms. Penny? Younger sister perhaps, or love-child from her wild and crazy youth before the fascinating and dusty world of archives beckoned?

A mystery -- the game is ON!

popps said...

Mary P is Mary P.
She is her own tattoo.
For the moment anyhow.