Page 144 of The Black Flamingo

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Once, when I was still

in school, Mum said to me,

“You’re gay, you’re meant

to like shopping.”

I didn’t speak to her

for a week.

Two hours later,

Mum and Anna

have four shopping bags each.

I am wearing a new

black woolly hat,

and in my shopping bag

I have a pink shirt,

black trousers, and shoes

that Mum picked for me.

I walk them back

to the train station,

where I met them

five hours earlier

and when I hug

Mum, she does

not let go—when I do,

or when I drop my arms

to my sides, she squeezes

me tighter.

Anna says, “Mummy, we’re going

to miss the train.”

Mum mumbles

into my shoulder,

“I don’t care.

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