Peripheral Vision

Peripheral Vision Read Online Free PDF

Book: Peripheral Vision Read Online Free PDF
Author: Paddy O'Reilly
cotton shorts, the long tense muscles of her thighs tremble. Adrian is watching with his mouth open.
    The packmaster barks once, and Sienna and the other children in the traces leap forward, wrenching against the leather like I remember Pugsley doing years ago on his first walk outside the yard.
    A child behind Sienna trips and claws at Sienna’s furs to steady herself. Sienna turns and snarls. Her braces glint like metal jewellery. A light rain is starting to drift across the street.
    â€˜I hope she’s not wearing those trainers with the hole,’ I say. ‘I told her to throw them out.’
    â€˜Jesus Christ.’
    I look where he is looking. A young girl at the rear of the parade is squatting. A shiny stream of piss winds its way along the black road in front of her. She leaps up, her skirt falls against her thighs, and she races to her spot behind the float, fur jacket bouncing against her torso in time with her jumps and pirouettes. Three boys press into the spot where she has pissed and lean in to sniff. One of them barks, the other two fall back, and he unzips his fly and covers her puddle with his own frothy yellow stream.
    Adrian has knocked over his coffee cup with his elbow and the spill is creeping across the table. I use a napkin to dam the flow. The drummers ramp up the beat and the procession moves on.
    When our waitress brings a sponge to the table she has to ask Adrian to lift his elbow. He turns and stares at her as though he can’t understand a single word she has said.
    â€˜Sorry, it’s all a bit much for him.’ I tug a few more napkins from the dispenser and press them against Adrian’s damp jacket sleeve as the waitress pulls a dishcloth from her apron pocket.
    â€˜I know.’ She rubs the table briskly and sets the salt and pepper shakers in their basket. ‘I mean, they’re kind of cute in a way, I suppose. But filthy. And weird, you know.’
    Her words break through Adrian’s catatonic stare. He frowns, as if to himself. I wait with my hands clenched around the damp napkins, hoping that this is the moment I have been waiting for all these years. Claim her , I am urging him silently. Claim your daughter.
    The tail end of the procession is dancing away from us. Adrian sighs. He turns and gives me a disappointed look, as if it’s all my fault.

The City Circle
    I live in a suburb where no politician lives and therefore the trams run infrequently, often late and without proper brakes. Two, three times a month, when the driver applies a little pressure to the pedal, we are all sent hurtling to the front of the tram like atoms in a particle accelerator, ready to smash against a plate and separate into our constituent parts. Last month, in a particularly violent trajectory toward the wall, two of us tumbled to the floor. The woman next to me apologised in accented English for falling. A man in a smart suit rushed to her aid.
    â€˜Are you all right?’ he whispered. She nodded.
    â€˜And you?’ the man said to me.
    â€˜I’m fine, thanks,’ I said.
    The man handed a business card to the woman, who was looking thin and alarmed. He handed another to me, who, on the other hand, was looking large and robust, with only my clothes and my composure askew. I knelt, then stood, shrugging my suit jacket and throttling my tie back into position.
    I read the business card as the lawyer pressed the woman.
    â€˜Are you on your way to work? Are you a permanent resident? Do you understand what I’m saying?’
    The tram driver eased the vehicle to a halt at the tram stop. He came down to help the woman. When he asked if she was able to get up, the lawyer thrust out his arm to prevent the tram driver from touching her.
    â€˜For God’s sake , ’ he said to the driver, ‘ call an ambulance . ’
    â€˜No,’ the woman said. ‘I okay. I have to go work now. Please.’
    â€˜You don’t have to go to work.
Read Online Free Pdf

Similar Books

Guardian Attraction

Stacey Summers

Wildfire at Midnight

Mary Stewart

Pleasantly Dead

Judith Alguire

The Wonder

Emma Donoghue

Poisoned Ground

Sandra Parshall

Blue Smoke

Nora Roberts