Competition Fourteen Highly Commended: Always the Thief by Eleanor Luke
On wintry Sundays, Anna’s mother would make fruit crumbles. Apple, blackberry, rhubarb. But nothing beat the damson. Biting into the stewed fruit, wincing at the explosion of acid tang, Anna would use her tongue to separate stones from flesh. Slowly, she’d count them out: tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief. The one she landed on would be the man she married.
(Though Anna longed for the tinker, it was always the thief.)
Today is not a Sunday and her mother died long ago. But with ghost-hands, she guides Anna, rubbing the butter and flour together, sifting the crumbs through her fingers. The pitted damsons simmer on the hob, spewing tiny lilac bubbles and the thief is in his study drinking homemade sloe gin.
(He thinks Anna doesn’t know what he does in there.)
Anna ladles the fruit into an earthenware pie dish, shedding silent tears for everything he has stolen: confidence because hips aren’t fashionable; her best friend because he bedded her; hope because he can’t love a child that doesn’t have his DNA; sanity because he tells her she’s crazy.
(Anna read that damson stones (like cherry, apricot, sloe etc.) contain amygdalin which becomes hydrogen cyanide when ingested.)
When the crumble has browned, Anna sprinkles ground damson stones mixed with demerara sugar on top then calls the thief to the table. He doesn’t feel good lately. Maybe a stomach bug? Anna soothes and coos and feeds him spoonfuls like the child she’ll never have.
(He prefers Anna when she treats him properly, the way a wife should.)
At last a good wife, Anna pictures the thief’s sullen lips spewing tiny lilac bubbles, his body racked with pain. It will be a slow death, but she has all the time in the world.
Eleanor Luke lives in Spain with her husband, two teenagers and a small menagerie. Her stories have appeared in The Birdseed, FlashFlood, Retreat West. Longlist Reflex flash fiction. Top ten Oxford Flash Fiction Prize 2022. When not writing, Eleanor can be found eavesdropping on other people’s conversations.
Photo by Shahab Vejdanian on Unsplash
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